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Sri
Andal
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Andal is one of the most extraordinary
personalities in religious history. She is known in her native tongue of
Tamil as an Alvar, one who is "immersed" in the depths of enjoyment
of God, the omnipresent mysterious One. Tradition reckons 12 Alvars, of which
Andal is the only female. Between the fifth and ninth centuries, in the
Tamil-speaking region of South India, these saints revitalized the Indian
religious milieu, sparking a renewal of devotional worship throughout the
subcontinent. Traveling from place to place, from temple to temple, from holy
site to holy site, they composed exceedingly beautiful poetry to their Divine
Beloved, Vishnu, as an expression of their love for Him. Anyone can see why
their poetry was so attractive; at once both impassioned and philosophical,
their words cut across all barriers of caste and class, attracting all to
their faith. In doing so, they sculpted a new religious heritage of intensely
emotional bhakti, or love of the Divine, whose impact is still felt today in
the Indian religious life. Andal, whose life and poetry are celebrated every
December-January, is the most visible contributor to this heritage.
Life of Andal
The life of Andal is remarkable in its romantic
simplicity. A devout brahmin named Vishnucitta lived in Villiputtur, a town
near Madurai. His daily duties included procuring flowers for the worship of
the Lord at the local temple. One morning, as he went about his business, he
discovered a baby girl lying under a tulasi plant in his flower garden.
Having no family of his own, Vishnucitta felt it was God's grace that gave
him this child and named her Godai, or "gift of Mother Earth."
Filled with joy, he took her home and raised her as his own.
Godai grew up in an atmosphere of love and
devotion. Vishnucitta doted on her in every respect, singing songs to her
about his Beloved Krishna, teaching her all the stories and philosophy he
knew, and sharing with her his love of Tamil poetry. The love Vishnucitta had
for his Beloved Lord intensified further in his daughter, and before long she
was passionately in love with Lord Krishna. Even as a child, Godai made up
her mind to marry none but the Lord of Brindavana, and refused to think of
any human being in similar terms.
She imagined what it would be like to be His bride,
playing the role of His beloved, enjoying His presence. Unknown to her
father, she adorned herself daily with the flower garland he prepared for the
Lord at the temple. After admiring her reflection and thinking of herself as
His ideal bride, she would put the garland back for her father to take to the
temple and offer to the Lord.
One day, Vishnucitta noticed a strand of Godai's
hair on one of the garlands. Shocked and saddened by this desecration of what
was meant only for the Lord, he scolded Godai for her misuse of the garland
and discarded it. He carefully prepared a new one and offered it to the Lord,
begging His pardon all the while.
That night, the Lord appeared to Vishnucitta in
his dream and asked him why he discarded Godai's garland instead of offering
it to Him. He told Vishnucitta that He missed the scent of Godai's body in
the flowers, and that He preferred them that way. Would he please continue to
give the garlands once worn by Godai? Overcome with emotion, Vishnucitta
awoke and cried tears of both joy and remorse. It dawned on him that his
daughter was someone whose love of God was so intense and pure that even he
had not comprehended its extent. Her spiritual greatness was such that the
Lord Himself wished to share her presence. From this day on, she became known
as "Andal", the girl who "ruled" over the Lord.
Andal blossomed into a beautiful young woman as
she came of marriageable age. When asked to marry, however, she stubbornly
refused, saying that she would only agree to marry Sri Ranganatha, the Lord
at the great temple town of Srirangam. Vishnucitta despaired, wondering what
was to become of his daughter. One night, Lord Ranganatha appeared in his
dream and asked that Andal be sent to Him in all her wedding finery.
Simultaneously, the Lord appeared before the priests at Srirangam and asked
them to prepare for the coming of Andal. Vishnucitta once again was filled
with both joy and sadness; joy that his beloved daughter would attain her
goal, but sadness at losing her at the same time. He made all the wedding
preparations and arranged for Andal's journey in a palanquin to Srirangam.
Andal waited with excited anticipation as the
wedding party approached Lord Ranganatha's shrine. As they entered the
temple, she jumped out of the palanquin, unable to restrain herself any
longer. Running into the temple sanctum, she embraced Lord Ranganatha and
disappeared in a blaze of glory, having joined her Lord. She was only fifteen
at the time.
Andal is now one of the best loved poet-saints
of the Tamils. Pious tradition reckons her to be the veritable descent of
Bhumi Devi (Mother Earth) in bodily form to show humanity the way to His
lotus feet. She is present in all Sri Vaishnava temples, in India and
elsewhere, next to her Lord, as she always desired.
Historicity
The hagiography of Andal as presented above is
undoubtedly historically true in most important respects. Today, the tulasi
garden in which she was found is preserved in Srivilliputtur. Vishnucitta's
house, adjacent to Lord Vishnu's temple, has been converted into a temple in
honor of Andal and contains the well in which she admired her reflection
while wearing the Lord's garlands.
Most of all, however, Andal is remembered for
her poetry, in which she often strikes autobiographical notes about her love
for her Lord. She describes herself as a young girl, still not fully mature,
pining away for Him. She beseeches her friends, the god of love, and even
animals for help in her quest to attain Him. Finally, she describes her good
fortune of being the daughter of Vishnucitta, the best of the devout, who
lives in Srivilliputtur and adores the Lord.
Andal's Poetry
Andal composed two works in her short life. Both
are in Tamil and are unique in their literary, philosophical, religious, and
artistic content. Her contribution is even more remarkable considering that
she was a teenage girl when she composed these poems, at a time when there is
no other record of Tamil women composing poetry [2]. Far from being the
prattlings of a youngster, Andal's verses display a literary and religious
maturity far beyond her years.
Her first work is the Tiruppavai, a poem of
thirty verses in which Andal imagines herself to be a cowherd girl during the
incarnation of Lord Krishna. She yearns to serve Him and achieve happiness
not just in this birth, but for all eternity, and describes the religious vow
(pavai) that she and her fellow cowgirls will take for this purpose.
The second is the Nacciyar Tirumoli, a poem of
143 verses. Tirumoli, literally meaning "sacred sayings", is a
Tamil poetic style in which the work is composed. "Nacciyar" means
goddess, so the title means "sacred sayings of our Goddess." This
poem fully reveals Andal's intense longing for Vishnu, the Divine Beloved.
Utilizing classical Tamil poetic conventions and intermixing stories from the
Sanskrit Vedas and Puranas, Andal creates imagery that is quite possibly
unparalleled in the whole gamut of Indian religious literature.
The impact of these works on the daily religious
life of the South Indian has been tremendous. Just like the Ramayana, people
are never tired of listening to the Tiruppavai. The poem itself is recited
with great religious fervor by women, men, and children of all ages,
particularly in Tamil Nadu. The daily services in most Vaishnava temples and
households include its recitation.
Both of these works, particularly the
Tiruppavai, have been commented on extensively by innumerable scholars in a
number of languages over the centuries. Today, we are fortunate to have many
translations of the Tiruppavai in Western languages which make these poems
available to an even wider audience.
During the month of Margali (December-January),
discourses on the Tiruppavai in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English
take place all over India.
Guruji. A. Sivaguru Swamy
Whatsapp Skype IMO 9963334337 Facetime 9346346956
Skype – sivaguruswamy29
45/2, Opp.Railway Station, Sirkali Tq, Vaitheeswaran Koil,
Naagai Dist, Tamilnadu–609 117
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