Pioneer of Maṇipravāḷam Commentary
Tirukkurukai Pirān Piḷḷān (also called Piḷḷān) was a foremost disciple of Rāmānuja and the first to write a systematic commentary on Nammāzhvār's Tiruvāymozhi. His commentary, the Āṟāyirappaṭi (Six Thousand Prabandham), established the template for all subsequent Maṇipravāḷam commentaries on the Divya Prabandham.
Commissioned by Rāmānuja
According to tradition, Rāmānuja himself commissioned Piḷḷān: 'Explain the Tiruvāymozhi according to Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy.' This direct authorization makes Piḷḷān's commentary the most authoritative early exposition of how the Divya Prabandham is to be understood within the Vishishtadvaita framework.
Maṇipravāḷam Style
The Āṟāyirappaṭi is written in elegant Maṇipravāḷam — the seamless blend of Tamil and Sanskrit unique to the Śrī Vaishnava tradition. It interprets each of Nammāzhvār's pasurams as expressing specific theological truths about the ātman-Brahman relationship and the means of liberation.
Legacy
Piḷḷān's work set the stage for later, more elaborate commentaries — the Nine Thousand, Twelve Thousand, Twenty-Four Thousand, and Thirty-Six Thousand paṭis — that together constitute the Tiruvāymozhi vyākhyāna-paramparā of Śrī Vaiṣṇavism. Piḷḷān was the son of Periya Tirumalai Nambi and was accepted by Rāmānuja as his disciple and abhimāna-putra. He was not a disciple of Embār.