| In Todai nadu
there are twenty two places which were visited and sung in
all by five alvars. Out of these only eleven places were visited
by the four early alvars all of whom belonged to that region.
The other eleven places were sung by Tirumangai alvar only.
In fact none of the alvar who belonged to the Pandya and the
Malai or Chera nadu visited any of the temples in Tondai nadu,
although some of them (particularly Sri Nammalavar) managed
to visit Tiruvengadam after visiting Tiruvinnagaram and Tirukkudandai
(Kumba konam). This would justify the assumption that the
Tamilians of the extreme south had not in those days an attachment
to the northerners and did not care to assess the greatness
of the early alvars in combating the heretic religions of
Buddhism and Jainism long before the people in the extreme
south had to face the problems. |
