Alvars

Also called: Azhwars · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 9, Ch 5 "State and Society up to 1000 CE"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

The Alvars (also spelt Azhwars) were 12 Tamil poet-saints devoted to Vishnu. Their name means those "immersed" (lost deep) in love of god. From about the 6th century, they travelled and sang hymns in Tamil. Their songs were later collected as the Nalayira Divyaprabandham.

They matter because, together with the Nayanars, they began the earliest bhakti movements in India. They also made Tamil, a regional language, a language of sacred worship.

Explanation

Background: who they were

• Bhakti means personal love and devotion to one god.
• Two groups of poet-saints started bhakti in Tamil Nadu from about the 6th century:
• Alvars: devotees of Vishnu (Vaishnava). There were 12 of them.

• Nayanars: devotees of Shiva (Shaiva). There were 63 of them.

• Britannica names these Alvar poets: Poykai, Putan (Pey), Peyar, Tirumankaiyalvar. In the 8th century it places Andal, Periyalvar, Kulachekarar, Tiruppanalvar and Nammalvar. Nammalvar is held to be the greatest of all the Alvars [2].

• Andal is the only woman among the 12 Alvars.
• The Alvars came from many castes: Brahmanas, artisans, cultivators, and even castes treated as "untouchable".

Main features of their bhakti

• Itinerant singers. "Itinerant" means they kept travelling from place to place.
• Tamil, not Sanskrit. Ordinary people could understand their hymns and join in.
• Very emotional devotion. The poets often compare the soul to a woman longing for her lord's love [2].
• Andal's bridal love. She saw herself as the beloved of Vishnu. Her love-poems use the voice of a woman waiting for her lord.
• Attack on caste pride.
• Tondaradippodi was an Alvar who was born a Brahmana.
• He sang that Vishnu prefers outcaste "servants" who love him to chaturvedins (Brahmanas who know all four Vedas) who have no love for god.
• The attack was on caste pride and empty learning. It was not always a full plan to end caste.

How it worked: from shrine to temple

• The saints' songs helped small shrines grow into great temples:
• As the Alvars travelled, they named certain shrines as the home of their god.
• The shrine a saint sang about became famous. Kings and devotees then gave money and land.

• The shrine grew into a great temple, and then a pilgrimage centre.

• Two things entered daily temple worship:

• singing the saints' own hymns, and
• worship of images of the saints themselves. The poets became objects of worship.

Results: the hymns become scripture

• In the 10th century, Nathamuni, a leader of the Shrivaishnava sect (a Vaishnava community of South India), gathered the Alvar hymns. He also started the regular singing of these hymns in Vaishnava temples of South India [3].
• The collection is the Nalayira Divyaprabandham. Nalayira means "four thousand" and Divyaprabandham means "divine compositions" [3].
• It was called the "Tamil Veda". This was a bold claim that a Tamil text was as important as the Sanskrit Vedas.
• Social result:
• Their message reached people of every caste.
• Later, though, their hymns became part of temple ritual run by Brahmanas. So part of the protest was absorbed by the institutions it had helped to build.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from about the 6th century to the 9th century (approximate). Britannica places several major Alvars in the 8th century [2]. The hymns were compiled in the 10th century [3].
• Region: Tamil Nadu, South India.
• Political setting, c. 6th–9th centuries: the Pallavas and Pandyas ruled. Buddhism and Jainism were strong then. They had support from merchants and artisans, and sometimes from kings. Historians think the bhakti saints were competing with them for royal patronage (kings' money and protection). NCERT calls this a hypothesis, which means a likely explanation that is not proven.
• Later setting, c. 9th–13th centuries: the Cholas supported both Brahmanical and bhakti traditions through land grants to temples and Brahmanas.

• Why kings backed the saints: the Alvars and Nayanars were revered by the Vellala peasants, a large and powerful farming group. Supporting the saints helped kings win the Vellalas' support.

• Key people: Andal, Nammalvar, Periyalvar, Tondaradippodi, Tiruppanalvar, Kulachekarar; Nathamuni (compiler) [2][3].

• How we know:
• The hymns themselves, preserved in the Nalayira Divyaprabandham [3].
• The continuing practice of singing these hymns in South Indian Vaishnava temples [3].
• NCERT Class 12 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" and Britannica's account of the Alvar poets [2].

Don't confuse with

• Nayanars: they worshipped Shiva, there were 63 of them (3 women), and their name means "leaders". The Alvars worshipped Vishnu, there were 12 of them (1 woman, Andal), and their name means "immersed".
• Tevaram: the Shaiva (Nayanar) anthology of Appar, Sambandar and Sundarar, classified by the music of the songs. The Alvar anthology is the Nalayira Divyaprabandham.
• Nathamuni: he compiled the Alvar hymns in the 10th century as a Shrivaishnava leader [3]. He is not one of the 12 Alvars.
• Andal vs Karaikkal Ammaiyar: Andal (Alvar, Vishnu) took the path of bridal love. Karaikkal Ammaiyar (Nayanar, Shiva) chose extreme asceticism and called herself a pey (demoness).

Prelims Hooks

• Alvars = 12, Vishnu, "immersed"; Nayanars = 63, Shiva, "leaders".
• Andal is the only woman Alvar. Nammalvar is held to be the greatest Alvar [2].
• Nalayira Divyaprabandham = "Four Thousand Sacred Compositions" of the 12 Alvars. It is called the "Tamil Veda" and was compiled in the 10th century.
• Nathamuni (a Shrivaishnava leader) collected the Alvar hymns and began singing them in temples [3].
• Tondaradippodi was a Brahmana Alvar who criticised chaturvedins without love for god. Trap: the rejection of gotra and kula was by Appar, a Nayanar, not an Alvar.
• Chronology: Alvar bhakti (from c. 6th century) → Alvar hymns compiled (10th century) → Chola support for temples (c. 9th–13th centuries).

Mains Points

• Was Alvar bhakti a social protest?
• For: the saints came from every caste, from Brahmana to "untouchable". Tondaradippodi said love of god mattered more than Vedic learning.

• Against: NCERT says only some historians see it as a protest. The hymns later became part of temple ritual run by Brahmanas, and the saints' images were worshipped in temples. So the protest was partly tamed by the institutions it helped build.

• Regional language as sacred language.

• Hymns in Tamil, not Sanskrit, opened devotion to ordinary people.

• Calling the Divyaprabandham the "Tamil Veda" claimed for a regional language the authority of Sanskrit. This is a useful example for GS-I answers on regional cultures.

• Devotion, temples and kings.

• The saints' songs turned small shrines into great temples and pilgrimage centres.
• Rulers competed for the saints' following, which included the powerful Vellala peasants. Bhakti gave kings legitimacy, and kings gave temples land and wealth.
• Women in bhakti: Andal left ordinary family duties but joined no other religious order. Compare her with Karaikkal Ammaiyar and, later, Mirabai to show how women used devotion to step outside patriarchal roles.

Related concepts

• Nayanars
• Nalayira Divya Prabandham
• Tevaram
• Appar
• Sambandar
• Sundarar
• Manikkavachakar
• Nammalvar
• Tondaradippodi
• Andal

Read more

• The Alvars and Nayanars of Tamil Nadu