Who Wins the Contest of Love? Nammāḻvār’s Love in Teṉkalai Śrīvaiṣṇava Exegesis of Tiruvāymoḻi

Abstract

Prema, or aṉpu in Tamil, signifies unconditional love for God within the Śrīvaiṣṇava Maṇipravāla commentaries. A central theme woven through the numerous commentaries on Nammāḻvār’s ninth-century CE Tiruvāymoḻi is the comparative analysis of the saint-poet's love for God and God's reciprocal love. The commentators grapple with questions such as: What were the origins of Nammāḻvār's profound prema for God? How does Nammāḻvār’s prema measure against Nārāyaṇa’s prema for him? Which of these loves held greater significance and why? Was it Nammāḻvār’s prema, as expressed through the intensely emotional verses of the Tiruvāymoḻi, or was it God’s prior prema for Nammāḻvār that enabled his devotion in the first instance? Furthermore, why does the Śrīvaiṣṇava commentarial tradition frequently depict a dynamic interplay, almost a contest, of love between the divine and the devotee? This analysis delves into Maṇipravāla texts focusing on Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi to elucidate the nuanced theological stance of the Śrīvaiṣṇavas concerning the love emanating from God and that of the individual soul.