Alwars

[ajaysimha]

i have a question to be asked

what is the difference between Alwars and Poets ?

there are other poets through out our country like
(thyagarajar, venkatakavi, arunachala kavi, jayadeva kavi, bhattatri, ramadasar, narayana theertar, annamachrya, purandaradasa and others)
even the these poets have conveyed the same bhakthi sidhantha as done by alwars

and alwars are called saint - poets,
then who has given them the accreditation of saint
or what makes them special(saintly) from the rest of the poets ?

[Rajani]

A very interesting question. Let me share what I think. I hope others will add to this.

aazhvaar as a general term literally means "one immersed" (in Bhakti), so in the Srivaishnava tradition that term is given to great Puranic characters also. For eg. Rama's brothers are called "iLaiyAzhvAr"(Lakshmana) and "bharatAzhvAr", and I've even heard VibhishaNa-aazhvaar.

The 12 Vaishnavite saints who are collectively referred to as aazhvaars have some common features such as :
1. Singing only on Vishnu with Eka-bhakti
2. Composing only Tamil verses, largely in the form of decads(groups of ten verses each)
3. Praising the Lord as enshrined in specific Kshetras (later these became known as Divya-desams). While some of them actually travelled to these shrines, some saw them with the mind's eye and described them.

Their works, about 4000 verses in all, were compiled by a saint called Nathamuni, probably in the 10th century. The high status given to them in the Srivaishnava tradition established by Sri Ramanuja, have resulted in :

1.Their shrines being found in many temples of Vishnu
2.Their verses are part of temple rituals as well as ceremonies in Srivaishnavas' lives - weddings etc.
3. Lots of commentaries and other works delving into these 4000 verses and single verses (tanians) written praising the Azhvars or as a foreword to their specific works

As a result of these things, Azhvars have become a unique group, an exalted subset of poets/saints who you have listed. All Azhvars are saint-poets but the vice versa is not true in the particular meaning we now assign to the word.

[CRama]

The 4000 verses are the Divyaprabandham. Am I correct.

[Sachi_R]

Ajay,
The Bhakti marga of workship has become the primary medium of approaching the Divine in Hindu dharma.

We can trace almost all major Bhakti movements to the beginnings in South India. Alwars form a core group of saints who propagated the Bhakti cult. This is in Tamil Nadu. We have similar movements and groups of Shiva Sharanas and Dasa pantha in larger Karnataka region.

Sri. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri. Tulsidasa, Meera, Kabir, Vallabhacharya, etc. etc. who have all enriched Bhakti movements have been influenced by traditions from n the south.

The triad in the Bhakti movement is Bhagavata+Bhakta+Bhagavan. Sri. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has spoken at length about this.

What does this mean? Bhagavan or the supreme Lord is approached by the Bhakta or devotee. His guru or guide or mentor is the Bhagavata. It is interesting that we use the same word for these guides or role models or saints as we use for the most important purana called Srimadbhagavatam. That purana in Samskrita narrates stories of the triad - Bhagavata+Bhakta+Bhagavan.

Alwars of Tamil Nadu were devotees who became saints by virtue of their closeness to God. Their poetry and song were not done as composers to show their poetic skills. They were expressions of their Bhakti ecstasy. Their outpourings were in the language of the people, Tamil, and not a scholarly Samskrita. Remember that Alwars all predated Sri. Ramanuja and Sri. Madhva who are the most important acharyas of Bhakti movement. In fact the word saint-poet-singer was defined by Alwars.

[RSR]

@2
@Rajani
Excellent, Sir! Thank you.
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@Sachi_R
Very fine, Sir.
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@1
@ajaysimha
I am really surprised!. by your question. ! The Alwars were NOT music composers. They were Devotional poets of Vaishnavam of unsurpssed literary beauty!. Just as I am missing the literary gems in many Telugu and Kannada literature of yore, a non-Tamil may miss the loveliness of the poetry of Alwars. In fact, no poetry can be really appreciated except by 'native' speakers, of the language.
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The names that you have mentioned such as Purandaradasa, Badrachalam Ramadasu, the Trinity, are all venerated not so much for the literary merit ( MD 'may' be an exception...he was not much in the Bakthi tradition, but more oriented towards the esoteric , tantric and ritualistic tradition, decried by Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and almost every one of the Bakthi school. , though he composed kritis on deities and so many temples. ), but for their music. There is an obvious confusion in your mind about poets ' poetry and the lyrics of CM composers.
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So much of the 'music' part of composers before the Trinity is LOST. Only their lyrics remain.

And to be frank, the lyrics of Thyagaraja Swami, Shyama Sastry and even of MD are not all that good. Take away their music and the theme , even a native Telugu speaker will opt for may be other poets in Telugu.

What little I know of Purandaradasa saahithyams are definite exceptions. Kannadigas are fortunate that they can 'immerse' themselves in the poems of DasaSahithyams.

Sanskrit of course is an all India language and irrespective of the vernacular, the creations can be appreciated and loved. Valmiki Ramayana said to be pre-Buddhist is so nice sounding!

CM composers of the Trinity lineage are nowhere near the great Tamil poets from 200 BC-200 AD ( Sangam Literature), 200 AD to 600 AD ( KaLabra Interrugnum...which gave us Ilango Adikal of Silappathikaaram and ThitukkuraL by ThiruvaLLuvar) , 600 AD to 1300 AD( the arrival of Bakthi poets in Tamil both of Vaishnava Sampradhayam ( Nalaayira Divya prabandham) and Sainite Nayanmars ( Thevaram and Thiruvachakam) .

It is possible that at least some of these devotional poems were set to tunes and sung in those days. Their best representatives are the Othuvars in Saivite temples. ( I do not know about the tradition in Vaishnavite temples). We may call it Tamizh music tradition, ( Sri.DandapaNi desikar and the thousands of Nagaswara Vidwans in Tamilnadu temples are the best representatives. .

Ancient Tamil music may have played a small part in the music of later day CM of Tanjore delta. Even that is questionable as Maharashtrian Bajan sampradaya might have influenced both the Dasar saint-composers and Thyagaraja. ).

From the literature and social point of view, the Vaishnavite and Saivite poems were the path shown by the saint-poets for weaning people away from Jainism and Buddhism by literature and music ( actually, RE-ESTABLISHING the ancient tradition of later centuries of Sangam era...'specifically 'paripaadal' . many passages of which sound like nice translations of Bagavath Gita. ). while CM was a similar effort against the terrible attack on our culture by some besotted alien -begot ,bigot-kings even in Karnataka, ( read about the fate of Vijayanagara 1550)and much earlier from 1300 from the fall of Delhi and Kanauj.

It was Sankara who showed the way to merge with the People's path of Bakthimaraga to the Vedic group. ( 600 AD) in response to arrival of Islam peacefully in Kerala ( Calicut region). ( Note the location of his birth place- Kaaladi !). It was too much like Buddhism in Vedic garb and too intellectual....It is significant that both the Vaishnavite and Saivaite Bakthi movement based themselves solidly on the people's language ( Tamil) . a sort of alternative path to the orthodoxy of Sankara.

Sri.Ramanuja ( 1100 AD) took it forward to make sufficient allowance for Bakthi Yogam as preached even in Bagavath Gita. and against Casteism and Untouchabilty. Ramanuja taught the seers to adopt both Tamil and Sanskrit and insisted that the ALwar poets be worshiped with equal reverence in SriRangam of great antiquity.
Ramanuja was forced to flee from Tamilnad for teaching , abolition of Untouchabilty. His movement won a number of adherents in many parts of India ( Annamacharya in Thiruppathi and a number of intellectual followers in Uttar Pradesh ( Raananda) ,
Kamban of Kamaba Ramayanam belonged to that period. and sang on Nammaazhvaar too. Can any of the latter day, composer-poets
be talked in the same breath? Arunachalakavi's lines are so very pedestrian. Words like 'dorai'!

In Mogul times, we had Tulsi das Ramayana, Guru Nanak, Kabir das, Surdas, Chaithanya Mahaprabu and Gyanadev in Maharashtra).

Madhvacharya extended it still further around 1400 almost insisting that the Bakthi marga was the foremost path of liberation from ego and libido. and the Dasar poets chose the people's language Kannada for their songs.

CM was created as a musical medium to propagate among the people. , a rebuttal of alien faiths. When Purandara dasa began his work, it is well to remember the dark forces looming over Deccan from North-Central Deccan. (today's Telengana) This background is absolutely necessary to differentiate between literary merit, theme , and social relevance. and the difference between CM and HM. and to understand the relevance of literature and music, in re-asserting the finer values of the National tradition and cleaning it of undesirable practices introduced by philistines.
We must give importance to the chronology and historical perspective.
http://sites.google.com/site/4carnaticmusic
will give you that perspective.
Rather lengthy post . Unavoidable in the context. May kindly be excused for the length.

[Rajani]

The 4000 verses are the Divyaprabandham. Am I correct.

Yes Sir.

I must add a correction to my post. Kulasekhara Azhvaar has also composed Mukunda-mala, a work in Sanskrit.

[ajaysimha]

apologies for delay in response.
as this was a vast subject.

thanks @Rajani, @Sachi_R and @RSR.

@RSR your response has covered a lot of things!!! Nice!

aazhvaar as a general term literally means "one immersed" (in Bhakti), so in the Srivaishnava tradition that term is given to great Puranic characters also. For eg. Rama's brothers are called "iLaiyAzhvAr"(Lakshmana) and "bharatAzhvAr", and I've even heard VibhishaNa-aazhvaar.

in parallel to this i also have heard kamban kalled as kambanatAlvan in vaishnava sampradayam

Their works, about 4000 verses in all, were compiled by a saint called Nathamuni, probably in the 10th century. The high status given to them in the Srivaishnava tradition established by Sri Ramanuja, have resulted in :

As a result of these things, Azhvars have become a unique group, an exalted subset of poets/saints who you have listed. All Azhvars are saint-poets but the vice versa is not true in the particular meaning we now assign to the word.

i also under stand that these divya-prabandhams were sung sole fully(revived), so nathamunigal gets his name as nathamuni.

We can trace almost all major Bhakti movements to the beginnings in South India. Alwars form a core group of saints who propagated the Bhakti cult. This is in Tamil Nadu. We have similar movements and groups of Shiva Sharanas and Dasa pantha in larger Karnataka region.

yes, i have heard this "the seed of bhakthi was sown in south(dakshina) and it's branches propagated throughout India"
(something like 'utpatim tu dakshine, vriddhim tu karnatake')

Alwars of Tamil Nadu were devotees who became saints by virtue of their closeness to God. Their poetry and song were not done as composers to show their poetic skills.

i get this but my questions are,
alwar is a term coined by vaishnava sampradyam for these saintly poets ?? (is it right ?)
i have seen the nalayira prabandham books - they suggest ragas like todi/kambhoji/udaya raga for particular sections.(but practically they are not sung that way)
were they nathamuni's contributions or of alwar's themselves ?

The names that you have mentioned such as Purandaradasa, Badrachalam Ramadasu, the Trinity, are all venerated not so much for the literary merit ( MD 'may' be an exception...he was not much in the Bakthi tradition, but more oriented towards the esoteric , tantric and ritualistic tradition, decried by Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and almost every one of the Bakthi school. , though he composed kritis on deities and so many temples. ), but for their music. There is an obvious confusion in your mind about poets ' poetry and the lyrics of CM composers.

yeah this gives a total understanding to differentiate the poets and saintly poets(alwars)

It is possible that at least some of these devotional poems were set to tunes and sung in those days. Their best representatives are the Othuvars in Saivite temples.

yes there is a similar practice in sri vaishnava temples and there are arayar's employed for the same.
arayar's sing the verses from prabandhams with the talam equipment

Ancient Tamil music may have played a small part in the music of later day CM of Tanjore delta. Even that is questionable as Maharashtrian Bajan sampradaya might have influenced both the Dasar saint-composers and Thyagaraja. ).

i feel Maharashtrian Bajan sampradaya might have influenced the so called dakshina sampradaya Bajanai
and dasa sahithya existed before or might be a contemporary too

[RSR]

@ajaysimha

Sri.Ajay,
Thank you. I am glad that you found the rather lengthy post, useful.

Thank you for the information about 'araiyars'. I have read somewhere that Srivilliputhoor temple (of ANdAL- also known as 'Koathai'- and 'Gotha' ) has ,male 'aged dancers' , who perform in the sannadhi. It is more like 'kathakaLi' of KeraLam.

( It is highly unlikely that either the Aaazhvars or Nadamuni, specified the 'music' for the hymns.) Other musicians might have given the music ( ragam etc),
and look for a very fine but incomplete article published long back,
on the first three hundred hymns ( Peyaazhvar, Boothathtaazhvar and Poykai Aazhvar) in Dr.Pauspathy's blog in Tamil section. All the three were living in present day Chennai /Kanchipuram area.

https://s-pasupathy.blogspot.com/2019/10/1384-2.html

CM was hardly ever 'notated' except after the Trinity. It was even in the first three decades of the last century ( 1900-1930), orally taught and transmitted tradition.

Periyaazhvar Paasurams ( He imagines himself as the mother of baby Krishnan) are absolutely ravishing.

And the language is not too difficult to follow though, it was written 1500 years back!

https://sites.google.com/site/homage2ms ... lakangalum
Such lovely poetry, set to music by S.V.Venkataraman, and sung by matchless Smt.MS, is just a drop in the ocean of ALwar's poetry.

Kindly do read his 'pakkaaNdu, pallaaNdu, pallaayiratthandu ', to understand the essence of his creed. ...a loving 'dhrushti parikaaram' and 'kaappu' to the Lord himself!
'பல்லாண்டு பல்லாண்டு ,பல்லாயிரத்தாண்டு '

[ajaysimha]

artists took up the pre-trinity lyrics of alwars, tuned it and started singing them in thukkada sections.
after the ARI -val's concert pattern came up,
and ARI himself was monumental in tuning the thiruppavi and popularizing them in his concerts

i have seen ARI/KVN/MSS/MLV/TNS/Nirmala Sundararajan & Subhashini Parthasarathy taking up at least 1 pasuram in their concert.
(i might have left some names)