Periazhvar [meaning Big/Older Alwar]:
Nammalwar [meaning Our Alwar]:
Among the 12 alwars, the one with high esteem is 'Nammalvar' whose contribution in 4000 is 1297. The collection of Nammalwar's work is called as 'Thiruvaimozhi' which comes under 4th 1000 prabandham. More details below.
Mudhal Azhvars [meaning First Alwars]
Among 12 Alwars, 3 of them are said to be 'Mudhal Alwargal' meaning 'First Alwars'. They're Poigal Alwar, Budat Alwar, and Pei Alwar. The surprising part in it is, they were born on the same month, and on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday respectively and were contemporaries.
Poigai Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine conch of the Lord called Panchajanyam. Poigai meaning pond. This Alwar was said to be born from a pond. Hence the name poigai Alwar.
Budat Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine mace of the Lord called Kaumodhaki.
Pei Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine sword of the Lord called Nandaki. It is to be noted here that the same Nandaki has incarnated as 'Annamaiyya' in Andhra Pradesh.
Meeting of Mudhal Alwars
Thirumalisai Azhvar
A divine child which was born without limbs and was blessed by Sriman Narayana [ Lord of all creations ] and Thayar [ Godess/Counter part of Almighty ] to get the full form. The baby survived without milk or any intake of food for so many years. It is said that it is the incarnation of the 'disc', the Sudharshan Chakra of the Lord Narayana. His contribution was 216 pasurams [divine hymns] in 4000 Divya Prabandams.
Madhurakavi Azhvar
All other Alwars who said, Lord Narayana is the Ultimate, Madhurakavi Alwar was different from them. For him, Namalwar is the God. Though Madhurakavi is elder to Namalwar [Sadagopan], he assumed him as his Guru and was all in his service. He felt Namalwar is his God. By this, he stood distinct from other Alwars.
Thirumangai Azhvar
The bow of Lord Vishnu is called Sarangam. The incarnation of the bow is said to be 'Thiru Mangai Alwar'. He was born as a great warrior and was the chief commander of Chola army.
Other names are parakalan, neelan, nalu kavi perumal.
The songs sung by them [called 'paasurams' in tamil] are considered to be equivalent to vedas and are chanted in temples even today. The temples where Azhvars visited and sang in praise of the Lord are called as 'Divya Desam' singing in praise of holy shrines is called 'Mangalasasanam'. There are 108 Divya Desams including 'Thiru Parkadal [meaning Lord lying on serpant bed in milky ocean] and Paramapadam or Parathuvam [Origin/Source of everything]' which are the abodes of the Lord. Most of the shrines glorified with Mangalasasanam are situated in the place called 'Trichy' in TamilNadu. The very important holy abode in Trichy is 'Sri Rangam'.
The name itself shows obviously that he is so special among alwars for the reason that he is the alwar who adopted 'Sri Andal' who is once again an alwar. Sri Andal got married to the Lord himself and Vishnuchita was then called as Perialwar for being 'Father-in-law' to the Lord himself.
Nammalwar [meaning Our Alwar]:
Among the 12 alwars, the one with high esteem is 'Nammalvar' whose contribution in 4000 is 1297. The collection of Nammalwar's work is called as 'Thiruvaimozhi' which comes under 4th 1000 prabandham. More details below.
Mudhal Azhvars [meaning First Alwars]
Among 12 Alwars, 3 of them are said to be 'Mudhal Alwargal' meaning 'First Alwars'. They're Poigal Alwar, Budat Alwar, and Pei Alwar. The surprising part in it is, they were born on the same month, and on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday respectively and were contemporaries.
Poigai Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine conch of the Lord called Panchajanyam. Poigai meaning pond. This Alwar was said to be born from a pond. Hence the name poigai Alwar.
Budat Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine mace of the Lord called Kaumodhaki.
Pei Azhvar is the incarnation of the divine sword of the Lord called Nandaki. It is to be noted here that the same Nandaki has incarnated as 'Annamaiyya' in Andhra Pradesh.
Meeting of Mudhal Alwars
Thirumalisai Azhvar
A divine child which was born without limbs and was blessed by Sriman Narayana [ Lord of all creations ] and Thayar [ Godess/Counter part of Almighty ] to get the full form. The baby survived without milk or any intake of food for so many years. It is said that it is the incarnation of the 'disc', the Sudharshan Chakra of the Lord Narayana. His contribution was 216 pasurams [divine hymns] in 4000 Divya Prabandams.
Madhurakavi Azhvar
All other Alwars who said, Lord Narayana is the Ultimate, Madhurakavi Alwar was different from them. For him, Namalwar is the God. Though Madhurakavi is elder to Namalwar [Sadagopan], he assumed him as his Guru and was all in his service. He felt Namalwar is his God. By this, he stood distinct from other Alwars.
Thirumangai Azhvar
The bow of Lord Vishnu is called Sarangam. The incarnation of the bow is said to be 'Thiru Mangai Alwar'. He was born as a great warrior and was the chief commander of Chola army.
Other names are parakalan, neelan, nalu kavi perumal.
The songs sung by them [called 'paasurams' in tamil] are considered to be equivalent to vedas and are chanted in temples even today. The temples where Azhvars visited and sang in praise of the Lord are called as 'Divya Desam' singing in praise of holy shrines is called 'Mangalasasanam'. There are 108 Divya Desams including 'Thiru Parkadal [meaning Lord lying on serpant bed in milky ocean] and Paramapadam or Parathuvam [Origin/Source of everything]' which are the abodes of the Lord. Most of the shrines glorified with Mangalasasanam are situated in the place called 'Trichy' in TamilNadu. The very important holy abode in Trichy is 'Sri Rangam'.