Abstract

This article examines how love (anbu), eagerness (arvam), mind and wisdom (jnanam) are interrelated in Bhutattalvar's Irandam Tiruvantati. Against the background of the work's hundred pasurams, it takes up for close reading the pasurams in which the lamp metaphor, dialogue with the heart, the divine name, embodied emotion words and the self-awareness of Tamil song appear. The pairings in the first pasuram (love as the lamp, eagerness as the ghee, thought as the wick and wisdom as the flame) do not present a knowledge stripped of feeling; they render as poetry a knowing of God that is sustained by feeling. In the acts of calling upon the heart, remembering, esteeming, singing and worshipping, the devotional self is continually formed. Because the boundless love of the final pasuram rejoins the love of the opening, wisdom is read not as the end of love but as its continuation. Engaging with recent studies of emotion, Vaishnavism and Tamil aesthetics, the study establishes that putting devotional experience into words both communicates that experience and trains others in it. Its methodological basis is to approach the source pasurams without conflating later philosophical interpretations with their direct meaning.

Keywords

References

15 references
  1. Adluri, S. (2026). Commentary writing, religious reading, and pedagogy in medieval South India: The first commentary on Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi. The Journal of Hindu Studies, 19(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiaf021
  2. Akepiyapornchai, M. (2025). Translating Tamil God into Sanskrit in Vedāntadeśika’s Dramiḍopaniṣattātparyaratnāvalī. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 145(1), 43–64. https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.145.1.2025.ar003
  3. Anandakichenin, S. (2024). Divine favour and human gratitude: A study of Vedānta Deśikaṉ’s Upakārasaṅgraham. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 52, 639–674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-024-09580-w
  4. Anandakichenin, S. (2025). The resilience of a mediaeval bridge-language: A look at the modern usages of Maṇipravāḷam. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 53, 595–617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-025-09596-w
  5. Clooney, F. X. (2025). Maṇipravāḷa as an instrument of interpretation in Uttamūr Vīrarākavacāriyas reading of the Tirucantaviruttam. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 53, 509–534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-025-09606-x
  6. Krishnaveni, N., & Rajeswari, G. (2022). Folk literature in Nalayira Divya Prabandham. International Research Journal of Tamil, 4(S-16), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.34256/irjt224s1621
  7. M, A. (2025). Tamil esthetic tradition in a foreign genre: A study of Jeyamohan’s Kaadu (2003). South Asian Review, 46(3), 260–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2023.2298612
  8. Moiseev, S. R. (2023). Vaishnavism in Nammalvar’s poem “Tiruviruttam.” RUDN Journal of Philosophy, 27(4), 996–1008. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2302-2023-27-4-996-1008.
  9. Mukherjee, S. (2024). Bodies & emotions: Analyses of embodiment & bhakti in Sahajiyā. Revista Latinoamericana de Estudios sobre Cuerpos, Emociones y Sociedad, 16(44), 83–90. https://www.relaces.com.ar/index.php/relaces/article/view/647
  10. Pandit, P., & Krieger, W. (2024). A comparative study of emotion in Indian and Western philosophy. Comparative Philosophy, 15(1), 115–134. https://doi.org/10.31979/2151-6014(2024).150110
  11. Pandit, S. A. (2024). Conceptualising Bhāvana: How do contemplative Hindu traditions inform understanding emotions and well-being? Culture & Psychology, 30(1), 95–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X221118919
  12. Patnaik, P. (2025). Revisiting Indian approaches to emotion: From ordinary to aesthetic, from rejection to effusion. Journal of Indian Knowledge Systems, 1(1), 19–42. https://doi.org/10.1163/30510171-00101001
  13. Rajasrinivasan, K., & Ganesan, A. (2025). Verivilakkal (banning the frenzied dance) in the verses of Parankusa Nayaki and Manavala Nayaki: Adaptation of classical tradition to the Bhakti tradition. Tamilmanam International Research Journal of Tamil Studies, 6(02), 118–126. https://tamilmanam.in/journal/index.php/issue/article/view/211
  14. Ram-Prasad, C. (2023). The happiness that qualifies nonduality: Jñāna, bhakti, and sukha in Rāmānuja’s Vedārthasaṃgraha. International Journal of Hindu Studies, 27, 237–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-022-09328-9
  15. Widdison, L. (2026). The love of God? Bhakti (devotion) and the virtues in Spinoza’s Ethics (Parts IV and V) and Bhagavadgītā chapters 12–14 (Bhaktiyoga). Religions, 17(5), Article 588. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17050588

How to Cite

M., K., Gunasekaran, B., & V. C., S. (2026). அன்பிலிருந்து ஞானத்திற்கு: பூதத்தாழ்வாரின் இரண்டாம் திருவந்தாதியில் வைணவ பக்தியின் உணர்வியல்: From Love to Wisdom: The Affective Dimension of Vaishnava Bhakti in Bhutattalvar’s Irandam Tiruvantati. KALANJIYAM - International Journal of Tamil Studies, 10(06), 104-116. https://doi.org/10.63300/KIJTS10n06m112026.08
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Similar Articles

1-10 of 82

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>