According to tradition, Thirumazhisai Alwar was born at Thirumazhisai, near Chennai, to the sage Bhargava and his wife Kanakangi. The child was born without a formed body and was left in a thicket of cane. Perumal blessed the infant with form and life, and he was raised by a cane cutter, Thiruvalan, and his wife Pankayachelvi.
As a young man he searched through many systems of belief, one after another, looking for the truth. Pey Alwar met him and turned his heart to Sriman Narayana, and he became Pey Alwar's disciple. The sampradaya calls him Bhaktisara, the very essence of devotion.
Two stories show how the Lord answered his love. At Thiruvekka in Kanchipuram, when the king banished his disciple Kanikannan for refusing to sing the king's praises, the Alwar left with him and asked the Lord to roll up His serpent bed and come too. The Lord did, and returned only when they returned; so He is called the Perumal who did as He was told, Yathotkari. At Thirukkudanthai (Kumbakonam), Aravamudhan began to rise from His reclining posture to answer the Alwar, and remains half-risen to this day.
Tradition says he cast his writings into the Kaveri, and only two floated back against the current. Naanmugan Tiruvandadi (96 verses) teaches that Sriman Narayana alone is the cause of all, even of Brahma, the four-faced creator. Tiruchanda Viruttam (120 verses), set in a flowing rhythm, sings of the Lord's nature and His avataras. Together they make 216 verses.
A pasuram to begin with
Tiruchanda Viruttam 1 · verse 752 of the four thousand
Thirumazhisai Alwar had searched many paths before he found the Lord. His first verse sees the whole world as His, and confesses that His nature is beyond our grasp.
Meaning
You are the earth with its five qualities, the water with its four, the fire with its three, the excellent wind with its two, and the sky with its one; You stand within each of them with its own distinct nature. Who has the power to think of You as You truly are?
Word by word
- pū
- the earth
- puṉaṟkaṇ
- water
- tī
- fire
- kāl
- the wind
- mī
- the sky
- aintu, nāṉku, mūṉṟu, iraṇṭu, oṉṟu
- five, four, three, two and one: the qualities each element holds, from sound, touch, form and taste to smell
- vēṟu vēṟu taṉmaiyāy
- each with its own distinct nature
- yār niṉaikka vallarē
- who is able to think of You?
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
Thirumazhisai Alwar sang 216 pasurams. Each one is here in English letters, with a simple meaning and the meanings of its key words.