________________
230
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[August, 1906.
it is now a Brahman village. These facts, in conjunction with references to the Pallayas in the Periyatirumoli, would refer the Alvar to the age of the Pallava Ascendonoy previous to the rise of that Chola Power which wielded imperial sway over South India from the tonth to the fourteenth century after Christ.
The Pallava Ascendency was coeval with that of the early Western Châlukya period and vanished not long after the rise of the Rashtrakatas, who overthrew their enemies, the Western Chalukyas. Before adducing positive evidence that tends towards this conclusion, we have to examine critically the opinions offered by others as to the age of the Alvar. Bishop Caldwell and those that followed him could be excused if they held that these were disciples of Ramanuja, as now-a-days Gopinatha Rao is willing to believe that Tirumangai Alvar and other later Alvars were contemporaries, if not actually disciples, of Alavandør, Ramanuja's great-grandfather. In support of this view he quotes a stanza from a work called Koiloluhu, wbich is a history of the Srirangam Temple. In the stanza a street, called after Tirumangai Alvar, comes after a street called after Rajamahendra. This latter is identified with the son and successor of the Rajendra who fought the battle of Koppam in 1052 A. D. Hence he infors that Tirumangai Ålvár must have lived in the latter half of the 11th century.
That Bamanaja had read and had derived much wisdom from the works of this last of the Àlvårs is in evidence, so as to satisfy the most fastidious student of bictory, in the centum known as the Ramanujanúrrandhadhi, a work composed during the lifetime of Ramanuja by a convert and pupil of his own disciple Kuratt Alvar. This connection between Amudan, the author of the centum, and Kuratt Alvar is borne out by stanza 7 of the centum and the old Guruparamparai of Piubalagya Jiyar, stanzas 8-21. The former acknowledges Ramanuja's indebtedness to all the twelve Alvårs and the two early Achâryâs, Nádhamuni and his grandson Aļavandar. This inconvenient piece of
evidence bas been accorded no place in the array of evidence and authorities passed in review by Gopinatha Rao.
TO DASA on to the positive evidence available, the Vaishnavas always regarded the Alvars higher in spiritual estate than the Acharyas, not merely as such, but also as being more ancient, and they must have had some reason for making this distinction, If Tirumangai Âļvår and others of that class had been disciples of Álavandâr, why call this' latter only an Acharya and bis disciples Alvârs, the idols of the Âlvârs being placed in temples and worshipped, while those of most of the Acharyas are not. Leaving this aside as the outcome of most onreasonable partiality on the part of the Vaisbņayas, we have other evidence to fall back upon, Inscriptions of Rajârâja II., about the middle of the 12th century, contain the unusual name Arattamukki Dasan - the first part of which is a special title of Tirumangai Alvar. Next, prince Choļa-Kerala, about the middle of the 11th century, made provision for the recital of Tirunenudando ham, one of the works of Tirumangai Âlvår, which would be extraordinary if he had been living at the time and working to accumulate merit and earn his title to saintliness, especially as his life was, during the greater part of it, far from saintly.
That Tiramangai Alvar was not a disciple of Alavandar is also made probable by A stanza in praise of his work by Tirukkôttiyâr Nambi, from whom Râmanûja bad to learn, wbich goes to show that this Álvar's works had been regularly studied and handed down from preceptor to disciple for some time at least. Again, the conquering Chola brothers, Rajadhirâja, who fell at the battle of Koppam, and his younger brother Rajendra who succeeded bim, had an elder brother by name Alavandân. If this name had been given to him because of the Acharya, the latter must bave been anterior to him by a considerable interval, as even now the name is specially Vaishņaya.
Xadra Rotier, Feb. and May, 1905. - History of the Srivaishpan Movement. • Epigraphist's Roport for 1900, p. 10.
