Page 59 - Hinduism

who, by their wisdom and conduct, have realised God and had communion with Him. Their works are the outpourings of their religious consciousness. The Vaiṣṇava religious hymns consist of four thousand stanzas and are collectively known as the Divyaprabandham. The Ālvārs or Vaiṣṇava saints are twelve in number and their works, as they are collected in the Divyaprabandham., are as follows. The first three Ālvārs, Poygai Ālvār, Bhutat Ālvār and Pey Ālvār have each 100 stanzas to their credit in Iyarpa. Tirumaliśai Ālvār has to his credit 96 stanzas in Iyarpā and Tiruccandaviruttam (120 stanzas) in Mudalayiram. Nammālvār, the greatest of the Ālvārs, has four compositions and the famous Tiruppāvai (30 stanzas) of Āṇdāl are also included in the Mudalāyirarn. The above poems along with the Irāmānujanūttandādi of Tiruvarangattamudanār constitute the 4000 stanzas of the Divyaprabandham. Highest philosophical truths are embodied in these Tamil hymns of the gifted Ālvārs and so these are considered as important for Vaiṣṇava religion as the Upaniṣads; and the two, the Tamil Divyaprabandham and the Sanskrit Upaniṣads are styled Ubhayavedānta. But the most significant point about the literature in the vernacular is that it reveals the greatness of the arcāvatāra or idol-worship. It embodies the spiritual experiencesof the Ālvārs in the different temples. In this manner Śrinivāsa has been extolled by nine of the Ālvārs. The Śaiva religious hymns in Tamil are collectively
known as the Tirumurais. They are twelve in 59