Bards of Guruvayur: Vilwamangalam II

Saints of India

- SULINI V NAIR

Villumangalam Swamiyar, known popularly as Vilwamangalam Swamiyar is a prominent name in the spiritual and cultural tradition of Kerala and many parts of India. Even as this is so, much of his life remains shrouded in mystery. Due to the popularity of his devotional masterpiece, the Sreekrishna Karnamritam, he became a legendary figure, and several parts of India like Bengal, Orissa, and Andhra claimed him as their own. However, there are scattered historical references to the fact that he was born in Kerala, and some scholars hold that there have been at least five personages who were known as Vilwamangalam Swamiyar. This is because stories connected to this name lie dispersed across centuries. Three of them are definitely known from various periods in time.

It is also not an impossibility that these could well have been one person! Such yogis, spiritual giants, who had astounding mastery over the laws of the physical world and who transcended these with ease were not uncommon in ancient India. Kerala too had such personages, even in very recent history, who led lives much longer than the average human life span. It is impossible to understand such phenomena with the logic we use to understand the everyday world. When the range of even our visual and auditory capacities are laughably limited to a few wavelengths and frequencies, how do we even begin to grasp the range and depth of subtle phenomena and realms unfathomable by our gross faculties!

Vilwamangalam was a yogi who had the ability to see deities with his physical eyes and many temples have such stories to tell. The origin of several temples across Kerala in places like Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvarppu, Ettumanoor, and Cherthala are also linked with Vilwamangalam Swamiyar. Anecdotes linking him with various well known historical figures who lived during different periods of time are also aplenty.