Maṇavāḷa Māmunigaḷ, born in Āzhvārtirunagari in 1370 CE, stands as the crowning Ācārya of the Teṅkalai Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition. A disciple of Tiruvaymoli Pillai, he was initiated into the full depth of Rahasya Granthas and the Divya Prabandham tradition. His own compositions — Upadēśarattinamālai, Tiruvaymoli Nūṟṟantādi, Ārthi Prabandham, and Yatīndra Pravana Prabhāvam — together with his extensive vyākhyānams on Piḷḷailōkācārya's Rahasya Granthas, secured the complete transmission of the Pūrvācārya teaching lineage.
The conferral of the title 'Āzhvār Emperumāṇār Jīyar' is recorded in Teṅkalai hagiographic tradition as follows: Maṇavāḷa Māmunigaḷ conducted a year-long kālakṣepa (expository discourse) of the Tiruvāymozhi at Śrīraṅgam, culminating in the 10th day of the Paṅkuni Uttaram. Śrī Raṅganātha, moved by the impeccable exposition, sent the child Aṟangaṉ as a student to sit before the Āchārya and receive instruction. At the close of the discourse, Raṅganātha himself composed and sent the celebrated taṉiyaṉ (dedicatory verse): śrīśaileśa dayāpātram dhībhaktyādiguṇārṇavam
yatīndrapravanaṃ vande ramyajāmātaraṃ munim — thereby publicly honouring Māmunigaḷ as the exemplar of Nammāzhvār's grace (dayāpātram) and Rāmānuja's lineage (yatīndrapravana).
The triple title 'Āzhvār Emperumāṇār Jīyar' thus encodes a complete theological statement: Āzhvār identifies him with Nammāzhvār, the foremost Āzhvār whose Tiruvāymozhi is the Tamil Veda; Emperumāṇār identifies him with Rāmānuja, the Ācārya of Ācāryas; and Jīyar (from Sanskrit Yatīndra, lord of ascetics) denotes his own renunciate status. His Āśramam at Āzhvārtirunagari — Āzhvār Tirunagari — remains a living centre of Teṅkalai Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition.