According to tradition, Pey Alwar appeared the day after Bhoothath Alwar, in a red lily (sevvalli) in a well at Thirumayilai, today's Mylapore in Chennai, near the temple of Adi Kesava Perumal. Pey means one who seems possessed. His love for the Lord was so complete that he no longer behaved as the world expects, and people took him for someone not in his senses. He wore the name gladly.
He was the last of the three to reach the hermitage passage at Thirukkovalur, and the three stood together until they felt the Lord among them. By the light of the two lamps his companions had lit, Pey Alwar saw the Lord, with Thayar. The first verse of his work is the joy of that sight (Moondram Tiruvandadi 1).
His Moondram Tiruvandadi (100 verses) is full of that seeing. It sings of the Lord at many divya desams, Thiruvenkatam above all, and of the Lord as both the goal and the way.
Tradition holds that Pey Alwar later turned Thirumazhisai Alwar, who had wandered through many schools of thought, to Sriman Narayana, and became his acharya. So the light lit at Thirukkovalur passed at once to the next Alwar.
A pasuram to begin with
Moondram Tiruvandadi 1 · verse 2282 of the four thousand
By the light of the two lamps, Pey Alwar saw who had come among them. His first words are the joy of that sight, and the first thing he names is Thayar.
Meaning
I saw Thiru! I saw His golden form, I saw His beautiful colour, like the shining sun; I saw the golden discus that blazes in battle, and the spiral conch in His hand, today, in my Lord whose colour is the ocean's.
Word by word
- tiruk
- Sri, Mahalakshmi, Thayar
- poṉ mēṉi
- golden form
- arukkaṉ aṇi niṟamum
- beautiful colour like the sun's
- ceruk kiḷarum
- that blazes in battle
- poṉ āḻi
- the golden discus
- puri caṅkam
- the spiral conch
- eṉ āḻi vaṇṇaṉpāl
- my Lord whose colour is the ocean's
- iṉṟu
- today
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
Pey Alwar sang 100 pasurams. Each one is here in English letters, with a simple meaning and the meanings of its key words.