Some of the earliest bhakti movements were led by the Alvars and Nayanaras. They travelled from place to place singing hymns in Tamil in praise of their gods. During their travels, the Alvars and Nayanars identified certain shrines as abodes of their chosen deities. Very often large temples were later built at these sacred places. These developed as centres of pilgrimage. Some historians suggest that the Alvars and Nayanars initiated a movement of protest against the caste system and the dominance of Brahmanas or at least attempted to reform the system.

Which Tamil text was claimed by the Alvars and the Nayanars to be as significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that were cherished by the Brahmanas?

Nalayira Divyaprabandham

One of the major anthologies of compositions by the Alvars, the Nalayira Divyaprabandham, was frequently described as the Tamil Veda, thus claiming that the text was as significant as the four Vedas in Sanskrit that were cherished by the Brahmanas.