Periyalvar was born into a
Brahmin family in
Srivilliputhur, near
Madurai and was named Vishnuchittar meaning "one who has
Vishnu in his mind". Since his childhood, he had very strong devotion to Vishnu. He renounced many aspects of common life of a man i.e., getting educated , getting married and have children, earning money, but instead focus on
Bhakti (devotion), especially on doing simple tasks for god. He would make garlands of flowers for the deity of the Vadapadrasayi temple. Once during random rounds around the city, the
Pandyan king Vallabhadeva thought to take rest in a nearby temple. There, a man who renounced his life was singing a song related to liberation or moksha. The king heard this, turned very emotional and the song had a very strong influence in him. Next morning, he declined his kingship and held a competition between scholars to find out the path to liberation. The prize is 1,00,000 gold coins, tied to a large pillar, which will definitely fall if god is convinced about the answer whoever tells. All tries, but the bag doesn't fall down. On the other side, Vishnuchitta was gardening his Tulasi plants at the moment. According to tradition, Vishnu informed about this event to Vishnuchitta who was unaware what was going on in the city. Vishnuchitta despite repeated convince, declined Lord Vishnu's advise to go and win the competition, stating that he had no education, and how can he win the competition that too which has to be explained according to the vedas. Vishnu, took his conch, and placed it on Vishnuchitta's head and mouth, immediately Vishnuchitta became very fluent in Vedas and all other education, just by simple touch by a powerful Panchajanya on his head. He went to the competition ground. Seeing the participants, he was afraid and nervous. But boldly, he placed his anxiety on Vishnu, automatically, he put forward the necessary points and proofs that Vishnu is the ultimate destiny to all, and the bag fell at Vishnuchitta's feet. The king was very happy, and placed Vishnuchitta on an elephant taking him in procession around the streets of Madurai. Vishnu gave his appearance to all the sky of Madurai and blessed Vishnuchitta. Vishnuchitta didn't have a minute pride, and cried to the lord, why is he taken into precession, even though it is the lord who was actual reason for all that is happening. Immediately, he wrote the famous
Tirupallantu on the elephant. Vishnuchitta gave away all the money to charity and he started to do his job again. Vishnu was moved by this for a very simple character of his devotee. Vishnu was thinking, that he has given everything to Vishnuchitta. he have education, money, but Vishnuchitta accepts nothing except devotion. The final thing Vishnu could do is, he can't give anything to Vishnuchitta, but he can give himself to him. Immediately, he sees Bhudevi who was massaging his feet. Bhudevi understood, and on Earth, when Vishnuchitta was offering water to the Tulasi plants, he found a baby crying. He takes her on his shoulder and gets a very unusual happiness and feels her like her own daughter. He also enquired about it to everyone, but all says it's not their daughter. So, he plans to take care of her on his own. Vishnuchitta names her Kodhai. Vishnuchittar composed a couplet called "pallandu" (பல்லாண்டு) (also called
Tirup-Palandu [திருப்பல்லாண்டு] out of respect) translating to "Long live for many years, Long live for many years for Hundreds of thousands of years!" to God. This is a very important prayer in Srivaishnava liturgy today. Vishnuchittar composed some pasurams in the 4000
Divya Prabhandham called
Periyalvar Tirumoli where he explores a devotee's love for God through the metaphor of
Yashoda's motherly love for
Krishna. He was the adopted father of Kodhai or
Andal, the only woman Alvar. Periyalvar was fascinated by the childhood exploits of
Krishna and developed devotion and love for God, incarnated as Krishna. And he sang of
Krishna, the Child Deity, with maternal love. He was more concerned about the welfare of child
Krishna than his own. Because of his love and devotion, he was named Periyalvar, or the great
Alvar. Apart from his native
Srivilliputhur, he visited
Thirukoshtiyur,
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam,
Tiruvellarai and
Alagar Kovil. ==Significance==