Parānkuśa is one of the most venerated names of Nammāzhvār (Śaṭhakopa), the author of the Tiruvāymoḷi and the supreme Āchārya among the Āzhvārs. The name is a dvandva compound: para ('supreme', 'other/enemy') + aṅkuśa ('goad used to guide elephants'). The standard interpretation in the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition is 'one who wields the supreme goad' — the goad being the power of his prabandham to pierce the heart of the spiritually wayward and redirect them toward Bhagavān. Just as a mahout guides a powerful elephant with a goad, Nammāzhvār guides the jīvas — who are sometimes described as wild elephants of the senses — with the goad of his compassionate wisdom.
The Āchārya tradition identifies Nammāzhvār as the very embodiment of the Vedas in Tamil: just as the Vedas address different spiritual temperaments through their various sections, his four prabandhams (Tiruviruṭṭam, Tiruvācirikam, Periya Tiruvantādi, Tiruvāymoḷi) correspond to the four Vedas. He is considered the supreme among the Āzhvārs not merely because of the volume or literary quality of his prabandham, but because his direct intuitive experience (sākṣātkāra) of Bhagavān was uninterrupted and complete.
In the context of the Tiruvāymoḷi's bhāva-system, Nammāzhvār adopts the persona of Parānkuśa Nāyakī — a young woman pining for her divine lover — to express the depth of viraha-bhakti (love in separation). This nāyaka-nāyakī convention, drawn from Tamil Sangam love poetry (akam genre), allows him to articulate the soul's utter dependence on and longing for Bhagavān. The name Parānkuśa thus captures both his authoritative role as the Āchārya-guide and his tender role as the yearning beloved.