Andal

Life and work

Andal — originally named Kothai — was found as an infant under a tulsi plant in the temple garden at Srivilliputhur by the Alvar saint Periyalvar and raised by him as his own daughter. From childhood she refused to recognise any earthly bridegroom and resolved that she would marry only Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. Tradition records that she would wear the daily flower garland prepared by Periyalvar for the deity before sending it on; when Periyalvar discovered this and tried to discard the worn garland, the Lord at Srirangam appeared in dream and demanded only the garland worn first by Andal. She composed the Tiruppavai, thirty verses in the form of a pavai (early-morning vow) addressed to her gopi companions inviting them to the bath in the Yamuna and the worship of Krishna, modelled on the Bhagavata gopi vrata. Her later Nachiyar Tirumozhi opens with the famous longing-poem of the Margazhi nonbu and ranges across longing, dream-marriage with Vishnu, and the cuckoo-messenger to Tirumal. Tradition records that at the climax of her sixteenth year she walked into the Srirangam Ranganatha sanctum and merged into the feet of the deity, becoming the only female Alvar and the only Alvar whose original idol is worshipped as a Devi alongside the Lord at Srirangam.