Originally Posted by pizzalot
Coming back to Periyar .. I heard Rajaji descibed him as 64th Azhwar. Definitely he knew Periyar more than anyone (may be even more than Maniammai did). But again, why should he need to compare Periyar with only Azhwars. Why not with others ? Why not with Sankara ? Can we continue the discussion on that lines also ? My knowledge of the Azhwars is very less. Do Azhwars have the nature of revolting against the society they lived and infuse into it a new revolutionary ideas devoiding it of evils in their times ? If Rajaji's analysis and analogy was correct, it will be a lesson for both believers and non-believers.
The lesson the believer will have to learn is that Periyar did no different than what the Azhwars did during their times.
The lesson the non-believer will be learning is that religion is nothing but collection of teachings of people like Periyar (like Azhwars).