Ayyavazhi

Ayyavazhi is an Indian religious movement that arose in nineteenth-century southern Tamil Nadu, centered on the teachings and worship of Ayya Vaikundar.

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Ayya Vaikundar: Ayya Vaikundar is the nineteenth-century religious figure whose teachings and manifestations of divinity anchor Ayyavazhi. His life and teachings are the movement’s central source of religious authority.
Dharma Yukam: Dharma Yukam is the future age of righteousness described in Ayyavazhi belief. It is the promised culmination of Vaikundar’s struggle against evil.
Travancore: Travancore was a princely state in southwestern India, encompassing areas of present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Ayyavazhi arose in a region then governed by Travancore.
Hinduism: Hinduism is a diverse family of religious traditions originating in the Indian subcontinent. Ayyavazhi shares regional practices and concepts with Hindu traditions, while maintaining a distinctive scriptural and devotional identity.
Akilattirattu Ammanai: Akilattirattu Ammanai is Ayyavazhi’s principal sacred text, narrating cosmic history and Ayya Vaikundar’s mission. It provides the movement’s main scriptural account of its origins and theology.
Kali Yukam: Kali Yukam is the present age of moral disorder in Ayyavazhi cosmology. Vaikundar’s mission is understood as an intervention in this age.
Nadar people: The Nadars are a Tamil social group historically concentrated in southern Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala. Many early adherents came from communities facing caste restrictions in the region.
Sanatan Dharma: Sanatan Dharma is a term used by many Hindus for the enduring order or tradition of Hindu religious life. Some accounts place Ayyavazhi within this broader tradition, while others emphasize its separate identity.
Arul Nool: Arul Nool is a collection of prayers, teachings, and revelations revered in Ayyavazhi. Together with Akilattirattu Ammanai, it forms the movement’s scriptural tradition.
Kroni: Kroni is a primordial embodiment of evil in Ayyavazhi sacred narrative. The movement’s account of cosmic history frames its struggle as opposition to Kroni.