<p>Maṇipravāḷa (<i>maṇipravāḷa</i>) can be characterized first of all as a linguistic act that draws significantly on two languages at once in the work of explicating a given body of (often sacred) texts. In the course of that interpretive work, the <i>maṇipravāḷa</i> practice leads to the composition of new texts indebted to the several languages involved, a new thinking through and within the frame of that linguistic complexity. For the most part, discussions of <i>maṇipravāḷa</i> have to do with various confluences of the Sanskrit and Tamil languages, since the dynamic of <i>maṇipravāḷa</i> is notably evident in the incorporation of Sanskrit words and concepts into explications of Tamil religious poetry. It is apparent too in the citation of Sanskrit texts of various kinds in the interpretation of Tamil texts claimed to have the same overall meanings and purposes. The re-reading of Tamil texts in light of Sanskrit language and learning can therefore be fairly evaluated as an enhancement of a creditable Tamil theology of Viṣṇu, and not a distraction from an understanding otherwise of the TCV against a background of Tamil precedents. Deeper theological motives for <i>maṇipravāḷa</i> as a common and expected instrument of interpretation are worthy of further exploration. This essay will venture toward that further task by a close examination of the interpretation of the <i>Tirucantaviruttam</i> of Tiruma<Emphasis Type="Underline">l</Emphasis>icai Pirā<Emphasis Type="Underline">n</Emphasis> by the twentieth century Śrīvaiṣṇava commentator, Uttamūr Vīrarākavacāriya. The essay concludes by more speculative reflection on whether the twenty first century might witness the rise of new forms of <i>maṇipravāḷa</i>.</p>