Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

http://www.saranagathi.org/azhwars/index.htm

Alwars (in pure Tamil "AzhwAr") means "One who immerses himself".
They really, deeply immersed themselves in their devotion and
bhakti towards the Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan. The
AzhwArs are reported to be incarnations of NithasUris of Sri
Vaikuntam, namely, the weapons, the Vanamaali, the GarudA, et al.
They lived like human beings and burst out bhakti laden great works
for the sake of humanity. The works of Alwars stood mysteriously a
replica of the Vedas themselves and therefore came to be known as
Dravida Veda. In fact, there is a view that even the great
Rishis are no match to the greatness of the Alwars because
these Rishis got their 'jnAnam' ( wisdom) as a result of their
own actions of 'spiritual merit' ( Punyam) whereas the wisdom of
the Alwars was the direct result of the Lord's divine grace and
therefore called ' Divyam'. It is because of this that the works
of Alwars is called ' Divya Prabandham' are 4000 poems
(pAsurams).

These works of AzhwArs are non-paralleled in every sense- be it
in sentiment, style or syntax.They take even a casual reader
on a guided tour into the esoteric exegesis of the Vedas
without offending the provisions of exclusions and prohibitions
enjoined in the study of the Vedas in original