Nammalvar (also Nammaazhvaar, Nammazhvar, Nammaalvaar, Nammalwar) was one of the twelve Alvars, well-known for his many hymns on devotion to Vishnu. Tradition gives him the date 3102 B.C. (i.e., the beginning of the kali yuga), but scholars give him a date 880–930 A.D which is more realistic based on the events recorded. He was born in the asterism Visakham, in what is now Alvartirunakari (also known as Tirukkurugur), Tamil Nadu. His name means "our own alvar" (alvar means "one immersed in God"). He was also known as Maran and Shadagopan. It is better to make a distinction between traditional scholars and academic, or critical, scholars. The academy does not own the term scholar, which does carry some prestige. In the politics of representation, traditional scholars want to be identified as such, not excluded from "scholarship".
the paradigm
We here and that man, this man,
and that other in-between,
and that woman, this woman,...[read poem]
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and that other in-between,
and that woman, this woman,...
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