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228
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST, 1906.
TIRUMANGAI ALVAR AND HIS DATE.
BY S. KRISHNASWAMI AIYANGAR, M.A., M.R.A.S.; BANGALORE, PARADOXICAL as it may seem, it is neverčbeless the fact that, although a great deal has been written concerning the Vaishnava Saints and devotees, their history has yet to be written. There has, unfortunately, been too great a tendency in the writers, great and small, to refer them to periods, more as it suited their preconceived notions as to the recent origin of Vaishnavism in general, than on any dispassionate examination of such evidence, imperfect in its nature of course, as is available. It would not be going over quite a beaten track to bring together here such historical information as has been brought to light, setting aside the extreme Saiva arguments of Tirumalaikkoļuodu Pillai and his school on the one side and the ardent Vaishnava view of A. Govinda Charlu and bis school on the other. This is not because I do not appreciate their learning, but because the one school would deem nothing impossible of belief, while the other would see nothing that could not be made to lend itself to giving the most ancient of these saints a date somewhere about the end of the first millennium after Christ. Gopinatha Rao belongs to a different school, and in his recent ambitious attempt in the Madras Review for 1905) at a history of Vaighnavism in Soutb India, he has come to certain conclusions, which would certainly have commanded assent but for a too transparent tendency to establish certain conclusions.
Without pretending to say the last word on the subject, I shall merely put forward certain facts and arguments I have been able to gather in my studies and the notes that I have made from the writings of some of my friends, who have been pursuing similar research, and leave it to my readers to draw their own conclusions, while not depriving myself of the pleasure of making such inferences as appear to me warranted. I may at the outset acknowledge my obligations to my friend, Pandit Raghavaiyangar, Assistant Editor of the Sen Tamil, who has with remarkable courtesy placed some of his notes at my disposal, and has been of great help to me in looking up references, &c., to literature.
The Vaishnavas, like their confrères of other sects, trace their hierarchy of gurus (preceptors in religion) from God bimself. Patting the translunary part on one side and coming down to terra firma, their list consists of names divided into two broad Classes, entitled, in Vaishnava parlance, the Alvars and Acharyas. There are twelve among the former and a large number among the latter, which is being added to by each separate sector unit at the decease of the existing guru for the time being. Without going into the details of the hagiology of these saints and proceptors, we are enabled to collect the Ålvars, from the traditional accounts alone, into three groups - the ancient, the middle, and the last. The list of the Twelve Ålvårs, with their traditional dates of birth, is as follows:(Poygai Alvar ...
B. C. 4203 Ancient Bhútattar
Pey Alvår Tirumaliśai Alvar Namm Alvar ... Madharakavi ...
3102 Middle. Kulasekhara ...
, 3075 Periy Alvar ... (Anda! ...
3005 (Tonderadippoời
B. C. 2814 Last ... Tiruppan Alvar Tirumangai Aļvár
. : 2706
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3056
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2760
