noticeable that
this sect, which had its origin in northern India, is said to have
been persecuted by the Jains[568] and to have been subsequently
revived by a teacher called Nivasa. This may explain why in the
twelfth century Vishnuism flourished in the south rather than in the
north.[569] Less is known of the Nimbarkas than of the other sects.
They worship Krishna and Radha and faith in Krishna is said to be
the only way to salvation. Krishna was the deity of the earliest
bhakti-sects. Then in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was
a reaction in favour of Rama as a more spiritual deity, but
subsequently Vallabha and Caitanya again made the worship of Krishna
popular. Nimbarka expressed his views in a short commentary on the
Vedanta Sutras and also in ten verses containing a compendium of
doctrine.[570]

3

As among the Sivaites, so among the Vishnuites of the south, history
begins with poet-saints. They are called the twelve Arvars.[571] For
the three earliest no historical basis has been found, but the later
ones seem to be real personalities. The most revered of them is
Namm'arvar also called Sathagopa, whose images and pictures may be
seen everywhere in south India and receive the same reverence as
figures of the gods.[572] He may have lived in the seventh or eighth
century A.D.[573]

The chronology of the Arvars is exceedingly vague but if the praises
of Siva were sung by poet-saints in the seventh century, it is
probable that the Vishnu worshippers were not behindhand. Two
circumstances argue a fairly early date. First Nathamuni is said to
have arranged the hymns of the Arvars and he probably lived about
1000 A.D. Therefore the Arvars must have become classics by this
date. Secondly the Bhagavata Purana[574] says that in the Kali age
the worshippers of Narayana will be numerous in the Dravidian
country, though in other parts found only here and there, and that
those who drink the water of the Kaveri and other southern rivers will
mostly be devotees of Vasudeva. This passage must have been written
after a Vishnuite movement had begun in the Dravidian country.[575]

The hymns attributed to the Arvars are commonly known by the name of
Prabandham or Nalayiram and are accepted by the Tengalai Vishnuites as
their canonical scriptures. The whole collection contains 4000 verses
arranged in four parts[576] and an extract consisting of 602 verses
selected for use in daily worship is in part accessible.