Tiruviruttam — Nammāzhvār's Hundred-Pāsuram Message
Tiruviruttam is Nammāzhvār's first prabandham, consisting of 100 pāsurams in the Tamil metre kaṭṭaḷai-k-kalittuṟai. The word viruttam can denote an utterance, message, account or poetic composition; here the sacred prefix tiru marks the Āzhvār's divine message to Bhagavān and to the world.
Nāyikā-Bhāva and Divine Longing
Much of the work speaks through the language of nāyikā-bhāva: the Āzhvār assumes the voice of a heroine separated from her beloved Lord. The heroine, her mother, her friend, birds, clouds and other messengers become dramatic voices through which separation, longing, union and Bhagavān's qualities are experienced. This is not ordinary romantic poetry but the jīva's dependence and yearning expressed through classical Tamil love-poetic conventions.
Relation to the Ṛg Veda
Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition reveres Tiruviruttam as the essence or Tamil counterpart of the Ṛg Veda, within the well-known correspondence that associates Nammāzhvār's four works with the four Vedas. This honour does not rest on a claim that its 100 pāsurams correspond one by one to 100 sections of a Ṛg Veda Āraṇyaka. The connection is theological and sampradāya-based: the prabandham brings Vedic truth into the Āzhvār's Tamil experience.
Commentary Tradition
Tiruviruttam has been received through the Śrī Vaiṣṇava vyākhyāna tradition, including the celebrated exposition associated with Periyavāccāṉ Piḷḷai. Its compact imagery and shifting dramatic voices make Āchārya guidance especially valuable for entering the intended meanings.