Yamunacharyar

Yāmunāchāryar was born as the son of Īshvara Muni and as a grandson of Nāthamunigaḷ. He was born on the banks of the Yamunā River; hence, he got the name of Yāmunāchāryar. He studied under Manakkaal Nambi, who was an expert in Mimamsa.

After mastering Sanskrit and Tamizh grammar, he had composed a shloka which loosely translates to "he would destroy the poets who were looking cheaply for publicity instead of performing their duties of studying various literature." This news reached the ears of Aakiaazhwaan, who was the royal poet to the Pallava kings, whose capital was situated in Gangai Kondapuram near Shrīraṅgam. The Pallava king was a staunch Shaivite, whereas his wife was a staunch Vaishnavite.

The queen asked the king to hold an open debate in the court between Aakiaazhwaan and Yāmunāchāryar to decide who was a better poet. Thus, the king sent a royal palanquin to receive Yāmunāchāryar to hold an open debate in the royal court. Before the discussion began, the king announced that whoever would win the debate would receive half of his kingdom as a prize. The king was confident that Aakiaazhwaan would win the contest.

Aakiaazhwaan let Yāmunāchāryar open the discussion, as he was younger and said he would refute any statement that Yāmunāchāryar would place in front of him. Thus, Yāmunāchāryar began the debate with three remarks.

1) Aakiaazhwaan's mother is not childless.

2) The king is all capable.

3) The queen is a true pathivratha naari.

Aakiaazhwaan started to think hard about how he would refute the three statements that were placed before him. As hard as he tried to think, there was no way he could refute the statements placed before him without insulting his mother, the king, and the queen. Aakiaazhwaan was dumbfounded and asked Yāmunāchāryar to refute his arguments. Yāmunāchāryar quickly refuted the three statements as follows:

1) Aakiaazhwaan's mother is childless, as, according to shastras, if a parent has only one child who does not care for the parent, it's as good as being childless.

2) The king was not all capable as he was only capable of ruling his stipulated piece of land.

3) The queen could not be considered as a true pathivratha naari as, according to shastras, when a woman is getting married, she is first married to Gandharva, Agni, and Soma before being married to the groom. Thus, she is not a true pathivratha naari.

Aakiaazhwaan understands Yāmunāchāryar's mastery and asks to become his disciple. Even the queen was so impressed by Yāmunāchāryar's responses that she gave him the title of Āḷavandār. As promised, the king gave Āḷavandār half of his kingdom. Thus, Āḷavandār, who was born as a brahmin, became a king and became busy with administrative activities. To remind him of his actual duties, Manakkaal Nambi tries to meet his disciple, but his efforts are in vain as the royal guards stop him from meeting Yāmunāchāryar.

Thus, Manakkaal Nambi, in a scheme to reform his disciple, befriends a cook in the royal kitchen and secretly starts to feed the king thoothuvalai keerai (a green leafy vegetable), which is a type of sattvic food. Āḷavandār starts to like this vegetable, and one day, the cook was instructed not to serve it. Thus, one day, when he was not served thoothuvalai keerai, Āḷavandār approached the cook and asked why he had not served it that day. The cook said he was following the instructions of an elderly Sri Vaishṇava Āchārya.

Āḷavandār went out seeking this Āchārya and realized that it was none other than Manakkaal Nambi. He invites Manakkaal Nambi to his royal court, gives him a royal seat, and performs all the stipulated athithi sathkaaram to Manakkaal Nambi. Manakkaal Nambi reminds Yāmunāchāryar of his duties and starts to teach him the Bhagavad Gītā and its meaning. Āḷavandār became immersed in Bhagavath-Dyaanam and decided to give up his life as a king to become an aesthetic at the feet of Sri Ranganathar.

His famous works include:

1) Chathusloki

2) Stotraratnam - a prayer in praise of Lord Sriman Nārāyaṇa

3) Siddhitrayam - consisting of (i) Atmasiddhi. (ii) Samvitsiddhi and (iii) Iswarasiddhi, which describe the Vishishṭādvaita school of thought, illustrating a relation between the soul, god, and the universe

4) Agama Pramanya - stating the authority of the Pancharatra agama

5) Maha Purusha Nirnayam - describing that the ultimate reality is the god-goddess pair Sri and Nārāyaṇa

6) Gitartha Sangraha - a commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā

7) Nityam

8) Mayavada Khandanam