in his வாழித்திருநாமம் that Nammalvar taught the 4000 hymns to Nathamuni—நாதனுக்கு நாலாயிரமளித்தான் வாழியே . It escapes our understanding how in the face of this clear statement Tirumangai Alvar could have lived after Nammalvar.
(10). In one of the inscriptions of Rajaraja Chola dated about 1004 A. D. Kurugur appears as the name of a dancing girl. From it we are to infer that this village had by that time become famous as the birth place of Nammalvar. This we suppose was due to the propogandist work of Nathamuni who used to visit the royal courts of Chola kings. Further it was the custom of those times to give the names of famous villages, of renowned Saints and of reigning sovereigns to men and women, out of reverence or gratitude as the following proper names will show: சீகுருகூர், திருநாவுக்கரசு, ராஜராஜ விழுப்பரையன், சுந்தர பாண்டிய ஆசாரியன் ; and this sort of naming first took place during the life time of these remarkable personages or when those noteworthy occurrences were quite fresh in their memories. An inscription of the same Chola king calls the name of the deity of the temple at Ukkal as Tiruvoymolidevar. From this Dr. Hultzsch seems to think that Nammalvar 'must have lived centuries before A. D. 1000.' But for the above reasons this was not really the case.
Some scholars might think that a considerably long time should have passed after the death of these pious reformers before their deification could have taken place. But this was not at all necessary, when
