Ranked as the 11th among the 12 Azhvars, he was born in Uraiyoor near Trichy, Tamilnadu in the Tamil month Karthikai (November – December) under the star Rohini in “Banar kulam”, once considered as untouchable. It is believed that he belonged to 8th century A.D
The gentle Tirupann spend his days in singing the glory of Lord Ranganatha on his veena standing on the banks of the river Kaveri in Srirangam. As he used to sing for hours standing on the opposite bank facing Lord Ranganatha, on many occasions he used to lose his outward consciousness. Because of this he was also called “Pann Perumal”.
On one such occasion he happened to fall unconscious and continued to remain so as though in slumber. The priest of the temple Lokasaranga Muni came to fetch water from the river for the morning ablutions (Abhishekam / Thirumanjanam) of the Lord. Seeing a man of low caste lying across and blocking his way, the Muni called out to him and asked him to clear out the way. Since Tirupann was not conscious, he could not hear and continued in the lying position. Whereupon the Muni asked his assistant to throw a stone at him. Tirupann woke up with a start and seeing Lokasarangar in front of him asked his pardon and fled from the spot.
Lokasarangar then proceeded to the temple with the water and when he reached there he was surprised to see the temple gates closed from inside. Not knowing the reason and thinking that the other priests were inside, he called out to each of them by name, but there was no response. The Muni thinking that he might have committed a sin started praying frequently and asking the Lord as to why the gates were closed. The Lord asked him why the Muni had hit “him” with a stone today and would not allow Muni to come near him.
Lokasaranga was surprised and asked Lord Ranganatha, “When did I hit you, my Lord?”. “Today morning you threw a stone at my ardent devotee who was singing my glory standing on the banks of the river where you went to fetch water. If you go around the temple carrying the devotee Tirupann on your shoulders, the doors of the temple will open and then you can do your usual pooja”.
Lokasaranga then ran to the river in search of Tirupann. Seeing the priest coming towards him from a distance, Tirupann started running away from Muni asking him to be pardoned for his morning act of blocking the way. But then Muni told him he relented his act and as per Lord Ranganatha’s orders he requested Tirupann to hop on his shoulders. Tirupann said “How can I, I am an untouchable?” The Muni forcibly took him on his shoulders to the temple. It was thus that Tirupann got the name “Munivahana”.
When they reached the temple, the gates opened and Tirupann got a full view / darshan of Lord Ranganatha. His joy knew no bounds when he could see his Lord head to foot. On the spot he composed 10 hymns in praise of Ranganatha.
It will be seen that of the 4000 verses of Divya Prabhandam, Tirupann composed only 10 verses known as “Amalanadipiran” dedicated solely to Lord Ranganatha. The last verse depicts Narasimha avatar and Krishna avatar, particular reference is to the act of devouring of butter by Lord Srikrishna. The last sentence in the verse states that the eyes of which had set on Lord Ranganatha would not see anything else. As he completed the verse, he merged with the Lord in the presence of people gathered around.
If we take the first three letters of the first three verses is A, U, M (Pranava Mantra). The first 3 letters of 4,5,8,6 is PA, DU, KAI. Thus in the verses of Tirupann one can see Pranavartham, Padukartham, Tirumantran, Divyamantram and Chormaslokartha.