Page:Tamil studies.djvu/334

Rh (Compare verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 17, 79 &c. in Tiruchchanda Viruttam with 308, 237, 266, 265, 264, 268 &c. in the poem of Sivavakkiyar). But Sivavakkiyar was a theist belonging to the Siddhar School and lived at least eight or nine centuries posterior to our saint. The style of Tirumalisaiyar is sublime and philosophic, while that of Sivavakkiyar is insipid and at times vulgar. The story given in the Guruparamparai connecting the saintly Tirumalisai Piran with the iconoclastic Sivavakkiyar must, therefore, be a later interpolation.

We shall now take Tiruppanalvar and Tondaradippodi Alvar for consideration. First of them was born of a Panan family at Uraiyur, while the second was a Soliya Brahman of Tirumandangudi in the Tanjore district. The Panans were an inferior caste of minstrels frequently ailuded to in the Pu ananuru, Padirruppattu and other works of the acadeinic period. In the Census of 1891 Panan was returned as a sub-caste of Paraiya and was always considered very low in social scale. Like Nandan of the Saivites, Tiruppan Alvar was a devout worshipper of Vishnu. Yet he was not permitted to enter the Vishnu temple at Srirangain, as he belonged to the lowest out-caste. There is a tradition to the effect that Ranganatha cominanded one Lokasaranga, a sage, to bring him to his shrine on his shoulders. In consequence of this story Our Alvar is known also as 'Muni Vahana.'