vaishnavism---aazhvaar

Heading the list
 Nammazhvar is considered the foremost among the Azhvars, who are thought of as his organs. Parasara Bhattar, in a verse, gives a list of the Azhvars. But the list is not in chronological order. Bhootathazhvar is listed first, though he was the second. He is mentioned first because he is considered Nammazhvar’s head, 
Bhootathazhvar’s verses served as the model of philosophical explanations for the works of the later Azhvars and Acharyas. He writes in the first verse of his ‘Irandaam Thiruvandadi,’ that his love for Lord Narayana is a receptacle, his zeal is the oil. He calls the lamp he lights ‘gnana vilakku’— the lamp of knowledge. He also talks of ‘gnana Tamizh.’ Tamizh, as often emphasised, has a dictionary meaning of sweetness. Gnana too is sweet, for it liberates. So here gnana is sought to be imparted through Tamizh. And it is because Bhootathazhvar was the first among the Azhvars to begin the mission to impart knowledge, Parasara Bhattar puts him first in his list.
Thiruvarangathamudanar, in his ‘Ramanuja Nootrandadi,’ speaks of ‘pura irul’ and ‘agavirul’ when he mentions the first two Azhvars: Poigai Azhvar and Bhootathazhvar. Poigai Azhvar’s lamp, he says, dispelled the external darkness (‘puravirul’.) But it was Bhootathazhvar’s lamp that dispelled the darkness in our minds. In Parasara Bhattar’s verse, Ramanuja too is mentioned as ‘Yatindra Misra.’ Parasara Bhattar’s verse lists the Azhvars. As Ramanuja was not an Azhvar, why did Bhattar mention him? He is considered Nammazhvar’s feet.
Bhootathazhvar was the first to show us ‘Narayana sabdham.’ Poigai Azhvar, as did the other Azhvars, pointed to Lord Narayana as Paratva. But Poigai Azhvar says the One with Sudarsana Chakra is the Supreme One. He doesn’t give us Narayana Sabdham. It is Bhootathazhvar who gives us Narayana Sabdham, and is therefore the first in Bhattar’s list. Poigai Azhvar says the Supreme One is who that is the nayaka of Leela Vihbuti and Nitya Vibhuti. But Bhootathazhvar explicitly says this Ubhaya Vibhuti nayaka is Narayana


source; the hindu