Unsuccessful Attempt

For once, I have failed in my endeavour. It appears to be very difficult to ascertain the period of Azhwars.

Some people try to identify Pandiya Vallabha Deva with Srimara Srivallabha and hence place Periazhwar and Andal in 9th century. But this is ridiculous. The entire Divya Prabandham was compiled in the mid-9th century. But there is no Pandiya Vallabha Deva as far as we know.

Next, there is a tendency to identify the Pallava King mentioned by Tirumangai Azhwar with Nandi Varman. But when I asked a Tamil historian, he said that the king mentioned could be Parameshwara Varman or Nandi Varman. Now, the reason why Nandi Varman is selected by many historians is that he was a Vaishnava. But then, Parameshwara Varman had built the Vaikuntanatha(Vishnu) Temple in Kanchi and the Azhwar calls the temple as 'Parameshwara Vinnagaram'. More research needs to be done in this regard.

The planetary positions described by Andal combined with the legends around Her Tiruppavai leads us to an inconclusive state. Though I would prefer 245 CE or 578 CE as the year of Tiruppavai.

I have not given up my hope. We might come across some evidence in the future which might help us.