mātā pitā yuvatayaḥ tanayāḥ vibhūtiḥ sarvaṁ yadeva niyamena mad anvayānām|

ādyaḥ sa naḥ kulapateḥ vakuḻābhirāmaṁ śrīmat tadaṅghri yugaḻaṁ praṇamāmi mūrdhnā ||

There is no better way to understand the greatness of Svāmi Nammāļvār than by reflecting on the limitless reverence and bhakti our pūrvācāryas especially, Svāmi Rāmānuja, held towards him. Therefore, let us take some of our ācāryas and focus on how they saw Svāmi Nammāļvār.

Śrī Raṅganātha and Śrī Raṅga Nācciyār picked only Svāmi Nammāļvār for granting mayarvařa madinalam (flawless jñānam and bhakti). The Divine Couple also honoured Svāmi Nammāļvār by giving him the prefix ‘Nam’ meaning ‘Our’, displaying to the world the special regard they had for Āļvār. The Divya Dampatī celebrate several grand utsavams for Svāmi Nammāļvār such as the famous Adhyayana Utsavam, Tiruvaḍi Toļal, Vaikuṇṭa Vācal Tiřappu, in addition to Āļvār’s Tirunakṣatra Utsavam. Śrī Raṅganātha keeps Āļvār as his own Tiruvaḍi, which is named after him as Śrīśaṭakopam or Śaṭāri. Svāmi Nammāļvār’s love for Raṅganātha is matched only by Raṅganātha’s love for Āļvār. Śrī Raṅga Nācciyār shows even greater regard for Svāmi Nammāļvār, only because of whose intervention She takes back Raṅganātha letting go of her praṇayaroṣam against Him.

Madhurakavi Āļvār was the ultimate devotee of Svāmi Nammāļvār, as he knew of no greater God than him. He sings in deep gratitude towards Svāmi Nammāļvār for granting the hard Vedas in the enjoyable form and such that their deepest meanings stood firm in his heart. Tirumaṅgai Āļvār claims himself as ‘irum tamiļ nūl pulavaň’ which, our ācāryas point out, refers to his mastery of Tiruvāimoļi. He arranged for the elaborate celebration of the Adhyayana Utsavam for Svāmi Nammāļvār at Śrīraṅgam, and had Śrī Raṅganātha directly authorize and set in stone that Tiruvāimoļi is Veda-samam (equal to the Vedas).

Śrīman Nāthamuňigaḻ’s respect and devotion for Svāmi Nammāļvār and the Divya Prabandhams is most evident, as he brought back the lost paasurams through Āļvār’s Aruḻ and became the first ācārya. Nāthamuňigaḻ established against enormous opposition that Divya Prabandham is Veda-samam, apauruṣeyam (unauthored) and nityam (ever-existing). He devoted his life to spreading the Divya Prabandham by giving it music and started the tradition of handing it down to śiṣyas. The ‘bhaktāmṛtam’ taniyan shlokam sung by Śrīman Nāthamuňigaḻ summarizes his reverence towards Tiruvāimoļi.

Śrī Āḻavandār displays his complete and undivided bhakti of all forms towards Svāmi Nammāļvār through the ‘mātā pitā’ shlokam at the beginning of his greatest work, Stotraratnam. He bows down to Āļvār hailing him as “by rule, Āļvār is mother, father, objects of pleasure, sons, property, and everything to him and to everyone connected to him”.  In the previous shlokam he addresses the great maharṣi Parāśarar, bowing to him in gratitude for delineating tattva-hita-puruṣārthams for us. But he does so simply with a quick ‘Namah’ and moves on to the next ślokam declaring Āļvār as everything to him, beautifully elucidating the supreme importance of Āļvār over Ṛṣis.

Svāmi Rāmānujar’s ultimate devotion towards Āļvār is seen clearly through the many pāsurams of Rāmānuja Nūřřandādi, such as the very first one, where Svāmi Rāmānuja is hailed as ‘māřaň aḍipaṇindu uyndavaň’. The magnitude of Āļvār’s influence on Svāmi Rāmānujar is evident all though his Vedantic works, as is amply enjoyed and written about by experts. Among the various ways of experiencing it, one would be to contextually compare commentaries of other darśanas where the same Vedantic explanation is proffered, then to notice what Svāmi Rāmānujar says beyond the common explanation, and then to see that those are based on the Divya Prabandhams only. Traditional historic accounts of Svami Ramanuja’s life and kaiṁkaryams are replete with his successful efforts to bring Āļvār and Divya Prabandhams to prominence in everyday kaiṁkaryams at Śrīraṅgam and other Divya Deśams.

Sri Vedānta Desikar hails Svāmi Nammāļvār as the one because of whom the Vedas can now take rest. In Pādukāsahasram, he sings of Āļvār as Perumāḻ’s Tiruvaḍi, which He places on people’s heads solely to give them a connection with Svāmi Nammāļvār. He reveres the Divya Prabandhams as the key to understand the otherwise unintelligible parts of the Vedas.

Svāmi Maṇavāḻa Māmuňigaḻ held Svāmi Nammāļvār as greater than Namperumāḻ, as is evident in his Tiruvāimoļi Nūřřandādi pāsurams, where he says a hundred times that whatever Āļvār got from Perumāḻ, we will get from Āļvār by thinking and speaking of it. In Upadeśarattiňamālai, he highlights Svāmi Nammāļvār, Tiruvāimoļi and Tirukkurugūr are matchless. In Ārtipprabandham, he expresses that we are blessed with Nammāļvār’s works alone as our food and nourishment for our souls, and that we have the mental state expressed by Madhurakavi Āļvār as our state because of the latter’s bhakti towards Svāmi Nammāļvār.

On the tirunakṣatram of Svāmi Nammāļvār, let us listen to his greatness, attempt to understand his pāsurams, and recite them to give us uninterrupted service at the Lotus Feet of Śrīman Nārāyaṇa.

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śrīnagaryāṁ mahāpuryāṁ tāmraparňi uttaretaṭe |

śrī tintṛṇī mūla dhāmne śaṭakopāya maṅgaḻam ||

Āļvār Êmpermāňār Jīyar Tiruvaḍigaḻe Śaraṇam