The Essentials

These are some of the most important books to learn about and work with Manipravala works.

Reference works

• (2001) Glossary of Historical Tamil Vaishnava Prose (upto 1800 AD). Vaiṇava urainaṭai: Varalāṟṟu mur̲ait Tamiḻ ilakkiya pērakarāti (3 vols. Chennai: Santi Sadhana): As its name suggests, this is a glossary of Vaiṣṇava words, with a large part of it consisting of Manipravala ones. This work has its flaws and drawbacks, but it still essential when dealing with manipravala texts.

Works on Manipravala Literature

• K. K. A. Venkatachari (1978). The Manipravala Literature of the Srivaisnava Acaryas, 12th to 15th Century A.D. (Bombay: Ananthacharya Research Institute): this is where anyone willing to know more about Śrīvaiṣṇava Maṇipravāḷa should begun, despite some of the shortcomings of the work.
• T. Gnanasundaram (1989). Vaiṇava uraivaḷam (Ceṉṉai: Māruti Piras). This work in Tamil is one of its kind, as it painstakingly describes the Manipravala found in the Śrīvaiṣṇava commentary literature, and gives copious examples from the various medieval exegetical material. NB: this is different from Subbu Reddiyar’s work.
• V. K. S. N. Raghavan (1979). History of Viśīṣṭādvaita Literature (Delhi: Ajanta Publications): This is a commented bibliography of Viśiṣṭādvaitic works, and although it seems to focus more on the Sanskrit works, it does mention a few Tamil works while listing the Śrīvaiṣṇava authors.
• Suganya Anandakichenin (2018), “Maṇipravāḷa,” (In: Jain P., Sherma R., Khanna M. (eds). Hinduism and Tribal Religions. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Dordrecht: Springer): this is an encyclopedia entry which gives a brief definition of Manipravala and its different types.
• Mu. Arunachalam (2005 [1970-1990]). Tamiḻ Ilakkiya Varalāṟu. (13 vols. Ceṉṉai: The Parkar): this 13-volume set is a mine of information on Tamil literature in general, but also contains very useful information on the Śrīvaiṣṇava authors who have composed in Tamil (and Manipravala to an extent). Scans of some of these volumes have been made available here.