Thirumalisai Alvar

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Thirumalisai Alvar is a tamil mendicant-saint revered in the srivaishnavism school of south india probably between the 4th to 8th century CE. There are no historical records of this alvars. The legend of this saint devotees of srivaishnavism say that he was the incarnation of vishnu's disc, Sudarshana. He may have been born a brahmin but was adopted by a lower caste person, as he proclaimed that he was "not of the 4 castes" in one of his couplets. He seems to have had the access and resources to learn about various religions because in one of his couplets he says "After my futile efforts to know the supreme principle through Jainism, and Buddhism I am blessed by sriman Narayana to take refuge at the Lotus feet of Sri Devi and have escaped all problems and misfortunes since then". There is also evidence in his couplets that show that he was discriminated against by brahmins and asked God to help reveal their ignorance to them. Legend also says that when he displeased the pallava king and was banished, he asked the God from the temple, Yathotkari, to leave with him. Vishnu is said to have rolled up the snake Sesha like a matress and left with him. There are only 216 of his paasurams in the 4000 Divya Prabhandham.