AzhwArs – glories and history

 

 

· In the 23rd pAsuram, he says there is no equal to the birth day of ANdAL “thiruvAdi pUram” just like there is none equal to ANdAL.

 

· In the 24th pAsuram, he says ANdAL is the daughter of “anju kudi” and her activities are far greater than other AzhwArs and how she developed love for emperumAn right at a very young age. piLLai lOkam jIyar in his vyAkyAnam explains that “anju kudi” means:

 

o descendant of the clan which contains all the AzhwArs just like parikshIth was the great descendant of the pancha pANdavas.

 

o the descendant of AzhwArs who are part of the prapanna kulam

 

o the descendant of periyAzhwAr who is always worried (achcham – fear) about emperumAn and performing mangaLAsAsanam.

 

ANdAL is purely in AchArya nishtai. It is because of periyAzhwAr’s attachment towards emperumAn, ANdAL also developed attachment towards emperumAn and glorified him. This is seen from:

 

· her own words in nAchiAr thirumozhi, pAsuram 10.10, ANdAL says “villiputhuvai vittuchiththar thangaL dhEvarai valla parichu varuvipparEl athu kAnNdumE”

 

(

 

). She says, if periyAzhwAr can convince his dear emperumAn tocome here, she will worship him.

· mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, after explaining the 10 AzhwArs, introduces ANdAL, madhurakavi AzhwAr and emperumAnAr together since all 3 of them are AchArya nishtars.

 

 

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AzhwArs – glories and history With this in mind, let us enjoy the charithram of ANdAL now.

 

ANdAL was born in srIvilliputhUr (where nAchiAr temple is now seen) near a thuLasi mAdam. Just like sIthA pirAtti was born from the earth when janakarAjan was ploughing the field and was named sItha (named after the plough which means sIthA), periyAzhwAr found ANdAL who is an avathAram of bhUmi pirAtti near a thuLasi mAdam and named her kOdhai (which means a garland).

 

As she was growing up, she was fed with emperumAn’s divine leelais by periyAzhwAr. periyAzhwAr was regularly making garlands and offering them to vatapathrasAyi emperumAn. She shows great attachment to emperumAn and want to marry him only. Once, in his absence, ANdAL took a garland which was ready to be offered for emperumAn, wore it and checked if it fits her and also checks if she looks like a good match for emperumAn. periyAzhwAr returns and he offers those garlands to emperumAn. This routine goes on for some time and one day periyAzhwAr notices that ANdAL is wearing the garland before it is offered to emperumAn. He becomes very anguished knowing about this and that particular day he does not offer the garland to emperumAn. That night, emperumAn appears in the dream of periyAzhwAr and asks him why he did not bring garlands that day. AzhwAr says since it was first worn by ANdAL it became unfit to be worn by emperumAn. emperumAn immediately tells him that he actually likes the garlands worn by ANdAL first as they have the special fragrance of bhakthi of ANdAL. AzhwAr becomes very pleased hearing this and then after develops great attachment and respect towards ANdAL. After that, he offers the garlands first to ANdAL and subsequently to emperumAn every day.

 

ANdAL nAchiAr, was born with parama bhakthi towards emperumAn (since she is bhUmi pirAtti herself) who is naturally attached to emperumAn. Her attachment towards emperumAn is far greater than AzhwArs’ attachment. Unable to bear the separation of emperumAn she starts to look for ways to marry him. Following in the foot steps of gOpis (cowherd girls) who acted out the pastimes of kaNNan emperumAn during his sudden absence during rAsakrItai to sustain themselves, ANdAL pretends that vatapathrasAyi is kaNNan emperumAn, his temple is NandhagOpan’s thirumALigai, srIvilliputhur is thiruvAippAdi and her local friends are gOpis and starts singing thiruppAvai.

 

In thiruppAvai, ANdAL beautifully explains the following details:

 

· establishes that prApyam (goal) and prApakam (path) are emperumAn only.

 

· do’s and dont’s for srivaishnavas and all of that fully based on pUrvAchArya anushtAnam (sistAchAram)

 

· bhagavath anubhavam should be done as a group instead of doing it individually (selfishly) – she wakes up 10 gOpis to go along with her to meet kaNNan emperumAn

 

· we should take shelter of emperumAn’s close adiyArs like dhvAra pAlakas, balarAman, yasOdhai, nandhagOpan, etc., before going to emperumAn

· we should always take the help (purushakAram) of pirAtti before going to emperumAn

· we should always perform mangaLAsAsanam to him

 

· we should ask for kainkaryam to him – kainkaryam should be prayed for as it is svarUpam for jIvAthmA to request emperumAn to accept his kainkaryam

· that he is the upAyam to get that kainkaryam and we should never think that our effort is

 

 

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AzhwArs – glories and history the upAyam even a little bit

 

· kainkaryam should be done for his pleasure only and we should not look for anything in return

 

Even after that, emperumAn had still not appeared to emperumAn and accepted ANdAL. So, ANdAL out of unbearable sorrow, calls out to emperumAn in her nAchiAr thirumOzhi. Many great principles of our sampradhAyam are explained in nAchiAr thirumOzhi and it is generally explained that one has to be very matured to even start listening/reading nAchiAr thirumozhi’s meanings. In this she says that “mAnidavarkkenRu pEchchuppadil vAzhagillEn”

 

(                                                                                                                                    ) meaning “even if some one without

 

my knowledge talks about marrying me to some one else other than emperumAn I will die”. She dreams about her marriage with emperumAn in her vAraNam Ayiram padhigam (9.6). periyAzhwAr then explains to ANdAL the vaibhavam (greatness) of all the archAvathAra emperumAns and ANdAL becomes very attached to thiruvaranganAthan. AzhwAr becomes filled with anxiety thinking how he can fulfill ANdAL’s desire. One night, in his dream, thiruvaranganAthan appears and asks him to bring ANdAL over to srIrangam so that they can unite there. AzhwAr feels greatly satisfied with that and in the mean time srIranganAthan sends a beautiful palanquin, chAmaram, umbrella and his kainkaryaparars to srIvilliputhUr to bring ANdAL over. AzhwAr, after getting permission from vatapathrasAyi, leaves to srIrangam along with ANdAL in the closed palanquin with mELam (band music), etc in a grand procession.

 

After entering srIrangam, ANdAL who was most beautifully decorated, stepped out of the palanquin, entered the temple and subsequently into the garbagruham of periya perumAL and touched the lotus feet of emperumAn. Immediately she vanished and reached the divine abode of paramapadham.

 

 

Every one became astonished seeing these events and started glorifying periyAzhwAr. periya

 

 

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