ALVAR

any of a group of South Indian mystics who in the 7th to 10th century wandered from temple to temple singing ecstatic hymns in adoration of the god Vishnu. The songs of the Alvars rank among the world's greatest devotional literature. Among the followers of Siva, the counterpart of the Alvars were the Nayanars. The name Alvar means, in the Tamil language in which they sang, one who is immersed in meditation of God. Their bhakti (religious devotion) was of an intensely passionate kind; they compared the soul to a woman who yearns for her lord's love. The Alvars are described as falling unconscious in rapture before the image of their lord, and the saint Nammalvar, in speaking of the madness of religious exaltation, exhorted his fellow mystics to run, jump, cry, laugh and sing, and let every man witness it. The hymns of the Alvars were gathered in the 10th century by Nathamuni, a leader of the Srivaisnava sect, who introduced the regular singing of the hymns in Vaisnava temples of South India. The collection is called Nalayira Prabandham (Collection of 4,000 Songs).