The Ramanuja Nootrantati () is a work of

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

literature written by Periya Koil Nambi, consisting of 108 ''pasuram''s (hymns). It was composed in the poetic style of the

antati Antati ( ta, அந்தாதி, translit=Antāti) is a unique kind of Tamil poetry, constructed such that the last or ending word of each verse becomes the first word of the next verse. In some instances, the last word of the series of vers ...

, in which the last word of each verse is also structured as the first word of the following verse. According to Sri Vaishnava tradition, the composition of these hymns is regarded to have impressed

Ramanuja Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...

so much that he conferred the epithet Thiruvarangathu Amudhanar upon the author. The saint

Manavala Mamuni Alagiya Manavalan, best known by his epithet Manavala Mamunigal (1370–1450), was a Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Histori ...

is regarded to have added it to the compendium of the

Alvars The Alvars ( ta, ஆழ்வார், Āḻvār, translit-std=ISO, lit=The Immersed) were the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused ''bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and ...

's hymns, the

Naalayira Divya Prabandham The Naalayira Divya Prabandham ( ta, நாலாயிரத் திவ்வியப் பிரபந்தம், lit=Four Thousand Divine Hymns, translit=Nālāyira Divya Prabandham) is a collection of 4,000 Tamil verses composed by ...

. The work is also referred to as ''Prabandha Gayatri'' in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Legend

According to tradition, Periya Koil Nambi was initially an opponent of Ramanuja, whose activities as the chief priest of the Srirangam temple are said to have interfered with the latter's work. The deity

Ranganatha Ranganatha, also known as Ranganathar, Rangan, Aranganathar, Sri Ranga, and Thenarangathan, is a Hindu deity with his origin in South India, serving as the chief deity of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam. The deity is a resting form of ...

himself is said to have appeared in a dream of Nambi, pleading the case of Ramanuja. While Ramanuja started to discuss the prospect of leaving Srirangam with his disciple named Kurathalvar, Nambi appeared and sought to become a shishya (disciple) of the former, having realised his greatness. Ramanuja, however, asked Kurathalvar to accept him as his own shishya instead. With this, the animosity between the two men came to an end, and Nambi handed over the keys to the temple to Ramanuja. In time, he composed the Ramanuja Nootrantati.

Hymns

The second hymn of this work extols the deeds of Ramanuja:

References

{{Reflist Tamil Hindu literature Vaishnava texts Naalayira Divya Prabandham

Legend

Hymns

See also

References