Sri Srinivaasa Vaibhavam- AndAL anubhavam on ThiruvEnkatam- Introduction on AndAL and her works

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

 

Dearest all,

 

After PeriyAzhwAr anubhavams, let us now continue on

his darling daughter GodhA PiraaTTi’s Naacchiyaar

Thirumozhi verses... on ThiruvEnkatam…

 

Before we dwell upon her wonderful verse let us

briefly glean at and enjoy AndAL’s works.

 

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 AzhwArs, 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.

 

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.

 

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 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. 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.. [from

the website: www.ramanuja.org]

 

Let us enjoy the Naachiyaar Thirumozhi from morrow

 

AndAL ThiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo Narayana

dAsan