Genius that he was, Vedanta Desika wrote in Sanskrit, Tamil, Prakrit and Manipravala (mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil). The works of the Azhvars and Ramanuja Nootrandadi in praise of Ramanujacharya are collectively known as Divya Prabandham. The total number of prabandhams in the Divya Prabandham is 24. Vedanta Desika’s Tamil works also number 24, said Koothapakkam Chakravarthi Ranganathachariar in a discourse. Of these, the following are lost to us: Pandhu, Kazhal, Ammaanai, Oosal and Yesal. Of the ones available, the following are considered the most important: Adaikkalapathu, Adhikara Sangraham, Prabandha Saaram and Pillai Andadi.
Pillai Andadi was composed by Desika’s son Kumara Varadacharya, but is included in the Desika Prabandhams. In Prabandha Saaram, which has 18 verses, Desika gives details about the birthplace and the star of every Azhvar, the number of works to the credit of each Azhvar, and the number of pasurams each of them composed. Each verse gives us such details about an Azhvar. Prabandha Saaram, therefore, is like a biography of the Azhvars in condensed form, making it a unique work. Desika composed this work so that we would have a clear idea about the Azhvars and their pasurams.
In the case of many Sanskrit poets, biographical details have to be inferred from their usage of words or descriptions. For example, in the case of Kalidasa, we guess he could have been from Ujjain, because of his descriptions of Ujjain. But nothing about him can be established beyond doubt. When palm leaf manuscripts are copied, mistakes can occur due to oversight or even if the copier omits or adds a detail. It was to avoid any such possibility in the case of the Azhvars, that Desika composed Prabandha Saaram.
