THE VEDAS AND BHAKTI HARMONIZED - KŌVALŪR: THE MUTAL ĀḺVĀRS AND TIRUMAṄKAI

The unanimous opinion among religious philosophers is that the Vedas and bhakti are two different denominators of approach to God in Indian tradition. However, the Tamil Vaiṣṇava mystics, the Āḻvārs find a harmonious blend of the two modes in ritual worship. The present article examines the pros and cons of the problem from a study of the hymns beginning with the Mutal (Early) Āḻvārs and last in the train, Tirumaṅkai. The cited hymns are replete with the bounties of nature associated with the divyadeśa-Kōvalūr that we examine for a case study. Bhakti or the Veda is the euphony linked with nature. The present article explains how the Āḻvārs had harmonized the Veda with bhakti. These are complementary modes of approach to God. They are not conflicting phenomena. By the way, data bearing on flora and fauna dumped in the twenty-one hymns on Kōvalūr are presented in a capsule (Attachment).