Śrī Kūrattāzhvān (also known as Kūreśa or Kūranātha) was born in Kūram, a village near Kāñcīpuram, into a wealthy Brahmin family. He renounced his considerable wealth upon meeting Rāmānuja and became one of the Āchārya's intimate disciples and constant companions. His learning in Sanskrit śāstra, combined with his profound bhakti and prapatti, made him an indispensable figure in the early Śrī Vaiṣṇava community.
The defining episode of Kūrattāzhvān's life occurred when the Chola king Kṛmīkaṇṭha (Kulotuṅga I), influenced by Śaiva advisers, summoned Rāmānuja and demanded that he sign a proclamation declaring Śiva to be supreme. Rāmānuja, advised by Kūrattāzhvān himself, fled to Melkote (Tirunarayaṇapuram). Kūrattāzhvān went to the court in the Āchārya's place, refused to recant, and had his eyes gouged out as punishment. He is said to have prayed that the king too might receive the liberation that his (Kūrattāzhvān's) own eyes had witnessed — the image of Śrī Raṅganātha — so that the act of blinding might be transformed into grace.
Kūrattāzhvān's five stotras — the Śrī Stava, Varadarāja Stava, Sundarabāhu Stava, Atimānuṣa Stava, and Vaikuṇṭha Stava — collectively called the Pañcastuvi, are masterworks of Sanskrit devotional literature combining Pāñcarātra theology with exquisite poetic skill. They remain standard texts in Śrī Vaiṣṇava liturgy and learning.