Thirumangai Alvar - As A Vaishnava Saint

As A Vaishnava Saint

Hinduism


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Transformed by his encounter with God, Thirumangai gave up his chieftainship and became a devout Vaishnava, dedicated to god Vishnu. To atone for his sins, he visited 88 of the Divya Desams, a group of 108 Vishnu shrines primarily in south India. He spread the poems of older Alvars in his wandering. He was also well versed in earlier Tamil literature like Naaladiyar, Thirukkural, Sangam literature and Jain literature.

Thirumangai preached against penance and advocated bhakti (devotion) as way to attain salvation. He composed 6 poems in Tamil, together acoounting for 1361 verses. In the book Divya Prabandham, 1361 verses of Thirumangai are included, making them the most composed by any Alvar. Tamil Vaishnavas consider them as the six Tamil Vedangas or Angas of the 4 poems of Nammalvar, which are considered as Vedas. His most important work is Periya Tirumoli, composed of 1084 hymns. The others are: Tirunedunthandakam (30 verses), Tirukuruthandakam (20 verses), Tiruvelukkutirukkai (a single long poem of 47 lines), Siriya Tirumadal (155 lines) and Periya Tirumadal (297 lines).

A late ninth century text, Tamilalangaram by Dandapani Swamigal describes him of having the rare privilege of biting god Vishnu's toes and being pardoned for all his sins, as he wrote in Tamil. Vaishnavas consider him as a divine incarnation of Sharanga, Vishnu's bow.

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