few questions/ Andal kalyanam /kanu

[Guest guest]

Respected members of the bhakti list:

I would like to profoundly thank Sriman Sadagopan for his excellent posts on

the kritis of Rama and more recently in answering some of the questions on

kanu I had asked him earlier. The answers were very thoughtful and I

learned a lot from this and all other posts in this list. Thank you very

much for elucidating about bhogi and kanu.

It may seem strange to talk about Lord Krishna on Sri Rama Navami day, but

when Rama comes, can Krishna be far behind? I have, since I asked those

questions of Sriman Sadagopan, found out a few small details and would like

to share them. There maybe more variations than what I give here and would

like further input from bhaktas.

Andal's wedding is celebrated in temples on one of three days. It may be on

the 27th day of Margazhi, ie, kUTaravalli; or on Bhogi day; or on the first

day of the new month of Thai. I heard different rationales to support the

choice of days. Some people say that throughout the Tiruppavai, Andal has

observed a strict vratam not to adorn herself or eat rich foods (ney uNNom

pAl uNNOm) and this is stated clearly in verse 2. In the 27th verse, she

talks about feasting with Krishna, eating a sumptuous dish with ghee flowing

down one's arm, and the gopis adorn themselves. Thus, this intimate feast

indicates the happy culmination of the vratam. Others say that the union

takes place only after she finishes the composition of the Tiruppavai, and

thus the wedding rituals are on the last day of the month. Yet others say

that auspicious rituals (that is, auspicious in a worldly way) can take

place only in the month of Thai.

The Venkateswara temple in Atlanta celebrated Antal's wedding on

kUTaravalli; and I thought from reading the archives (I have been travelling

and off this list for a while) the Bridgewater temple celebrated it this

year on the 16th January. Was this because it was the closest weekend or

because it was the beginning of Thai?

Kanu pandigai: the rice pidis on Kanu are arranged carefully on leaves but

as Sriman Sadagopan noted, we may note another ritual. In our weddings,

older women stand in front of the young couple, take fistfuls of cooked

rice, wave them in circles and throw them in various directions. The

exercise, I have heard, is to ward off the evil eye from the young couple.

Maybe this ritual of protection was adapted for this occasion?

However, I do like Sriman Sadagopan's interpretation of Andal and Udayavar

better. It adds to the rasa of the festival and brings out the enjoyable

traditions that are part of the Sri Vaisnava sampradaya.

It may also well be that the young girls (kanni) who give the festival its

name are asked to do this ritual to pray for their own weddings. Sri

Saranatha Bhattar, of the Pittsburgh temple, interprets this ritual as young

girls as praying for happiness in their own married lives. In a posting on

kanu day in 1997, Smt. Nagu Satyan reminisced and recalled how women repeat

the two lines ending with "kAkkAkum kuruvikkum kalyANam." (It is a pleasure

to go back and read these postings). At that time of kanu, the joy of

Andal's wedding is still fresh in our minds and maybe this is one possible

reason to pray for marital happiness?

We can also note that on that day in the villages of Tamilnadu, the bull

fight, the jallikaTTu is performed. We may recall how Sriman Narayana, as

Krishna, played with and subdued the seven bulls in order to marry Nappinai

piratti.

I recall that in some places that day is also saradu pandigai and married

women change their yellow threads that day. They do this in the Atlanta

temple as well and I thought we read about it as having taken place in front

of the Lakshmi Haygreevar sannidhi in Nanganallur (Sri Jaganath Bharadwaj's

posting in 1997 or 1998).

Maybe with Pankuni uttiram fast approaching, it is not out of place to have

discussed Andal's wedding after all!

With many thanks, once again,

Vasudha Narayanan