The Varaha avatara has been celebrated by the Azhvars in their verses. Varaha is the giver of knowledge and is known as Jnanapiraan. Thirumangai Azhvar praises Varaha avatara in the very first decad of his Peria Thirumozhi. So huge was the Lord’s appearance as Varaha, that the waters of the ocean could be contained in just one hoof of His. One of the names of the Lord in the Vishnu Sahasranama is tridasaadhyakshah — saviour of the gods. This is the 539th name in Parasara Bhatta’s classification, elaborated M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.
Tridasa is a reference to the devas, and it means three times ten, that is thirty. But there are thirty-three devas in all. There are 11 Rudras, 12 Adityas, eight vasus and two aswins, taking the total to thirty-three. Under each of these there are one crore devatas, which means there are 33 crore devatas in all! When all of them were in danger, it was Varaha who rescued them, and so He is tridasaadhyakshah. The first work of Nammazhvar was Thiruviruttam, and in this, in the very first verse, he talks about Varaha. Later in another verse, he talks about perum kezhal — the big boar. The Vishnu Purana describes Varaha’s eyes as lotuses, and Nammazhvar says he was blessed by these lotus eyes. He also gives a beautiful description. When the wind blows, lotuses in a pond sway in the direction of the wind. In the same way, Varaha’s lotus-like eyes also completely turned towards Nammazhvar, like lotuses on their stalks, bending before the wind! In other words, Nammazhvar says he was blessed to be the recipient of all His mercy. Again, towards the end of the Tiruviruttam, he talks about Varaha’s rescue of the Earth. Varaha also finds a place in his other works — Thiruvasiriyam, Peria Thiruvandadi and Thiruvaimozhi.
