Nālāyira Divya Prabandham

Periyāzhvār · pasurams 1–473

Periyāzhvār was a humble gardener of Srivilliputhur who wove garlands for the Lord each day.

Āṇḍāḷ · pasurams 474–503

Āṇḍāḷ, the only woman among the Alvars, was found as a baby in a garden of tulasi and raised by Periyāzhvār.

Āṇḍāḷ · pasurams 504–646

If the Thiruppāvai is a vow taken together with friends, the Nāchiyār Thirumozhi is Āṇḍāḷ alone with her longing.

Kulasēkhara Āzhvār · pasurams 647–751

Kulasēkhara was a king of the Chera land who found his throne far less precious than the courtyard of the temple.

Thirumazhisai Āzhvār · pasurams 752–871

Thirumazhisai Āzhvār had searched through many philosophies before he came to rest in the Lord.

Thoṇḍaraḍippoḍi Āzhvār · pasurams 872–916

Thoṇḍaraḍippoḍi Āzhvār — “the dust of the feet of the devotees” — tended a garden of flowers for the Lord of Srirangam.

Thoṇḍaraḍippoḍi Āzhvār · pasurams 917–926

Ten short verses to wake the Lord at dawn.

Thiruppāṇ Āzhvār · pasurams 927–936

Thiruppāṇ Āzhvār was a musician who, by the custom of his time, would not approach the temple.

Madhurakavi Āzhvār · pasurams 937–947

Madhurakavi Āzhvār is unique among the Alvars: he sang not of the Lord but of his teacher, Nammāzhvār.

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 948–2031

Thirumangai Āzhvār came to the Lord late and by a hard road — a chieftain and once a highwayman, won over completely once his heart turned.

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 2032–2051

A “short” composition in the tāṇḍakam metre, twenty verses in which Thirumangai turns from his pilgrim's wandering to the inward search.

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 2052–2081

The “long” tāṇḍakam, sung largely in the voice of a heroine pining for her beloved Lord and of the mother who watches her pine.

Poigai Āzhvār · pasurams 2082–2181

The first of the three earliest Alvars.

Bhūtham Āzhvār · pasurams 2182–2281

The second of the three.

Pey Āzhvār · pasurams 2282–2381

The third of the three.

Thirumazhisai Āzhvār · pasurams 2382–2477

Thirumazhisai returns in the anthādhi form to settle a question of his age: who is the supreme God?

Nammāzhvār · pasurams 2478–2577

Nammāzhvār is the greatest of the Alvars, and the Thiruviruttam is the first of his four works — counted as the Tamil echo of the Rig Veda.

Nammāzhvār · pasurams 2578–2584

Just seven verses, in the stately āsiriyam metre, held to answer to the Yajur Veda.

Nammāzhvār · pasurams 2585–2671

Nammāzhvār's “great” anthādhi, linked verse to verse, set against the Atharva Veda.

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 2672–2672

A single, dazzling poem in a rare “chariot” form — its lines build up through the numbers one to seven and back down, so the shape of the verse on the page resembles a temple chari…

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 2673–2712

The “small” madal.

Thirumangai Āzhvār · pasurams 2713–2790

The “great” madal carries the same daring conceit at fuller length.

Nammāzhvār · pasurams 2791–3892

The crown of the whole Prabandham — “the word of the sacred mouth.” Over a thousand verses, arranged in ten hundreds, Nammāzhvār travels the entire landscape of the soul: union and…

Thiruvarangaththu Amudhanār · pasurams 3893–4000

The Prabandham closes not with an Alvar but with a hymn to a teacher.