Irandam Thiruvandhadhi | Bhutat Āḻvār. If only we recite Nārāyaṇa’s names in a state of pure love born out of inner realisation of His ‘svarūpa’ and ‘vibhūti’, and our relationship with Him, that will surely elevate us to the level of our spiritual kinfolk, the celestial beings of Śrī Vaikuṇṭha, eternally blessed to serve the Lord. They, who are devoted to the sacred feet of the Lord of Milk Ocean with offerings of fragrant flowers, will reach His abode of Vaikuṇṭha of resplendent beauty.
Only two poetic works of Thirumaḻisai Āḻvār are available for us to study: One is Thiruchanda Virutham with 120 verses and Nāṉmukaṉ Thiruvandhadhi with 96 verses. It is said that Āḻvār threw all the manuscripts of his works into the Cauvery river and these two manuscripts floated against the stream.. Even today one can see the Vrindāvan and a beautiful shrine where Āḻvār is said to have had his Āshram in Tirukuṭantai. The holy shrine of the Āḻvār also exists in his birthplace Thirumaḻisai.
Once, Thondaradipodi Āḻvār left Mandangudi on a pilgrimage and headed towards Srirangam, the foremost among divya deśas. Śrī Raṅganātha captivated his mind in the very first darśan and the Āḻvār who came on a tour remained there in a grove near the temple permanently. He could not bear to go away from the Lord whose beauty and grace he describes in his “Tirumāḷai”(45 verses)verses as also in his other poem Thirupalliyezhuchi. He constantly recaptured the grace of the Lord who lay down facing Lanka.
Thirumaḻisai Āḻvār was chronologically the fourth of the 12 Āḻvārs, who has been living right between Peyāḷvar and Nammāḷvār. The name of Thirumaḻisai Āḻvār comes from his birthplace, Thirumaḻisai, a suburb in modern day Chennai. Thiruchanda Virutham presented on the following pages is one of his 2 works, consisting of 120 verses. The name Thiruchanda Virutham can be translated as 'The Poem of Beautiful Verse' and you can read it in following pages.
We already discussed recently the biography of Periyāḻvār – or Āḻvār ‘the Great’ – at length – on a separate page, as also Periyāḻvār’s most popular work - Tiruppallāṇdu – which can roughly be translated as “Be forever our Lord!” – however – it was only the first chapter of a much larger work called Periyāḻvār Tirumoḷi or the Holy Verses of Āḻvār the Great. the favourite Divine incarnation of Periyāḻvār was the small Krishna, whom he calls differently – as Krishna, Nārāyaṇa, Kaṇṇaṉ, Māyaṉ, etc.
Tiruppānāḷvar was completely immersed in divine love all his life with his mind fixed on the Arcā mūrti, Lord Śrī Raṅganātha. Vishnu appeared in the dream of sage Loka Sāranga and commanded him to fetch Pānar to the temple the next morning in his shoulders. When they reached the sanctum, Pānar experienced the bliss of Raṅganātha and composed the Amalān Ādi Pirāṉ, a poem describing the beauty from head to foot of Vishnu in ten verses and ultimately laid his life at the feet of the deity.