Poigai Alvar

Poigai Alvar (पोय्गै आल्वार्, c. 7th century by common scholarly estimate) is regarded by Sri Vaishnava tradition as the first of the twelve Alvars, the Tamil poet-saints devoted to Vishnu, and the first of the three Mudhal Alvars (“prime Alvars”). He is the author of the Mutal Tiruvandadhi, a hundred-verse Tamil hymn included in the Divya Prabandham.

Life/Legend

Traditional hagiography relates that Poigai Alvar was found as an infant in a temple tank (poigai) at Kanchipuram, from which he takes his name, and was raised by a devotee of Vishnu. A well-known legend places him at Tirukkoilur on a stormy night, where he sought shelter in a narrow veranda of a house; he was joined there, one after another, by the other two Mudhal Alvars, Bhoothath Alvar and Pey Alvar, none of whom knew the others. To pass the night, tradition says, each composed verses on Vishnu — Poigai Alvar imagining a great lamp, an image that inaugurated the entire corpus of Alvar poetry. These accounts are devotional tradition rather than documentary history.

Works

• Mutal Tiruvandadhi — 100 verses, the first work of the Divya Prabandham, built around the metaphor of a lamp of love that reveals Vishnu in the heart.

Legacy

The lamp image attributed to him is emblematic of Alvar devotion, and his hymns are recited in Sri Vaishnava liturgy at Srirangam and other Vishnu temples.

Verification notes

• Alvar dating is debated; scholars generally place the Alvars between the 5th and 9th centuries CE, with the Mudhal Alvars commonly assigned to the 7th.
• The tank-birth and veranda episodes are hagiographic tradition, not historical documentation.
• Audited against Wikipedia (September 2026).