Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam : Part XXIII: ANDAL weds Sri RanganAthan : BhOgi paNDigai.

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

SrI RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Sri RanganAtha Temple at Pomona , NY celebrated

ANDAL ThirukkalyANam today.

 

Today is BhOgi PaNDigai day. It is the day before

Makara SankarAnthi. Our dear ANDAL has Her wedding

with Sri RanganAthan today at SrivilliputthUr, Kanchi and

Srirangam . When Her Father, PeriyAzhwAr

brought Her with Koorai Pudavai (Wedding Saree)

and exquisite aabharaNams to Srirangam in a palanquin ,

She had already chosen Lord RanganAthA in a Svayamvaram

over EmperumAns of all the other dhivya dEsams.

She had dreamed about Her vivAham with the Lord and

sang about it in NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi's " VaaraNamAyiram "

decad. Srimathi KalyANi KrishnamAcchAri has summarized

the meanings of these paasurams dealing with the many aspects

of the Vedic wedding described in those exquisite paasurams :

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html

 

ANDAL in KalyANa ThirukkOlam with RangamannAr , ANDAL's

sevai during the Thiruadhyayana Uthsavam and detailed

information about Srivilliputthur and NaacchiyAr ThirumALikai

has also been assembled by Sri Venkat Iyengar , a native son

of SrivilliputthUr :

 

http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673

 

Returning to the Vedic Wedding described by ANDAL in

Her NaachiyAr Thirumozhi's 6th decad , it is available at:

 

http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar6a.html

http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar6b.html

 

The Veda Manthrams used in SampradhAyic weddings , which form

the basis of ANDAL's VaaraNamAyiram decad have been described

by adiyEn are archived in Sri Vaishnava Home Page:

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/rituals/sacrament/marriage_mantras.html

 

Andal entered the garbha gruham of Lord RanganathA and merged

with Him as His bride. This marriage was known only to Namm PerumAL,

GodhA PirAtti and PeriyAzhwAr , the Father-in-law of the Lord.

For the benefit of the world , Lord RanganAthan came to

SrivilliputthUr and wedded ANDAL once again , this time

in front of every one , in the Vedic way and decided to stay

at His father-in-law's house as RangamannAr. He is there even

today enjoying the Bhogam as MappiLLai in NaacchiyAr

ThirumALigai as a Gruhasthan and blessing us all with ANDAL

as SaraNya Dhampathis.

 

ANDAL ThirukkalyANam follows after 9 days of NeerAtta Uthsavam .

VivAham takes place on BhOgi day . At Kaanchipuram , traditional

VivAham steps such as Oorvalam of ANDAL in Golden palanquin and

Oonjal Vaibhavam takes place in the morning of BhOgi day .

She visits then Swamy Desikan Sannidhi and has special Alankaara

Thirumanjanam there , ThiruvArAdhanam and stays there with

Swamy Desikan until the evening when the Lord arrives for

His ThirukkalyANam with ANDAL . Then She joins Her Lord

and enjoys Maalai MaaRRal at Naalu Kaal MaNDapam, Oonjal

at ThoNDaradippodi MaNDapam and moves on together with

Her Lord to AbhishEka (NeerAtta) MaNDapam. There BhOgi

ThirukkalyANam , SamarpaNams , ThiruvArAdhanam , Manthra Pushpam ,

and nivEdhanam take place in front of Her Father and AchAryan ,

PeriyAzhwAr.

 

Next day , which is the Makara SankarAnthi day ( Thai Maasa

PiRappu) ,Thirumanjanam and AarAdhanam for " the newly wedded

Couple" take place and thereafter , the dhivya dampathis

travel around the four Maada Veethis of Kaanchi to bless all

of their devotees eagerly assembled there to have the bhAgyam of

this adhbhutha Sevai. They return thereafter to their aasthaanams.

 

BhOgi PaNDigai is a special Tamilian Festival , which was

originally known as Indhran VizhA . A righteous king by

name of Upari Chara Vasu helped Indhran in his battles

and the Indhran presented Upari Chara Vasu with a chariot ,

which travelled in the celestial space without touching ground.

That king celebrated the honor accorded by Indhran through

a Festival,which came to be known as Indhra VizhA or

BhOgi PaNDigai.The story of Uapari Chara Vasu is also

linked with ThErazhundhUr Sthala PurAnam .

 

On this special ThirukkalyANam day for Godhaa PirAtti ,

let us offer our visEsha prayErs to Her with the recitation

Of GodhA Sthuthi , the magnificent sthOthra Grantham of

Swamy Desikan (Meanings of the GodhA Sthuthi slOkams are

archived in July-August 2000 Bhakthi Archives).Here Swamy

Desikan refers to Godhai's ThirukkalyANa MahOthsavam and

Her Vaibhavam .

 

AdiyEn would like to conclude this ANDAL ThirukkalyANam

on BhOgi PaNDigai Day with the recitation of Her Vaazhi

ThirunAmam and Her MangaLa SlOkam :

 

ThiruvAdippUratthuc-chekatthutthitthAL VaazhiyE

ThiruppAvai Muppathum seppinAL VaazhiyE

PeriyAzhwAr PeRReduttha PeNN PiLLai VaazhiyE

PerumbhUthUr Maamunikku pinnAnAl VaazhiyE

Oru nooru naaRpatthu moonRu-uraitthAL VaazhiyE

UYAR ARANGARKKE KANNIYUHANTHALITTHAAL VAAZHIYE

MaruvArum Thirumalli vaLa naadi VaazhiyE

VaNN Pudhuvai Nahark Kodhai Malar Paadhangal VaazhiyE

 

Srimathyai VishNuchitthArya manOnandhana hEthavE

Nandanandana Sundaryai GodhAyai Nithya mangaLam

 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Asmath AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan/SaThakOpan