The alwar or azhwars (, āzvārkaḷ ], those immersed in god) were Tamil poet-saints of south India who lived between the 6th and 9th centuries CE and espoused emotional devotion or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service. The most popular Vaishnava teacher of the south was Ramanuja, while of the north it was Ramananda.