Kerala Rennaisance Leader for Kerala PSC: Ayya Vaikundar

Lord Vaikundar is popularly called as “Narayana Pantaram” or “Ayya”.
He himself called as the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu
‘One Caste, One Religion, One Clan, One World, One God’ said by Ayya Vaikundar
He formulate ‘samathva samajam’, ‘sama panthi bhojan’ and ‘thottu namam podunkal’
He is remembered as the forefather of Nadar community
The organization formed by Ayya vaikundar was Kerala Ayya Vaikundar Samathwa Samajam
It can be considered as the first social organization in Kerala.
First person to done mirror consecration in South India
He was born in 1809 as a child of Ponnu Nadar and Veiyelal in south India, at Swamithoppe in the Kanyakumari District.
The childhood name of Ayya Vaikundar was Mudisoodum Perumal
But due to objections from those of higher castes, the family changed his name to Muthukutty.
Muthukutty married Thirumalammal
Muthukutty earned his living as a Palmyra palm climber and as an agricultural laborer
In Akilattirattu Ammanai the word Detchanam represents the land of South India with Swamithoppe as its centre
This place became a holy place for the devotees of Ayyavazhi and they erected a temple there named Avatharappathi at Thiruchendur.
Ayya Vaikundar not only preached his views but practicalised among low caste poor people.
Swamigal started meditation at Poovandarthoppu. For the first two years, he meditated in a six feet hallow pit called Yoga dapa
Lower caste peoples they worshipped him as the real incarnation of Lord Narayana and called him as Vaikunda Swamigal
He called Travancore king as ‘Ananthapuri Neechan’ and cursed Brahmins as ‘Karineechanmar’ (Black cheater) and British people as ‘Venneechan’ (White cheater)
Swathi Tirunal arranged for an enquiry at the Suchindram Temple Mandabam to heard grievances of Upper caste peoples against Ayya Vaikundar
Swati Thirunnal sent his army to Poovandarthoppu to arrest Vaikuda Swamigal
He was imprisoned at Shinkarathope jail
The Raja finally ordered the release of Vikunda Swamigal on 1839
Vaikunda Swamigal assumed the status of Ayya (Father) to all his followers.
His followers are generally called Ayya Vazhi Makkal.
Vaikunda Swamigal established many Nizhalthankals or Inatthankals
These are small huts which give shadow to the people to propagate his faith and to feed the poor
In these thankals, a festival conducted generally thrice in a year is called Palvaippuvizha
Ayya adopted as flag for his movement which was popularly known as Anbukodi or love-flag.
There were separate wells and tanks for each caste, and people from the other caste were not allowed to draw out water from those wells.
To stop this evil practice, Ayya Vaikundar established Munthirikinar at Swamithoppe
He called his followers Anbukodimakkal
The Swamigal passed away at Ambalapathi on 1851.
His body was then taken to Swamithoppu and buried