According to tradition, Madhurakavi Alwar was born at Thirukkolur, close to Thirukkurugur, in a learned family. He was older than Nammalwar, a scholar and a poet whose words were so sweet that he was called Madhurakavi, the sweet poet.
While on pilgrimage in the north, at Ayodhya, he saw a bright light in the southern sky. Night after night he followed it, until it led him to Thirukkurugur and to the young Nammalwar sitting in silence under the tamarind tree. Madhurakavi asked him a question about the soul and the body, and the answer showed him that this was his master. He gave himself wholly to Nammalwar's service and wrote down the verses as they came.
His one work, Kanninun Siruthambu (11 verses), does not sing of Perumal directly. It sings of Nammalwar, his acharya, as everything to him. After Nammalwar left this world, Madhurakavi installed his sacred image at Thirukkurugur and spread his Tiruvaymozhi far and wide.
These 11 verses are the model of acharya abhimanam: the teaching that a disciple's whole-hearted devotion to his acharya is itself the surest refuge. Manavala Mamunigal places them at the centre of the Prabandham (Upadesa Ratnamalai 26). Centuries later, Nathamunigal recited them 12,000 times at Thirukkurugur, and Nammalwar appeared and gave him the whole Prabandham. So the four thousand came back to us through these eleven.
A pasuram to begin with
Kanninun Siruthambu 1 · verse 937 of the four thousand
Madhurakavi Alwar sang only of his acharya, Swami Nammalwar. The elders treasure his eleven verses as the heart of devotion to the acharya.
Meaning
The great, wondrous Lord let Himself be bound with a fine, small, knotted rope. Yet when I turn from Him, my Lord, to Nammalwar and say "the Nambi of southern Kurugur", nectar wells up, sweet, on my tongue.
Word by word
- kaṇṇi nuṇ ciṟut tāmpiṉāl
- a fine, small, knotted rope, the one Yashoda bound Krishna with
- kaṭṭu uṇṇap paṇṇiya
- who let Himself be bound
- peru māyaṉ
- the great, wondrous Lord
- eṉ appaṉil
- my Lord and father
- teṉ kurukūr nampi
- the noble one of southern Kurugur, Swami Nammalwar
- aṇṇikkum amutu ūṟum
- sweet nectar wells up
- eṉ nāvukkē
- on my tongue
The verse is from the e-text of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Project Madurai. The meaning is a simple rendering in the light of the acharyas' commentaries, and is awaiting a scholar's review.
Ask Sri Paduka about this pasuram →All the pasurams
Madhurakavi Alwar sang 11 pasurams. Each one is here in English letters, with a simple meaning and the meanings of its key words.