MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 68 of 100

Correct — D, Andal. Tradition counts twelve Alvars, the Vaishnava poet-saints of the Tamil country (roughly the 6th to 9th centuries CE), and Andal — also called Kodhai or Goda Devi — is the only woman among them. She was the foster daughter of Periyalvar (Vishnuchitta) of Srivilliputhur, and her two compositions, the thirty-verse Tiruppavai and the Nachiyar Tirumozhi, are among the best-loved poems of the tradition; the Tiruppavai is recited through the Tamil month of Margazhi to this day. Her verses take the stance of a bride longing for Vishnu, and tradition holds that she finally merged with the deity at Srirangam. Her shrine at Srivilliputhur is one of the most visited Vaishnava temples in Tamil Nadu.

• (a)Nammalvar — Nammalvar (Maran, also called Sathakopan) was a man, and the most revered of the twelve. His Tiruvaymozhi is treated as the heart of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham and is sometimes called the 'Tamil Veda' — but he is not the woman saint asked about.
• (b)Poigai — Poigai Alvar was a man and one of the three earliest Alvars — the 'Mudhal' (first) Alvars, Poigai, Bhutham and Pey — credited with the first of the Andhadhi hymns.
• (c)Thirumangayi — Thirumangai Alvar was a man, traditionally counted the last of the twelve. He was a chieftain who turned to devotion and composed the Periya Tirumozhi; he is remembered for his association with the Srirangam temple.

The earliest phase of the Bhakti movement grew in the Tamil country between roughly the 6th and 9th centuries CE, in two parallel streams — the twelve Alvars, devotees of Vishnu, and the sixty-three Nayanars, devotees of Shiva. Both sang in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, travelled from shrine to shrine, and made emotional surrender rather than ritual or scholarship the road to the divine. The Alvars' hymns were later gathered into the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and their devotionalism became the base on which Ramanuja built Sri Vaishnavism.

The question is a gender check hidden inside a list of Tamil names, and the three wrong options are all male Alvars, so guessing by the sound of the name is unreliable. The fix is to remember one anchor per tradition: Andal is the woman among the twelve Alvars, and Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best-known of the women among the sixty-three Nayanars. Once those two are fixed, the rest of the list can be male by default.

• Twelve Alvars (Vaishnava) and sixty-three Nayanars (Shaiva) are the Tamil bhakti poet-saints of roughly the 6th–9th centuries CE.
• Andal, also known as Kodhai or Goda, is the only woman among the twelve Alvars; she was the foster daughter of Periyalvar of Srivilliputhur.
• Her works are the Tiruppavai (30 verses, recited in the month of Margazhi) and the Nachiyar Tirumozhi.
• The hymns of the Alvars are collected in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham — four thousand verses, traditionally compiled by Nathamuni.
• Nammalvar's Tiruvaymozhi is the most celebrated section of the Prabandham; Thirumangai Alvar is counted the last of the twelve.
• Ramanuja's Sri Vaishnavism drew directly on Alvar devotionalism; among the Shaiva Nayanars, Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best-known woman saint.

• Swapping the two streams: Alvars are Vaishnava (12), Nayanars are Shaiva (63)
• Assuming Andal was the only woman in the whole Tamil bhakti movement — she is the only woman Alvar, but the Nayanar list includes women, of whom Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best known
• Attributing the Tiruppavai to Manikkavachakar, who composed the similarly named Shaiva Tiruvempavai

MPPSC asks for names and counts — who was the woman, how many Alvars and Nayanars, who composed what. UPSC asks about doctrine and attribution instead: what a teacher such as Ramanuja actually taught, or which text belongs to which tradition. Prepare the numbers and the names for MPPSC, the ideas for UPSC.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The hymns of the Alvar saints are collected in which of the following?

  • (a)Tevaram
  • (b)Nalayira Divya Prabandham
  • (c)Tirukkural
  • (d)Periya Puranam

  Answer(b) Nalayira Divya Prabandham — the four-thousand-verse Vaishnava collection; the Tevaram and Periya Puranam belong to the Shaiva Nayanar tradition.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Nayanar saints of the Tamil country were devotees of:

  • (a)Vishnu
  • (b)Shiva
  • (c)Murugan
  • (d)Devi

  Answer(b) Shiva — the Nayanars are the Shaiva counterparts of the Vaishnava Alvars.