According to Akilattirattu Ammanai, the scripture of the

Ayyavazhi Ayyavazhi ( ta, அய்யாவழி, ml, അയ്യാവഴി ''Ayyāvaḻi'' , ) is a henotheistic belief that originated in South India.Tha. Krishna Nathan, ''Ayyaa vaikuNdarin vaazvum sinthanaiyum'', p. 62: "" (The day at which Va ...

religion,

Ayya Vaikundar Ayya Vaikundar (c.1833 –c.1851) ( ta, அய்யா வைகுண்டர், sa, अय्या वैघुण्ढर्) also known as Vaikunda Swami is the first and the foremost Purna avatar of Eka-Paran born to Lord ...

, the Incarnation of Lord Narayana in Kali Yukam, has five Seedar (disciples). They were in the previous Dwapara Yukam as

Pandavas The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowl ...

who were transmigrated as disciples of Vaikundar in this

Yuga A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga'' and ...

The Five Seedar

Dharma Seedar

The native place of Dharma Seedar is Mayiladi, a town in

Kanyakumari district Kanniyakumari district is one of the 38 districts in Tamil Nadu state and the southernmost district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu. It is also the richest district in Tamil Nad ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

. He was Dharmar, the elder of the

in the previous Dwapara Yukam. In history he was known as Sivanandi.

Bhiman Seedar

The native place of Bhiman Citar is Karumbattoor, a village in the district of

Kanyakumari Kanniyakumari (; , referring to Devi Kanya Kumari), also known as Cape Comorin, is a city in Kanniyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent and the southernmost city in mainland I ...

. He was Bhima, the most courageous of the Pandavas in the previous Dwapara Yukam. In history he was known as Pantaram (his name).

Arjunan Seedar

The native place of Arjunan Seedar is

Pillayar Kudiyiruppu Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...

, a village in the district of

. He was

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Pand ...

, one among Pandavas in the previous Dwapara Yukam. In history he was known as Arjunan.

Nakulan Seedar

The native place of Nakulan Seedar is

Colachel Colachel is a coastal town in the far south of India, located within the administrative jurisdiction of Kanyakumari District. It is a natural harbor on the Malabar coast, located 20 km north-west of Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin), the southernm ...

, a town in the district of

. Among the Pandavas in the previous Dwapara Yukam he was

Nakula In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, ''Nakula'' (Sanskrit: नकुल) was fourth of the five Pandava brothers. Nakula and Sahadeva were twins blessed to Madri, by Ashwini Kumaras, the divine physicians. Their parents Pandu and Madri - died e ...

. In history he was known as Subaiah.

Sakatevan Seedar

Hari Gopalan Citar, also known as Sakatevan Citar, is considered to be the most important among the Seedars because he was the man to write Akilattirattu Ammanai (Akilam), the holy scripture of Ayyavazhi. In the Adiyeduttharulal part in Akilam One of Akilattirattu he claims that it was not he, but

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

who wrote the contents of

Akilam Akilathirattu Ammanai ( ta, அகிலத்திரட்டு அம்மானை; ''akilam'' ("world"), ''thirattu'' ("collection"), ''ammanai'' ("ballad")), also called Thiru Edu ("venerable book"), is the main religious text of the T ...

. Akilam says that he was Sakadeva, one among the Panchapandavas and he was made to be born in Kali Yukam in a village south to Swamithoppe. He was known as Sakadevan in human history. There are also some reports claiming that Hari Gopalan Citar was

illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

and he did not know even the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a s ...

s 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 ...

before he wrote Akilam.

References

* N. Elango and Vijaya Shanthi Elango (1997), ''Ayya Vaikuntar the light of the world'' (published by the authors), Jeya Press, Theni. * G. Patrick (2003), ''Religion and Subaltern Agency'', University of Madras. * C. Paulose (2002), Advaita Philosophy of Brahmasri Chattampi Swamikal, Ayyavaikunta Nather Sidhasramam. {{Ayyavazhi large History of Ayyavazhi