Vaishnavism was propagated by Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu. Who was the only female Sadhvi among the Alvar saints ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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 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) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2025 Q68 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q68 — History PYQ with Answer