Early saints-mystics. --------------------------- Alwars & Nayanmars. ----------------------------- ._()_ :) . Alwars are Vishnu devotees while Nayanmars are devotees of Lord Shiva...Alwars were 12 in number, while 63 Nayanmars are canonised.The most important feature that they belonged to different castes, not all brahmins, ;they were from several strata of society and professions...Among Alwars,one was a prince ,another was a bandit and highway robber, yet another was an untouchable..There was one woman saint in this group--Sri Andal or Godha, and a woman Nayanmar--karaikkal Ammai....Another significant feature is that they sang all their songs/hymns in the local Tamil language [except Kulasekahara Alwar who wrote in Sanskrit also].They went into flights of non-dualistic [advaitic] height of One Absolute or God ,at the same time,worshiped and sang the praises of a personal God...Rama, Krishna in the case of Alwars and Lord Shiva in the case of Nayanmars...They all went through trials in the hands of God---they were baptised in the spiritual fire...The Lord apparently intervened at a critical juncture or situation in their lives---the Lord,even when they fell into bad ways, intercepted them and brought them into spiritual fold. Now we turn to the period of their lives.The belonged to a period from 5th century to 9th century,though most authors place them around 6th century....a time when Islam was born in the deserts of Arabia... This was an extraordinary period in the South India,encompasing mostly Tamil Nadu, part of Kerala [Chera nadu] and a small part of Andhra Pradesh...There was comparative peace and high degree of prosperity.People had time to devote to religious moorings...Princes supported the saints and temple building.......[There were only small skirmishes among princes.] The period of Alwars and Nayanmars also marks the decline of Jainism and Buddhism...Jains were persecuted to a large extent after 7th century[[Pallava dynasty]...Historians admit this,though they lighten this aspect...Jain monks were tortured,impaled or beheaded if they did not embrace Saivism...Buddhism gradually disappeared.Buddhist vihars or temples in Kanchipuram and elsewhere along the east coast of India were demolished and there are instances of the golden images of Lord Buddha being melted and made into sheets for adorning temple spires or gopurams...[Much academic study has not been made because most of the modern historians are Hindus! Jains, for the most part, migrated to Karnataka and west-coast regions..Buddhists went to Ceylon or Sri Lanka or parts of Orissa. The Alwars sang hymns/verses on the glories of their Lord Vishnu in the form of 10 incarnations,especially that of Rama, Krishna, Vamana [the short statured one] and others. Devotees show their devotion in various attitudes or bhava towards the Lord.The most common bhava is that of the servant or slave of the Lord, to serve Him for ever.[Dasya bhava].Then some take on the role of a friend of the Lord,like Sudama or Kusela towards Lord Krishna.This is called Sakya bhava.Then some consider Lord as their small child and pour out affection, like Yasoda towards Krishna.This comes easy for women who have been mothers.This is Vatsalya bhava....Then the most dificult and sublime bhava is that of a girl loving her lover--the bride seeking her bridegroom or husband---this is Mathura bhava---extremely difficult because it may evoke carnal,erotic feelings....can these be sublimated? The Alwars took these various bhavas, but in some the bridal mysticism as it is called, the Mathura Bhava was predominant..full of romantic poems especially the alwars pining as a young girl would to find her lover![ Itis not easy to practise this Mathura Bhava and one should proceed cautiously in this bhava.] Among the twelve alwars, one was an untouchable or outcaste...He was called Panar--an itinerant ballad singer;he was denied entry in to the temple of Sri Rangam--- a rigid custom those days...By divine intervention, the panar was taken into the inner temple -sanctum sanctorum--on the shoulders of the temple priest---where he saw the image of the Vishnu Lord for the first and last time..There he sang ten verses or songs and collapsed or merged with the Lord.He became Thiruppan Alwar---his ten songs ,starting with the ,Pure, Primodial Being [Amalan, Adhi Piran]are sung every day in all major Vishnu temples,including the Tirupathi temple.---read his full life story if you can.!! To return to the works of the Alwars...They sang these hymns mostly when they visited numerous temples in Tamil Nadu.Hundreds of temples have been built ,with images of the deities in various forms.The verses were later collected and compiled by one savant, NATHAMUNI in the 10th century.This collection of 4000 verses is called Divya Prabandam or sacred hymns. This collection forms the basic scripture for Vaishnava sect which considers this as the equivalent of Vedas or Tamil Veda.These verses,please note,contain not only the devotional poems on personal god,but also the esoteric teachings in the light of Brahman or the Supreme Being.They have the essence of Upanishads told in subtle form..... . Much of these connections to Upanishad and Vedic lore was brought out in the 12th century by Sri Ramanuja and his followers for the next two centuries.They gave the philosophical underpinning for these essentially devotional literature and the concept of worshipping a personal god with images. These works of Alwars extolled the Love of God, as enshrined in temples at Sri Rangam,Thirupathi,Kanchipuram, Sri Villiputhur and above all, in Alwar Thirunagari [the great city of Alwar], the seat of Nammalvar,near Thirunelveli.These temples became very famous and sacred to these devotees ever since. The works of Alwars have been recognised by Sufi scholars and compared to that of Jalaluddin Rumi of 12th century...Indries Shah had devoted a chapter to these Alwars in his book on Sufism...But the Alwars predated the Sufi masters of 9th and 10th centuries...it is possible that they commnuicated by strange paranormal methods...that is without cell phones in those days...ALL DEVOTEES OF THE LORD FORM ONE CLAN!. [There are several translations of selected verses from the 4000 verses ---A K Ramanujan,P S Sundaram and others...Most of them are poor translations...There is one book by Rama Bharati which includes english translation of all the 4000 verses,along with the Tamil verses,available in Chennai which I would strongly recommend.] I must add that some of the verses have denigrating statements on Jains/buddhists ...The Alwars,though great devotees of Lord Vishnu, were prejudiced about other religions...they did not explicitly denigrate Lord Shiva,though they considered Vishnu as the Supreme deity.By this time Brahma was neglected and considered as a creation of Lord Vishnu...But again ,the early three alwars were above these thoughts---the Primal Being can be Vishnu or Shiva---who knows He is indescribable they said--- Therefore it is correct to say that the early alwars at least were above the Shiva-Vishnu schism that appeared later.. . _/\_
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 08:03:27 +0000
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