ANDAL

ANDAL

 

श्री:

Shree GurubhyO Namah

ANDAL

कर्कटे पूर्वफल्गुन्याम् तुलसी काननोद्भवाम् ।

 पाण्ड्ये विश्वंभरां गोदां वन्दे श्रीरङ्गनायकीम् ॥

karkaTE pooraphalgunyAm tulasee kAnanOdbhavAm |

paNDyE vishvambharAm gOdAm vandE shreeranganAyakeem ||

ANDAL CHARITRAM 

PERIYAZHWAR FINDS ANDAL BENEATH A TULASI PLANT

Just as seetA dEvi, the incarnation of ShreedEvi was found by her father Janaka MahArAja in the city of MithilA while ploughing the earth, ANDAL the incarnation of BhoodEvi was found by VishNuchitta (PeriyAzhvAr) in his flower garden under a tulasi plant in Srivilliputtoor in the tamil month of ADI under the constellation Pooram (poorva phalguni), and was named 'KODAI'. PeriyAzhvAr considered kOdai as a rare, precious gem, and nurtured her by telling the wonderous tales of krishNa.  Instilled with pure devotion right from her tender age, ANDAL was always absorbed in KrishNa bhakti.

ANDAL LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR 
 ADORNED WITH THE GARLAND MADE FOR KRISHNA!!

CHOODI KODUTTA NACHCHIYAR

Vishnuchitta had the responsibility of delivering flower garlands to the presiding deity of Srivilliputtoor vaTapatrasAyi Temple. KOdai strung these garlands and eventually started wearing them on herself.  After admiring the garland in front of the mirror, she used to send it to the temple. One day,  she was caught red-handed by her father. He became extremely upset that she had committed an 'apachAra' in bhagavat kainkaryam and told her not to repeat it. Ruminating on the mistake, He did not send the garland for RanganAtha that day. 

The very same night, Lord Vishnu appeared to Vishnuchitta in his dream and asked AzhvAr why he had discarded kOdai’s garland instead of offering it to Him. VishNuchitta was moved and understood his daughter's true devotion which was acknowledged by Lord RanganAtha Himself.   Since then, she was addressed by the name “ANDAL” - the girl who ruled over the Lord. She is also known as “CHOODI KODUTTA NACHCHIYAR” (The goddess who offered the garland to krishNa after wearing it herself. 

TIRUPPAVAI

Having heard lots of krishNa stories from her father, ANDAL embarked on writing poems.  She revealed the omnipresence and greatness of LORD NARAYANA in the melodic TIRUPPAVAI prabandham of 30 verses. It is believed that TiruppAvai was composed by ANDAL when she was as young as five years old.  

ANDAL AND KRISHNA

NAACHCHIYAAR TIRUMOZHI

Years later when ANDAL entered marriageable age, she dreamt of her wedding with KrishNa.  She then translated her dream into a poem called NACHCHIYAR TIRUMOZHI.  Enamored of KrishNa, she declared that she would give up her life if she was forced to marry a human being (mAniDavarkku enru pEchchu paDil vAzhagillEn -  nAchchiyAr tirumozhi 5). That was the extent of her chastity. 

NaachchiyAr tirumozhi  has 143 pAsurams spread across fourteen decads in expression of her vivid dream of Lord KrishNa, the cute sandcastles she builds in a vow to attain Him, sending birds as messengers to the Lord of TiruvenkaDam, her profound love for TirumAlirunchOlai Azhagar perumAL and her marriage with Lord nArAyaNa, inset with crisp detailing of step by step wedding rituals as ordained in the vEdic samskArams. 

So, after her dream, she conveyed her firm decision to her father that she would marry none but Lord RanganAtha of Srirangam. Lord RanganAtha also informed VishNuchitta in his dream that He wished to marry ANDAL at Srirangam.  Making all arrangements for the marriage, PeriyAzhvAr and his relatives took the beautifully decked bride to Srirangam temple.  PANDya King VallabhadEva happily decorated the streets to Srirangam with beautiful flower canopies for ANDAL's wedding procession.  PeriyAzhvAr lovingly carried her on a gorgeous palanquin embedded with precious gems while singing this cute poem -

ஆண்டாள் வந்தாள் !
சூடிக்கொடுத்த சுடர் கொடி வந்தாள் !
சுரும்பார் குழற்கோதை வந்தாள்  !
திருப்பாவை பாடிய செல்வி வந்தாள் !
பட்டர்பிரான் புதல்வி வந்தாள் !
வேயர் குலவிளக்கு வந்தாள் !

ANDAL vandAL!

chooDikoDutta chuDar koDi vandAL!
surumbAr kuzhaL kOdai vandAL!
tiruppAvai pADiya selvi vandAL!
bhaTTarpirAn pudalvi vandAL!
vEyar kulaviLakku vandAL!

Just as they stood before Periya PerumAL's sanctum sanctorum, ANDAL ascended the serpent bed AdisEsha and disappeared into Lord RanganAtha never to separate from Him.  PeriyAzhvAr and his shishya King VallabhadEva stood spellbound.  Through the priest, Lord RanganAtha conveyed the message that He has accepted ANDAL as His wife, and that PeriyAzvAr has become Ranganatha's father-in-law just like Ksheera-samudrarAja (Father of Lakshmi dEvi).  PeriyAzhvAr received the teertham, tiruparivaTTam, and shaTAri prasAdam from the priest. He continued his kainkaryam to vaTapatrashAyee perumAL at Srivilliputtoor and lived for 85 years in Ananda bhagavat anubhavam.

PeriyAzhvAr's motherly love for ANDAL can be enjoyed through the touching verses of his prabandham 'PeriyAzhvAr Tirumozhi 3.8.4'.

ஒருமகள் தன்னை யுடையேன் உலகம்நிறைந்த புகழால்
திருமகள் போல வளர்த்தேன், செங்கண்மால்தான் கொண்டுபோனான்
பெருமகளாய்க்குடிவாழ்ந்து பெரும் பிள்ளை பெற்ற அசோதை
மருமகளைக்கண்டுகந்து மணாட்டுப்புறம் செய்யுங்கொலோ? (4)

orumagaL tannai uDaiyEn* ulagam niRainda pugazhAl*
tirumagaL pOla vaLarttEn* sengaNmAltAn koNDupOnAn*
perumagaLAy kuDivAzhndu* perum piLLai peRRa asOdai*
marumagaLai kaNDugandu* maNATTuppuRam seyyum kolO?* (4)

I raised my daughter like Lakshmi Devi. The world praises me as a good mother. Oh, the lotus eyed hero has taken her away. Oh YashOdA! The woman of a respectable family and mother of a wonderful son! Will she feel elated on seeing her daughter in law? Will she perform the auspicious post-wedding rituals? (4)

ANDAL KALYANAM - ANDAL'S GRAND WEDDING

It was an emotional but proud moment for PeriyAzhvAr who had to part with his daughter suddenly. PeriyAzhvar conveyed to Lord RanganAtha that he wanted to witness their wedding. So, Lord NamperumAl (utsavar) came to Srivilliputtoor as RangamannAr and married ANDAL in a grand wedding ceremony.  A perfect love of God preached and proved, ANDAL shines in all our hearts as KrishNa's reflection till date. 

 

RANGAMANNAR AND ANDAL, SRIVILLIPUTTOOR

ANDAL'S NAMES KODAI AND GODA

As we have know, ANDAL is referred by names like kOdai, gOdA, nAchchiyAr, chooDi koDutta nAchchiyAr, AmuktamAlyadA, vishNuchittAtmajA and many more. Lets learn more about the origin and significance of her sweet names from our mentor Smt. Prabha Senesh.

ANJU KUDIKKU ORU SANDADIYAY

SwAmi MaNavALa MAmunigaL credits ANDAL as being the descendent of the AZHVARS.  In his laudatory work on AzhvArs and AchAryas, He pens:

அஞ்சு குடிக்கு ஒரு சந்ததியாய் ஆழ்வார்கள்
தம் செயலை விஞ்சி நிற்கும் தன்மையளாய் – பிஞ்சாய்ப்
பழுத்தாளை ஆண்டாளைப் பத்தியுடன் நாளும்
வழுத்தாய் மனமே மகிழ்ந்து.

anju kuDikku oru sandadiyAy AzhvArgaL
tam seyalai vinji niRkum tanmaiyaLAy - pinjAy
pazhuttALai ANDALai pattiyuDan nALum
vazhuttAy manamE magizhndu.

Oh dear mind! May you always with devotion and joy, praise ANDAL, the one who attained maturity of devotion even as a child (pinjAy pazhuttALai), the one who is the only child of the family of AzhvArs (anju kuDikku sandadiyAy), and the one whose greatness surpassed that of the other ten AzhvArs. ( AzhvArgaL tam seyalai vinji niRkum tanmaiyaLAy).

 (anju kuDi has two meanings:

1. anju kuDi means five families namely 1. the mudal AzhvArs taken together, 2. Tirumazhisai Azhvar 3. NammAzhvAr 4. KulasEkara AzhvAr 5. PeriyAzhvAr.

ANDAL is the spiritual heir of all these 5 AzhvAr families born before her.  

2. anju kuDi means the family that fears for God's safety.  All the AzhvArs loved God so much that they wished for His wellness and safety through their divya prabandhams. Hence, ANDAL is considered as the spiritual child of all the ten AzhvArs.

ANDAL'S ELDER BROTHER RAMANUJA

*nARu naRum pozhil-* An interesting incident based on this pAsuram of ANDAL'S NACHCHIYAR TIRUMOZHI (9.6)

In this particular pAsuram, ANDAL verbally vows to offer a hundred vessels of butter and another hundred vessels of akkAravaDisil (akkAra + aDisil; sweet rice) to SundararAja perumAL of tirumAlirunchOlai divyadEsam.  But before she could fulfill the vow, she had merged with Lord RanganAtha.

Centuries later, VaishNava Guru Swami rAmAnuja was doing nAchchiyAr tirumozhi kAlakshEpam. While explaining this particular pAsuram, EmperumAnAr intuitively felt that he must fulfil ANDAL'S verbal vow. He immediately proceeded to tirumAlirunchOlai. SwAmi RAmanuja offered a hundred vessels of butter and another hundred vessels of akkAravaDisil (sweet rice pongal) to SundararAja PerumAL and thus fulfilled ANDAL'S vow. Extremely contended, he proceeded to Srivilliputtoor ( birth place of ANDAL) to thank kOdai nAchchiyAr for giving him the opportunity to complete this kainkaryam. ANDAL was eagerly waiting to greet emperumAnAr. She came out of her archA sannidhi ( inner sanctum), and thanked swAmi rAmanuja for fulfilling her desire just like a responsible elder brother, and called him saying "nam Kovil annanO" / "நம் கோயில் அண்ணனோ"! (Is it my elder brother from my home).

That is why, in ANDAL VAZHI TIRUNAMAM, there is a phrase that says,” perumbUdUr mAmunikku pinnAnAL vAzhi” meaning ANDAL became the younger sister of SWAMI RAMANUJA, although she was born centuries before him.

Let us for ever sing the praises of our kOdai nAchchiyAr who had tuLasee as her mother, Shri PeriyAzhvAr as her father and AchAryan, Shri RanganAtha as her consort and Shri RAmAnuja as her brother.

SRIVILLIPUTTUR ANDAL 

POEMS ON ANDAL 

(ANDAL KAVIDAI)

ANDAL VAZHI TIRUNAMAM

ANDAL KODAI UTSAVAM

ANDAL ADI UTSAVAM, SRIVILLIPUTTOR

ANDAL RANGAMANNAR SERTHI, TIRUVADIPOORAM

ANDAL RANGAMANNAR TIRUMANJANA SEVAI

ANDAL TIRUVADIGALE SHARANAM