The ''Ramanuja Nutrantati'' () is a work of
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
literature written by Periya Koil Nambi, consisting of 108 ''pasuram''s (hymns). It was composed in the poetic style of the
''antati'', in which the last word of each verse is also structured as the first word of the following verse.
According to
Sri Vaishnava
Sri Vaishnavism () is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, predominantly practiced in South India. The name refers to goddess Lakshmi (also known as Sri), as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and the god V ...
tradition, the composition of these hymns is regarded to have impressed
Ramanuja
Ramanuja ('; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; 1077 – 1157), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavi ...
so much that he conferred the epithet ''Tiruvarangatu Amudhanar'' upon the author. The saint
Manavala Mamuni is regarded to have added it to the compendium of the
Alvars
The Alvars () are the Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused '' bhakti'' (devotion) to the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, in their songs of longing, ecstasy, and service. They are venerated in Vaishnavism, which regards Vishnu as the ...
's hymns, the
''Nalayira Divya Prabandham''. The work is also referred to as ''Prapanna Gayatri'' in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
.
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, southern India, serving as the chief deity of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam. The deity is a re ...
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 Nutrantati''.
Hymns
The second hymn of this work extols the deeds of Ramanuja:
See also
* ''
Periya Tiruvantati
The ''Periya Tiruvantati'' ( ) is a compilation of hymns written by Nammalvar, one of the Alvars, the poet-saints of the Sri Vaishnavism, Sri Vaishnava tradition. This work, which is a part of the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, ''Nalayira Divya Praba ...
''
* ''
Periya Tirumoli''
* ''
Tiruviruttam
The ''Tiruviruttam'' () is a work of Tamil Hindu literature composed by Nammalvar, a poet-saint of the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Comprising one hundred verses, is one of the many works present in the compilation known as the ''Nalayira Divya Pr ...
''
References
{{Tamil literature
Tamil Hindu literature
Vaishnava texts
Naalayira Divya Prabandham
Tamil-language literature