Poigai Āzhwār

Tondai Nāḍu, a land renowned for its radiance and natural beauty, holds many cities, and among them Kanchipuram is said to be especially blessed with wealth and loveliness. Tiru Atthiyūr, known today as Chinna Kanchipuram, lies within it, surrounded by numerous temples of Sriman Nārāyaṇa, and so this part of the city is called Vishṇu Kanchi. The larger part, filled with temples of Lord Shiva, is called Shiva Kanchi.

In Vishṇu Kanchi stands Tiruvekhā, also known as the Yathōthakāri Sannidhi, a kshethram with its own special glory and the abundant anugraham of Sriman Nārāyaṇa. Near the Yathōthakāri temple lies a poigai, a small pond filled with fresh and beautiful lotus flowers, and close beside it, Sonna Vaṇṇam Seitha Perumāl gives His sevai to the whole world.

This pond, set within so great a kshethram, has a glory beyond its fragrance and beauty. In the year Siddhārthi, in the month of Aippasi, on Shukla Ashṭami, a Tuesday, under the Tiruvōṇam nakshatram, Poigai Āzhwār was born in it as an amsham of the Lord's sacred conch, the Pāñcajanya, one of the five divine weapons of Emperumān. Because he was born in the poigai, he came to be called Poigai Āzhwār.

From childhood his thoughts were fixed on Sriman Nārāyaṇa alone. He resolved to follow the Lord and to spread His glory throughout the world. He learned the teachings of the Vaishṇavas, lived by them, and led his life as a true Vaishṇava should. Knowing the greatness of devotion to the Lord of Tirumalai, and wishing that His fame should reach every person in the world, he renounced the ordinary attachments of human life: desire, anger and the pursuit of wealth.