Nammazhwvar நம்மாழ்வார் was one of the twelve Azhwars, well known for his many hymns on devotion to Vishnu. Legend gives him the date 3102 B.C. (i.e., the beginning of the kali yuga). He was born in the asterism Visakham, in what is now thirupathi saaram(also known as Thiruvenparisaaram), Tamil Nadu. His name means "our own azhwar (azhwar means "one immersed in God"). He was also known as Maran and Sadagopan.
Dhanian : (by Alavandhar)
"mAthA pithA yuvadhayas thanyA vibhoothi:
sarvam yadhEva niyamEna madhanvayAnAm l
Atyasya na: kulapathEr vagulAbhirAmam
Srimath thathangri yugalam pranamAmi moordhnA ll"
Year : 9th Century AD. 48 days after Lord Krishna ascended to Sri Vaikuntam
Birth Place : Thirukurugoor
Other Names : Sadagopan, Sadaari, Paraankusun, Maaran, Vakulaa Baranan, Kurugaiyar-kone
Month : Vaikaasi
Thiru Natchathiram: Visakham
Amsam : Senai Mudhaliyaar (Viswaksenar)
He was born in a small town called Thiruvenparisaaram, in the southernmost region of the Tamil country Nagercoil. His father, Kari, was a petty prince who paid tribute to the Pandyan King of Madurai. He must have been born fully enlightened because as a baby he never cried or suckled and never opened his eyes. According to legend, as a child he responded to no external stimuli and his parents left him at the feet of the deity of Lord Sri Adhinathar in Azhwarthirunagari. The child then got up and climbed into a hole in a tamarind, sat in the lotus position, and began to meditate. It appears he was in this state for as long as sixteen years when a Tamil poet and scholar in North India named Madhurakavi Azhwar saw a bright light shining to the south, and followed it until he reached Nammalvar's tree. Unable to elicit any reaction from the child, he asked him a riddle: "If the small is born in a dead's body(or stomach), what will it eat and where will it stay?" meaning, if the subtle soul is embodied in the gross body, what are its actions and thoughts? Nammazhwar broke his lifelong silence and responded, "That it will eat, and there it will rest!" meaning that if the soul identifies with the body, it will be the body but if it serves the divine, it will stay in vaikunta and eat(think) of God. Madhurakavi Azhwar realized the divinity of this child.
His contribution of four works (numbering 1296 hymns) to the four thousand of the Divya Prabhandham includes the entire fourth thousand and part of the third thousand. these works are
Tiruvaymozhi (1102 verses),
Tiruviruttam (100 verses),
TiruvAsiriam (7 verses) and
Periya Tiruvanthadi (87 verses).
Tiruvaymozhi describes Ranganatha as a metaphor to discussing the philosophical details in
The nature of the paramatma (divine soul)
The nature of the jeevatma (living soul)
The means for the jeevatma (living soul) to attain the goal of Paramatma (divine soul)
The blocks and hurdles on the way and
The goal Moksha (divinity).
The latter 2 are described in detail in the srivaishnava website. In the Srivaishnava canon, these four represent (in Tamil language) the four Sanskrit vedas, respectively, the Sama Veda, Rig Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharvana Veda. According to tradition "He poured the cream of these vedas" into his songs and poetry that were the result of deep mystic experience. Though Nammazhwar did not visit any of the 108 divyadesam temples talked about in the Vaishnava religion it appears from his works he must have had the vision of all the archa forms in the temples he had glorified in his hymns
