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Hagiography

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Periyalvar&nbsp;(c.&thinsp;9th century), also known as&nbsp;Vishnuchittar, was one of the twelve&nbsp;Alvar&nbsp;saints of South&nbsp;India&nbsp;who are known for their affiliation to the&nbsp;Vaishnava&nbsp;tradition of&nbsp;Hinduism. He was the foster father of&nbsp;Andal. Andal, also called as&nbsp;Kodhai, is the only female Alvar, and is considered to be the incarnation of&nbsp;Bhudevi&nbsp;according to&nbsp;Sri Vaishnavism.

The verses of&nbsp;Alvars&nbsp;are compiled as the&nbsp;Naalayira Divya Prabandham&nbsp;and the 108 temples revered are classified as&nbsp;Divya Desam. According to some accounts, Periyalvar is considered the first in the line of the twelve Alvars, while other accounts place him as the eighth. His original name was Vishnuchittar. Since he blessed&nbsp;Vishnu&nbsp;as though assuming he were an elder to the deity, he is called Periyalvar.

According to Hindu legend, Periyalvar was the foster father of Andal, the only female Alvar. The works of Periyalvar contributed to the philosophical and theological ideas of Vaishnavism, the proponent behind the&nbsp;Bhakti movement.&nbsp;His contributions are the&nbsp;Tirupallantu&nbsp;and&nbsp;Periyalvar Tirumoli,&nbsp;which are among the 4000 stanzas in the&nbsp;Naalayira Divya Prabandam.

In South Indian Vishnu temples, Periyalvar has images and festivals associated with him. The Garudasevai festival in the Srivilliputhur temple, where five Vishnu temples in the region participate, is an event dedicated to him. The verses of Periyalvar and the other Alvars are recited as a part of daily prayers and during festive occasions in several Sri Vaishnava temples in&nbsp;South India.

Legend

Temple for Thirumalisai Alvar, the Alvar

The Alvars, who are regarded as Vishnu&#39;s twelve greatest devotees in Sri Vaishnavism, helped spread Vaishnavism throughout Tamil-speaking areas. The Ramayana and Mahabharata, two Hindu epics, were both promoted by the Alvars, who also had a significant impact on the Bhagavata cult. The 108 temples mentioned in their hymns are referred to as Divya Desams, and the religious writings of these saints in Tamil, including their hymns, are collected in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, which contains 4000 lines. Nathamuni (824&ndash;924 CE), a Vaishnavite theologian of the 10th century, collated the poetry of the numerous Alvars and dubbed it the &quot;Dravida Veda or Tamil Veda.&quot; Every day, in a number of South Indian Vishnu temples, the hymns of the Prabandam are sung and also during festivels.

The mythological genesis of the Alvars is attributed to an incident in the middle of the Dvapara Yuga that resulted from a contentious argument between Vishvakarma, the divine architect of the gods, and Agastya, a sage, about whether language was better&mdash;Sanskrit or Tamil. [Reference needed] In the midst of this argument, Agastya becomes enraged and curses the former, saying that one of his works of architecture will one day be lost and never be found (a contemporary of Gandhari&#39;s curse to Dvaraka). (According to some traditions, Agastya cursed Vishvakarma to bring Sanskrit into disrepute; the curse came true in the current Kali Yuga.) [Reference needed] Vishvakarma is furious and curses Agastya for tarnishing Tamil, one of his favourite languages, in the future. [Reference needed] Agastya, who feels bad about what he did, is given a divine vision of Vishnu who assures him that Tamil will regain its renown and that a Tamil Veda would appear.

Following the Battle of Kurukshetra, the fall of Dvaraka, and the killing of Krishna by the hunter Jara, Vishnu resumes his dwelling in Vaikuntha, planting the seeds for the Kali Yuga. He starts to worry about the inhabitants of the Kali Yuga. His qualities, such as the Sudarshana Chakra and the Panchajanya, inquire as to the cause of his worry, and he confides in them his anxieties. Vishnu smiles and declines the Sudarshana Chakra&#39;s suggestion that he chop off the heads of all those who reject dharma. Vishnu makes the decision that certain of his amshas (elements of his personality) would take the form of people and guide them on the virtuous path and in their devotion to him. These amshas, who aligned with the blessing bestowed upon Agastya by accepting their birth as the twelve Alvars, also served as an example for later Kali Yuga humans.

Nammalvar (considered to be an incarnation of Vishvaksena) is credited with turning the Rigveda into 100 poems known as the Tiruviruttam, the Yajurveda into Thiruvarshiyam, and the Sama Veda into Tiruvaymoli in 1000 verses, fulfilling the promise that Vishnu made to Agastya (poems)

Varnas

The saints came from various varnas and had various origins. According to legend, the first three Alvars&mdash;Poigai Alvar, Bhuthath Alvar, Peyalvar, and Andal&mdash;were not given birth but instead were miraculously born. Thondaradipodi Alvar, Mathurakavi Alvar, and Perialvar were Brahmin; Kulasekhara was a Kshatriya; Nammalvar was from a cultivator family; Thirupanalvar was from the Tamil Panar community; and Thirumangai Alvar was from the Kalvar community. Thirumalisai Alvar was the son of a sage named Bhargava. With the exception of Andal and Madhurakavi Alvar, only the top 10 Alvars are taken into consideration by some Vaishnavites; however, others also include these two. The 12 Alvars usually praised Srirangam as the only Divya Desam.

Works

The Alvars and their accomplishments are described in great detail in temple documents and inscriptions. These texts state that the saints were regarded as manifestations of Vishnu in some way. Most of them are not:

Divya Suri Saritra by Garuda-Vahana Pandita (11th century) 
Guruparamparaprabavam by Pinbaragiya Perumal Jiyar 
Periya tiru mudi adaivu by Anbillai Kandadiappan 
Yatindra Pranava Prabavam by Pillai Lokacharya 
commentaries on Divya Prabandam 
Guru Parampara (lineage of Gurus) texts

Dating

The first three Alvars, Poigai Alvar, Bhoothath Alvar, and Pey Alvar, are said to be from the Dvapara Yuga in accordance with a traditional account by Manavala Mamunigal (even before the birth of Krishna, i.e., before 4200 BCE). Tradition and historians generally concur that the trio is the oldest of the twelve Alvars. Together with the other three Saiva Nayanmars, they had an impact on the Pallava rulers who were in power, sparking a Bhakti movement that led to the shift of Buddhism and Jainism in the area to these two sects of Hinduism.

A small portion of the Divya Prabandham was lost after the Alvar era. Vishnu is thought to have despatched Nathamuni, who saw Nammalvar through the idol, to rescue them, as Madhurakavi Alvar was instructed by Nammalvar to obtain

Work Done

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One of the twelve South Indian Alvar saints, Periyalvar (about 9th century), also known as Vishnuchittar, is well-known for his association with the Vaishnava school of Hinduism. He was Andal&#39;s foster father. Andal, also known as Kodhai, is the only female Alvar and is regarded by Sri Vaishnavism as the embodiment of Bhudevi.

The 108 venerated temples are categorised as Divya Desam, while the Alvars&#39; lyrics are collected as the Naalayira Divya Prabandham. Periyalvar is regarded as the first of the twelve Alvars in some traditions, while he is regarded as the eighth in others. Vishnuchittar was his given name at first. He is known as Periyalvar because he blessed Vishnu as if he were the god&#39;s elder.

Hindu mythology states that Periyalvar raised Andal, the sole female Alvar, as his own child. The intellectual and religious beliefs of Vaishnavism, the movement that gave rise to the Bhakti movement, were influenced by Periyalvar&#39;s writings.&nbsp;The Tirupallandu and Periyalvar Tirumoli, two of the 4000 stanzas of the Naalayira Divya Prabandam, are his contributions.

Periyalvar is commemorated with images and events in South Indian Vishnu temples. He is honoured each year at the Garudasevai festival held at the Srivilliputhur temple, in which five local Vishnu temples take part. In a number of Sri Vaishnava temples in South India, the verses of Periyalvar and the other Alvars are chanted both as part of everyday prayers and on special occasions.

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