Vaishnavism in Ancient Tamilakam

Mahabharatha and Harivamsa

Krishna holding Goverdhana sculpture at Mahabalipuram dating 6th century AD

The Paripādal (

Maduraikanchi (Tamil: மதுரைக் காஞ்சி), ^[51] is an ancient Tamil poem in the Sangam literature. Lines 497 to 511 allude to gods and goddesses in temples like Thirumohoor Kalamegaperumal temple^[52] and Koodal Azhagar temple^[52] with iconographic items of Hinduism. Maha Vishnu is called the Ruler of the three worlds and the "Supreme Deity" and it identifies Rama and Krishna as his incarnations of Maha Vishnu.^[52] He is alluded to with "God who protects the world" and also as Tirivikrama - The lord who measured the three worlds. A bathing festival with ritual dip in the waters to "cleanse their sins" is mentioned in the poem. Chanting of the Vedas is mentioned in lines 512–518,^[40] The lines related to the Vedas, states Chelliah, alludes to the jivanmukta ideology found in Hinduism.^[53] Maduraikanchi also details the Thiruvonam festival celebrated in the Koodal Azhagar temple, Madurai.^[54]

Akanaṉūṟu

Number of poems echo the Hindu puranic legends about Parashurama, Rama, Krishna and others in the Akanaṉūṟu .^[55][56] According to Alf Hiltebeitel – an Indian Religions and Sanskrit Epics scholar, the Akanaṉūṟu has the earliest known mentions of some stories such as "Krishna stealing sarees of Gopis" which is found later in north Indian literature, making it probable that some of the ideas from Tamil Hindu scholars inspired the Sanskrit scholars in the north and the Bhagavata Purana, or vice versa.^[57] However the text Harivamsa which is complex, containing layers that go back to the 1st or 2nd centuries BCE, Consists the parts of Krishna Playing with Gopis and stealing sarees.

The Akanāṉūṟu has a reference to the

Purananuru

The earliest reference to the story of the Ramayana is found in the

The Purananuru poems use words, phrases, and metaphors, including references to the Himalayas of "immeasurable heights", Vishnu, Shiva, the four Vedas, the Ramayana, rivers, and other aspects.^[61][62][60]

Other Sangam works Which mention Vishnu

• Kalittokai is notable for including allusions and references to pan-Indian love and moral legends found in Epics– and Puranas–genre Sanskrit texts. According to Zvelebil, some examples in the Kalittokai include Krishna an avathara of Maha Vishnu killing His uncle Kansa in poems 52 and 134, Duryodhana's evil plans to kill the Pandava brothers in poem 25, the battle of Murugan and Surapadma in poem 27, An event mentioned in the epic Ramayana, of Ravana lifting the Kailasa is described in the Poem 139 of Lines 33 to 37, Bhima in poem 52, the love story of Urvasi and Tilottama in poem 109, among others.^[63]

• The
  Murugan and Korravai (Uma, Durga), and their worship by warriors and the king.^[66][67]
  The poems, epilogues, and colophons are significant in studies of ancient culture and sociology.
• Pattuppāṭṭu anthology of the Sangam literature.^[68] The lengthy poem mentions the Hindu god Maha Vishnu primarily. Maha Vishnu was considered as the "Supreme Deity" in the poem and worshiped by many saints and kings. It also mentions the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi in lines 463–464 and the "god on whose breast she sits enthroned".^{[citation needed][69]} The Malaipatukatam uses the word ool (Sanskrit: karma).^[70]
• Murugan.^[72]
• Maha Vishnu namely Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram, Yathothkari Perumal Temple,^[77] Pandava Thoothar Perumal Temple and alludes to one additional temple the Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram as a Main temple for these 3 Perumals.^[78] The similes used in the poem are those found in the Vedic and Puranic mythologies of Hinduism.^[78]

Mullaippāṭṭu (Tamil: முல்லைப்பாட்டு, lit. "the forest or jungle song") is an ancient Tamil poem in the Sangam literature.^[79] Authored by Napputanar, it is the shortest poem in the Ten Idylls (Pattuppāṭṭu) anthology, consisting of 103 lines in akaval meter. The poem is "one of the most beautiful of the Pattuppattu songs, states Zvelebil.^[80]

The short poem mentions the Hindu god Vishnu through an elaborate simile.^[81][82] Lines 46–47 of Mullaippattu mentions Brahmin yogis in ochre-colored clothes carrying three staves and called as "Mukkol Pakavars" and indicates that only Vaishnava saints were holding Tridanda and were prominent during the period and considered Maha Vishnu as the Supreme god.^[83] The poem has about 500 words, predominantly Tamil. It has 13 Sanskrit loan words and 2 non-Tamil provincial words.^[84]

Manimekalai

Example from The Canto XIII of Manimekalai

Aputra then meets and accuses the Brahmins of twisting the meaning of the

This epic also makes several references to the Ramayana, such as a setu (bridge) being built by monkeys in canto 5, line 37 (however the location is Kanyakumari rather than Dhanushkodi). In another reference, in canto 17, lines 9 to 16, the epic talks about Rama being the incarnate of Trivikrama or Netiyon, and he building the setu with the help of monkeys who hurled huge rocks into the ocean to build the bridge. Further, canto 18, lines 19 to 26, refers to the illegitimate love of Indra for Ahalya the wife of Rishi Gautama(Pandian, 1931, p. 149)(Aiyangar, 1927, p. 28).^[86][87][88] The epic again mentions Rama as Vishnu, from the story Ramayana, It states that Rama built a link (bridge) to Sri Lanka, but a curse of an ascetic dissolved the bridge link.^[89]

Silappatikaram

The

According to D. Dennis Hudson – a World Religions and Tamil literature scholar, the Cilappatikaram is the earliest and first complete Tamil reference to Pillai (Nila, Nappinnai, Radha), who is described in the epic as the cowherd lover of Krishna.^[91] The epic includes abundant stories and allusions to Krishna and his stories, which are also found in ancient Sanskrit Puranas. In the canto where Kannaki is waiting for Kovalan to return after selling her anklet to a Madurai merchant, she is in a village with cowgirls.^[91] These cowherd girls enact a dance, where one plays Mayavan (Krishna), another girl plays Tammunon (Balarama), while a third plays Pinnai (Radha). The dance begins with a song listing Krishna's heroic deeds and his fondness for Radha, then they dance where sage Narada plays music. Such scenes where cowgirls imitate Krishna's life story are also found in Sanskrit poems of Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana, both generally dated to be older than Cilappatikaram.^[91] The Tamil epic calls portions of it as vāla caritai nāṭaṅkaḷ, which mirrors the phrase balacarita nataka – dramas about the story of the child Krishna" – in the more ancient Sanskrit kavyas.^[91]

The oldest direct reference to

Thirukural is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each. In the introductory chapters of the Kural, Valluvar cites Indra, the king of heaven, to exemplify the virtue of conquest over one's senses.^{[citation needed]} According to Tamil Hindu scholars such as Parimelalakar, other concepts and teachings found in Valluvar's text and also found in Hindu texts include Vedas,^[98] gods (Trimurti), sattva, guṇa, munis and sadhus (renouncers), rebirth, affirmation of a primordial God, among others.^{[citation needed]} According to Purnalingam Pillai, who is known for his critique of Brahminism, a rational analysis of the Valluvar's work suggests that he was a Hindu, and not a Jain.^{[citation needed]} Similarly, J. J. Glazov, a Tamil literature scholar and the translator of the Kural text into the Russian language, sees "Thiruvalluvar as a Hindu by faith", according to a review by Kamil Zvelebil.^[99]

Valluvar's mentioning of God

Couplet Explanation: The king who never gives way to idleness will obtain entire possession of (the whole earth) passed over by Vishnu who measured (the worlds) with His foot. (Thirukural Number 610).

The compendium begins with the Tirupallantu, a benedictory hymn written by Periyalvar, wishing long life to Vishnu.^[108]

Combination of Sanskrit Vaishnavism and Tamil Vaishnavism

Nathamuni (10th century), combined the two traditions, by drawing on Sanskrit philosophical tradition and combining it with the aesthetic and emotional appeal of the Tamil Bhakti movement pioneers called the Alvars.^{[citation needed]} Sri Vaishnavism developed in Tamil Nadu in the 9 th century, after Nathamuni returned from a pilgrimage to Vrindavan in north India (modern Uttar Pradesh).^{[citation needed]}

Nathamuni's ideas were continued by

Visistadvaita ("qualified non-dualism") philosophy.^{[citation needed}

]

Kamba Ramayanam

See also:

Kamba Ramayanam

During the period of Nathamuni, Kambar, or Kavichakravarthy Kamban (1180 CE–1250 CE),^[113] wrote the Ramavataram, popularly known as Kambaramayanam, the Tamil version of the epic Ramayana.^[114]

The original version of Ramayana was written by

Jain scholar Tirunarungundam honoured the work and it resulted in Tamil and Sanskrit scholars approving the work.^{[citation needed}

] The open hall where he recited his verse lies close to the Ranganayaki shrine within the temple and now called as the Kamba Ramayana Mandapam.

Gallery of Old Vishnu Temples

• 
  An 1870 photo of the gopurams in the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple
• 
  Padmanabhaswamy Temple
• 
  Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
• 
  Koodal Azhagar temple, Madurai
• 
  Yathothkari Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram
• 
  Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram
• 
  Oppiliappan temple
• 
  Adi Srinivasa perumal temple
• 
  Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi
• 
  Bhu Varaha Swamy temple
• 
  Sarangapani temple, Kumbakonam
• 
  Neelamegha Perumal temple
• 
  Srivaikuntanathan Perumal temple
• 
  Narasimhaswamy Temple, Namakkal
• 
  Gunaseelam Prasanna Venkatachalapathy Temple
• 
  Pundarikakshan Perumal Temple
• 
  Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple
• 
  Sri Yoga Rama temple
• 
  Adhirangam Ranganathaswamy temple
• 
  Soundararajaperumal temple, Nagapattinam

Temples dedicated to Maha Vishnu

See also: Divya Desam, Abhimana Kshethram, and Pancha Kshethram

• Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam
• Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
• Andal Temple, Srivilliputtur
• Namagiri Thayar Sametha Narasimhaswamy perumal temple, Namakkal
• Sundararaja Perumal Temple, Salem
• Srivaikuntanathan Perumal temple
• Adikesava Perumal temple, Mylapore
• Koodal Azhagar temple
• Nachiyar Koil
• Sowmya Narayana Perumal temple
• Adi Srinivasa perumal temple
• Eri-Katha Ramar Temple
• Chakrapani Temple, Kumbakonam
• Sarangapani temple, Kumbakonam
• Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram
• Parthasarathy Temple, Triplicane
• Bhu Varaha Swamy temple
• Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram
• Ashtabujakaram
• Adikesava Perumal Temple, Kanyakumari
• Pandava Thoothar Perumal Temple
• Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi
• Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Tirukoyilur
• Mudikondan Kothandaramar Temple
• Thirupullabhoothangudi Temple
• Kola Valvill Ramar Temple, Tiruvelliyangudi
• Vijayaraghava Perumal temple
• Ramaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam

See also

• Vedic religion in Ancient Tamilakam

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