Studies, James G. Lochtefeld of Carthage College, notes in his The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, the first three Alvars Poigai, Bhoothath and Pey belonged to the 7th century; while Nammalvar and Madhurakavi belonged to the 10th century; while the rest of them lived in the 9th century. Traditionally the Alvars are considered to have lived between 4200 BCE and 2700 BCE, while some texts account for range between 4200 BCE and early 10th century. Traditional dates take them to the age of Shuka from the period of the Bhagavata Purana, the first four (Poigai Alvar, Bhoothathalvar, Peyalvar and Thirumalisai Alvar) are from Dvapara Yuga, while Nammalwar, Madhurakavi Alvar and others belong to Kali Yuga. The following table shows the place, century and star of birth of each Alvar. Scholarly dating, except that of Kulasekhara Alvar, is based on summary of views of modern scholars by Dr. N Subba Reddiar, although even these dates lack historical evidence. Much effort has gone into dating Kulasekhara Alvar recently. The Alvar is now tentatively identified as Sthanu Ravi Kulasekhara (reigned c. 844/45–870/71 CE), the first known ruler of the medieval Cheras kings of Kerala. See also Bhakti movement Tamil mythology Nathamuni Notes References Bibliography Hymns for the Drowning by A.K. Ramanujan (Penguin) Nammalvar by A. Srinivasa Raghavan (Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi),1975, Alwargal - ^Or Eliya Arimugam by Sujatha (Visa Publications, Chennai, India)(in Tamil), 2001 External links The Philosophy of the , Surendranath Dasgupta, 1940 The Alvar Saints (ramanuja.org) The Alvar Saints of Tamilnadu by Jyotsna Kamat Indian philosophy Bhakti movement Tamil Hindu saints