The Child of the Paddy Fields

Uraiyūr, the ancient capital of the Chola kings, lies on the southern bank of the Kāveri, close to Sri Rangam. There, in the month of Kārthigai, under the Rohiṇī nakshatram, a child was found lying in a field of ripening paddy. Tradition holds that he was an amsham of the Srivatsa, the sacred mark that rests upon the chest of Sriman Nārāyaṇa.

A couple of the Pāṇar community, who had long prayed for a child, found him there and took him home as their own. The Pāṇars were singers and players of the yāzh, the ancient stringed instrument of the Tamizh land, and the child grew up amid their music. From his earliest years, every song he sang was for Sri Ranganātha.

In those times, the Pāṇars were not permitted to enter the sacred island of Sri Rangam. The child, who would come to be known as Tiruppāṇ Āzhwār, accepted this without complaint. He would not even set foot on the island, for he felt himself unworthy to walk upon the ground where his Lord dwelt.