The Alwars or Vaishnava Mystics of South India

This chapter included the three Ancient Alwars, Periyalwar, Nammalwar, Kulasekhara Alwar, Thondaradippodi Alwar, Thiruppan Alwar, Thirumangai Alwar, Thirumazhisai Alwar, Andal and Saint Alavandar. I have covered three Ancient Alwars, Periyalwar, Nammalwar, Kulasekhara Alwar, Thondaradippodi Alwar, Thiruppan Alwar, Thirumangai Alwar and Thirumazhisai Alwar.

Whenever there is a decay of righteousness, people become irreligious great saints take birth for the spiritual upliftment of the people. The Alwars incarnated in South India to save the people from such a crisis, rekindled the flame of Bhakti in South India. They sang the glory of Lord Hari. The Alwars came from all castes. Four of them were orthodox Brahmins. Two of them were non-Brahmins. One belonged to the depressed class. One was a woman. Four were Ayonijas, i.e. not born out of a womb. One was Kshatriya. The Vaishnav saints were twelve in number.

They were known as Alwars because they immersed in God-love. The hyms of the Alwar saints are known as Nalayira Divya Prabhandam, a book of four thousand verses. These hyms were collected by the great scholar Nada Muni. The Divya Prabhandam is a sacred treasure of divine knowledge that contains the quintessence of the Vedas, Itihasas and the Puranas in a attractive form.