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Sri
Andal
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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