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Andal

Born Kodhai

7-8th Century A.D

Srivilliputhur

Titles/honours Alvar

Philosophy Srivaishnava Bhakti

Literary

works

Tiruppaavai, Naachiyaar

Thirumozhi

Andaal at Pundarikaksha,

Perumal Temple, Tamil Nadu

AndalFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Andal (Tamil: ஆ�டா� Äṇţāḷ, an 8th-century or

earlier[1] is the only female Alvar of the 12 Alvar saints ofSouth India, who are known for their affiliation toSrivaishnava tradition of Hinduism. She is credited with thegreat Tamil works of Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi thatare still recited by devotees during the Winter festival seasonof Margazhi. Andal is known for her unwavering devotion tothe Lord Vishnu, the God of the Srivaishnavas. TheSrivilliputhoor Temple is dedicated to her and marks herbirthplace. Adopted by her father, the Alvar saint Periyalvarwho found her as a baby, Andal avoided earthly marriage,the normal and expected path for women of her culture, to"marry" Vishnu, both spiritually and physically. In many places in India,particularly in Tamilnadu, Andal is treated more than a saint and as a form of Godherself.

Contents

1 Early life

2 Dedication to Vishnu

3 Marrying the Lord4 Literary works

5 Status in the Society

6 References

Early life

Andal is believed to have been discovered under a Tulsi(Basil) plant in the temple garden of Srivilliputtur, by aperson named Vishnucitta who later became one of the most revered saints in Hinduism, Periyalvar. The child was

named Kodhai. This is popularly thought to mean "a beautiful garland" in Tamil[2] but it is unlikely as in ancient timesthis was a popular personal name even for men as evidenced by Sangam era male names such as Kodhai asmentioned in a Purananuru poem on a Chera king Ko-k-Kodhai. The name Kodhai is often Sanskritized as Goda.She has been accepted as a reincarnation of Bhumi Devi (the Earth Goddess). She is considered to be bhoomadevi avatar just after that of Sita (wife of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, as described in the epicRamayana).The series of Bhumi Devi's incarnations start from the Varaha Puranam - In Hindu mythology,Vedavati is speculated to have been the spirit of Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama in the epic Ramayana. She wasanother avatar of Devi Lakshmi. Vedavati is the daughter of Brahmarshi Kusadhvaja, who is the son of Brihaspati,Lord-Guru of the Devas, the Gods. Having spent his life chanting and studying the sacred Vedas, he names hisdaughter Vedavati, or Embodiment of the Vedas, born as the fruit of his bhakti and tapasya. [edit]

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Dedication to Vishnu

Kodhai was brought up by Vishnucitta. Kodhai grew up in an atmosphere of love and devotion. Vishnucitta dotedon her in every respect, singing songs to her about Lord Vishnu; teaching her all the stories and philosophy heknew; and sharing with her his love for Tamil poetry. As Kodhai grew into a beautiful maiden, her love anddevotion for the Lord grew to the extent that she decided to marry none but the Lord Himself only. As daysprogressed, her resolve strengthened and she started to live in a dream world with her beloved Lord and was

constantly fantasizing about marrying Him. [3]

Vishnucitta had the responsibility of delivering flower garlands to the Lord's temple, everyday. Kodhai made thesegarlands and sent it to her beloved Lord through her father. Eventually she started acting unusual by wearing theflower garland which was meant to be offered to the Lord. This is generally considered sacrilege in Hinduismbecause the scriptures teach the devotees not to offer to the Lord, a thing that has already been used by a humanbeing. However, Kodhai felt she should test to see how the garland suited her and only if it did, she should offer itto the Lord. One day, she was caught red-handed by her father in this strange act, and as an orthodox devotee hewas extremely upset. He rebuked her and told her not to repeat the sacrilegious act in the future. Frightened andapologetic, Kodhai made a new garland for the offering that day. Legend says that that very night the Lordappeared to Vishnucitta in his dream and asked him why he had discarded Kodhai's garland instead of offering it toHim. The Lord is believed to have told Vishnucitta that He had whole-heartedly accepted Kodhai's offering all thistime. This moved Vishnucitta so much even as he started to realize the Divine Love that existed between the Lordand his daughter. From this day on, Kodhai is believed to have been respected by the devotees and came to beknown as "Andal", the girl who "ruled" over the Lord. She is also known by a phrase Soodi kodutha Sudarkodiwhich means "The bright creeper-like woman who gave her garlands after wearing them".

Marrying the Lord

As Andal blossomed into a fifteen-year-old beautiful young woman of marriageable age (girls were married at amuch younger age in those days), her father prepared to get her married to a suitable groom. Andal, however, wasstubborn and insisted that she would marry only the Lord Vishnu. This perplexed and worried her father. However,the Lord appeared in Vishnuchitta's dream and informed him that He would marry Andal at Srirangam; the Lordsimultaneously commanded the priests at Srirangam, in their dreams, to prepare for the wedding. Andal who wasanxious to reach Srirangam was unable to control herself in her urgency to meet her beloved Lord. She ran into the

sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ranganatha and is believed to have merged with Him completely at that point.[4]

S.Chandrasekar, Travel writer & photographer says that the descendents of Periyazhwar preserve to this day thepadhuka, sacred beads and vastra used by Periyalvar and some ornaments of Andal at Srivilliputur. In Jan 2012,Vijay TV visited the ancient house where Periyazhwar lived with his daughter and interviewed the members.

Literary works

Andal composed two works in her short life of fifteen years. Both these works are in Tamil verse form and areexceptional in their literary, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic content. Her contribution is even more remarkableconsidering that she was a girl of fifteen when she composed these verses and her prodigiousness amazes readerstill date.

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Her first work is the Thiruppavai, a collection of thirty verses in which Andal imagines herself to be a Gopi, aneternal associate of Lord Krishna in the spiritual world as a cowherd girl. She yearns to serve Him and achievehappiness not just in this birth, but for all eternity, and describes the religious vows (pavai) that she and her fellow

cowherd girls will observe for this purpose. [5]

[6]

The second is the Nachiar Tirumozhi, a poem of 143 verses. Tirumozhi, literally meaning "Sacred Sayings", is aTamil poetic style. "Nachiar" means Goddess, so the title means "Sacred Sayings of the Goddess." This poem fullyreveals Andal's intense longing for Vishnu, the Divine Beloved. Utilizing classical Tamil poetic conventions andinterspersing stories from the Vedas and Puranas, Andal creates imagery that is possibly unparalleled in the wholegamut of Indian religious literature. However, conservative Srivaishnavite institutions do not encourage thepropagation of Nachiar Tirumozhi as much as they encourage Tiruppavai. This is because Nachiar Tirumozhi isbelongs to an erotic genre of spirituality that is similar to Jayadeva's Gita Govinda.

The impact of these works on the daily religious life of the South Indian has been tremendous. Just like theRamayana and the Mahabharata, the Thiruppavai is recited with great religious fervor by women, men, and childrenof all ages, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The daily services in most Srivaishnava temples and households include thisrecitation. Both of these works, particularly the Thiruppavai, has been studied extensively by innumerable scholars.It has also been translated into a number of languages over the centuries.

Status in the Society

Andal is now one of the best-loved poet-saints of the Tamils. Pious tradition reckons her to be the veritable descentof Bhūmi Devi (Sri Lakshmi as Mother Earth) in bodily form to show humanity the way to His lotus feet. She ispresent in all Srivaishnava temples, in India and elsewhere, next to her Lord, as she always desired. During themonth of Margazhi, discourses on the Tiruppavai in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English take place all over

India. [7] The Andal Temple at Srivilliputhur is a twin temple, one of which is dedicated to Andal. Most of the southIndian Vishnu temples have a separate shrine for Andal. There are lot of festivals in the temple and other Vishnutemples in South India dedicated to her, the notable being the Pavai Nonbu in the Tamil month of Margazhi(December - January), Andal Thirukalyanam in Panguni, Pagalpathu, Rapathu, Adi Thiruvizha, when Andal is

depicted seated in the lap of Ranganathar.[8]

References

1. ^ Das, Sisir Kumar (2006). A History of Indian Literature, 500-1399: From the Courtly to the Popular. SahityaAkademi. ISBN 9788126021710.

2. ^ "Ramanuja Darshanam" (http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ramanuja/magazine/RD_0103_online_vers.pdf) (PDF).ramanuja.org. Retrieved 2007-07-14.

3. ^ "Andal Biography" (http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatdevotees/andal/index.htm). freeindia.org. Archived(http://web.archive.org/web/20070723051041/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatdevotees/andal/index.htm)from the original on 2007-07-23. Retrieved 2007-07-10.

4. ^ Women Saints of East and West (http://books.google.co.in/books?id=6IhLSGtuW_EC&pg=PA27&dq=Women+Saints+of+East+and+West+%2B+andal&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tBpzUfrDDZDM9gTpyYGYAg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Women%20Saints%20of%20East%20and%20West%20%2B%20andal&f=false). Vedanta Press. 1973. pp. 26–27. ISBN 9780874810363.

1/3/14 Andal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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5. ^ "Life of Andal" (http://www.thiruppavai.org). thiruppavai.org tiruppavai.org. Archived(http://web.archive.org/web/20070705231046/http://www.thiruppavai.org/) from the original on 5 July 2007.Retrieved 2007-07-10.

6. ^ "Andal's Wedding" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwrCLPczOU). youtube. Retrieved 2013-04-20.

7. ^ "Āndāl, Saint Goda" (http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_andal.htm/). womenshistory.about.com.Retrieved 2007-07-10.

8. ^ S., Manickavasagam (2009). Power of Passion (http://books.google.com/books?id=R-la0s4OrvYC&pg=PA163&dq=periazhwar&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xcjpUfHUAYuK9gSumoHYBQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=periazhwar&f=false). Strategic Book Publishing. p. 163. ISBN 9781608605613.

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