The fourth Alvar was called Kodai (also called Andal). She was an incarnation of Bhu-Laksmi. One day when Visnucitta (Periyalvar ) was doing his gardening, he heard the cry of a baby from his tulasi garden. He went in there and under the tulasi plant he found this baby. He took her and brought her to his home. Up till now, Visnucitta was a naisthika brahmacari and a babaji. He had no family life. And now there was this small baby, and it was a girl. So he went around in the village and told the matajis, "Please come and take care of this child." So they took care of the child. Since his service was gardening and he was collecting many flowers, her service was making flower garlands. She used to make a garland, give it to him, and he would take it to the deity. One day when he came back to the house, he arrived a little early. Usually the garland was ready and was kept in a basket and take, but today he came ten minutes earlier. And while coming, he just peeped in through the window to see what was happening with the service, and he saw this young girl standing in front of the mirror, and she was wearing the flower garland, and she was smiling. So Visnucitta burst in the door. "What have you done?" he yelled. "Great offence! This flower is for the enjoyment of Visnu, and you are a jiva, a living entity. You should not take anything which is not enjoyed by him firsthand, and this has made a great offence. Now
you have become disqualified to do this service any more. I won't take these garlands f rom you." So then he ran out on to the street, and he was begging so many other people, "It's time for darsana, and I have to offer a flower garland. Can you make something?" So then all of them sat together and made a nice flower garland and he took it, and went into the temple. At the end of the puja he offered it to the deity but it broke and fell off. Then he had to arrange for another garland to be made. That also broke. One more was made and that broke too. Then he gave up. He laid down and he was crying, "What is happening? " So then the deity came in his dream and told him, "I will only accept that garland which has already been worn by your daughter, and other garlands I will not accept." So he went to his daughter and said, "You please make a flower garland, wear it and then give it to me." Then she said, "But it is bhoga! I am not supposed to wear it." Visnucitta said, "I am so confused. I don't know. I have established Visnu as the Supreme Person, and now I don't know what this philosophy is." So then she said, "I was only wearing it to see in the mirror how it will look on the deity, because I am of the same height as the deity. I am making this garland, it is thick in here, it is going thinner and thinner, and then there are two lotus flowers at the end. So I wanted to see how it would look on the Lord's body. That was what I was checking, but you said I have done offence. What can I do?" Then he said, "This is even higher philosophy. You please do like this, give it to me and I will offer." This was going on.
And one day he called his daughter and said, "I was taking bath in the well, and I overheard a neighbour say, 'This babaji has got a daughter from somewhere. She is already of age and he is not thinking of her marriage.' So I have to get you married to someone." So she said, "Don't mention human beings! They're ugly, they're not beautiful people. Who will suit my beauty?" So then he said, "I will describe to you some beautiful people." Then he gave a description of different deities. When he was describing the beauty of Ranganatha in Sri Rangam she said, "I would marry this person." So then he said, "Look my dear child, I was just joking. You cannot marry Him, He is a deity." So she said, "If I can give Him a flower garland, what is the difficulty for me in marrying Him?" He said, "That is because He is so merciful that somehow He is accepting your service, because you were only checking that it was all right. But don't have this dream. This is against our philosophy, so don't think like this." Then she said, "Well if I can't marry Him I won't marry anyone." So the problem continued. And then one day the priests of the temple came to Visnucitta and said, "We had an instruction in our dream that from Sri Rangam the deity is sending His priest to carry your daughter from here, and we are supposed to go, and you should also come because there is a marriage and the muhurta is at such and such hour, on this day, in this city... " And then Visnucitta said, "What happened to all of you? Now you are having a dream that she is marrying the deity in Sri Rangam, and
she has been saying this already. Don't tell this to my daughter, she is already confused. And go away from here." Then they said, "Well we came here to give you the instruction from the Lord." And somehow he drove them away. Then he saw there was a big procession coming from Sri Rangam. Palanquins, camaras, umbrellas, and they were all asking, "Who is Visnucitta? Where is he?" He went up and said, "I am Visnucitta." They aske d him, "Where is your daughter? She should sit in this palanquin, and you should come. Marriage is coming close." "Marriage? With whom?" asked Visnucitta. "With Ranganath deity," the priests answered. "Deity getting married? Who ever heard of that? You're all priests, have you ever heard of that?" They said, "We know that Ranganath is the Supreme Lord, and He is saying this, so who are we to argue with Him, "You are a deity so You cannot get married." We cannot do that. You only just established Him as the Absolute Truth, so how can you make argument with Him?" "All right then," Visnucitta said. So Kodai was brought to Sri Rangam. On the way she dreamed the marriage, and she was composing these poems which describe the marriage, and when she was singing these songs Visnucitta was getting more and more confused. "She's seeing everything, how the marriage of the Lord will happen." Finally when they arrived they went three times around the compound wall of the temple, and as they entered she got down from the palanquin, shook her cloth and cleaned herself. And they told her, "You go pay obeisances to the Lord." So she walked to pay obeisances, and she kept on walking. So then Visnucitta started screaming, "Wait! Stop there! You have to pay obeisances there! No closer!" She kept on walking, and again he said, "Stop!" but still she kept going. Visnucitta was half-fainting. Then she went inside. There was the coils of the snake on which the Lord was sleeping. She stepped on it, and Visnucitta fainted. Someone was trying to wake him up, and when he woke up again he saw that she had climbed on the snake coil, and was sitting on the snake. She had her hands on the feet of Visnu, and she was giving massage. He fainted again. The next time he woke up there was no Kodai. She had gone back to Godhead.
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Aandaal
Twelve saint (poet) devotees of the 1st millennium CE- the great Aalwaars lived their lives dedicated to expressing their devotion to MahaVishnu - considered to be the supreme manifestation of Divinity in the Vaishnava system of beliefs.. These saints composed verses in chaste tamil, and revitalized the religious spirit of the region, sparking off a renewal of devotional worship in what is generally referred to as the Bhakti movement. Perhaps the best known of the Alwars, is Aandaal.
Srivilliputtur in southern Tamilnadu, is home to Perialwar , and his foster daughter Aandaal; the works of Aandaal are very well known to the tamil world. The Tiruppaavai hymns written by Aandaal (a manifestation of the mother Goddess) are chanted in congregations throughout Tamilnadu during the cold month of Maargazhi, in the cool pre-dawn hours, in temples as well as in the streets that surround temples. The 30 hymns constituting Tiruppaavai have been recorded by several artists, and the national radio station All India Radio (used to) broadcast(s) a hymn each day throughout the month of Margazhi. Also composed by Andal is 'Vaaranam Aayiram' (Kanaakkanden Tozhi), describing Andal's dream of her marriage to Narayanan (Vishnu). This work is chanted during Sri Vaishnava weddings. A popular version of Vaaranam Aayiram sung by S. Janaki hit the charts in 1990.
Aandaal is also known by the phrase Soodikkodutta Sudarkkodiyaal - the lady who offered garlands to Vishnu, after trying them out herself. Indeed, this is the central theme of the legend of Aandaal, which culminates in the divine marriage between the Saint Poetess, and Maha Vishnu himself.
Legend has it that Periaalwar discovered a beautiful infant girl in in a lush grove in the vicinity of the Srivilliputtur temple, in the 9th century CE, in the Tamil month of Aadi (Cancer), in the Pooram asterism, in the fourth phase of the bright half of the month on a Tuesday. A delighted Periyaalwaar, brought up this infant, considered to be an incarnation of Mother Earth (in a manner similar to Sita's birth, in the Raamaayana), as his own daughter, naming her Kodai. A devout poet himself, Periaalwaar, brought up his foster daughter in his own footsteps.
The young damsel Kodai, spent her time assisting her father in serving the Srivilliputtur temple, and in meditating upon Vishnu, with the desire of being his bride. Assigned the task of making garlands for the presiding deity at Srivilliputtur, with flowers picked from the grove in which she was discovered, Kodai would try out the garland on herself, without the knowledge of her foster father, and only then have it sent to the temple. Upon discovering a strand of hair on a garland meant for the presiding deity, a distraught Periaalwaar suspended the offering of the garland to the temple. It is said that the presiding deity of Srivilliputtur appeared in the saint poet's dream, and revealed to him that he actually preferred garlands that had been pre-worn by Kodai. Realizing that Kodai's purpose in life was a special one, Periyaalwaar named her 'Aandaal' or Soodikkodutta Naachiyaar, and looked upon her as an incarnation of Divinity.
When Periyaalwaar, attempted to find a groom for the nubile Aandaal, she thwarted his efforts with the assertion that she was destined to be the bride of none other than Maha Vishnu. She urged him to describe to her the attributes of Vishnu enshrined in several of the shrines that he knew of. Upon hearing of Vishnu enshrined at Sri Rangam, Aandaal decided that she was to become the bride of Vishnu's manifestation of Ranga Mannaar at Sri Rangam.
Aandaal then spent her youth in purposeful pursuit of her aim to realize oneness with Maha Vishnu - Ranga Naathar (i.e. to become his bride). Her literary masterpieces Tiruppaavai and Naachiyaar Tirumozhi exhibit the passion expressed by a lover yearning for her beloved, and the rigorous penance of Paavai Nonbu, undertaken to achieve her surreal objective.
In Tiruppaavai, Aandaal visualizes Srivilliputtur as Brindavanam, the grand temple there as the home of Nandagopan, and the presiding deity of Srivilliputtur as Krishna.
Perhaps, one of the most romantic works of Aandaal is Kanaakkanden Tozhi, in which - she narrates in vivid detail, her dream of marrying Narayanan (Vishnu). This is a celebrated work - an essential part of the Sree Vaishnavite liturgy, chanted during wedding rituals even today, in a manner similar to the recitation of Vedic hymns.
Legend has it that Ranganathar appeared in Periyaalwaar's dream and directed him to bring his bride Aandaal to the temple at Srirangam, where he would marry her. Following the divine ordinance, Periyaalwaar led Aandaal in a bridal procession to the grand temple at Srirangam, where Aandaal walked in with a sense of purpose and disappeared into the sanctum of the temple.
The colorful story of Aandaal has its parallels, with the much more known legends associated with the more recent Saint Poetess Mirabai of North Western India. Both these poets are known for their inspiring poetry as well as their passion for Krishna. While Mirabai lived upto a ripe old age, singing praises of Krishna, visiting shrines associated with the life of Krishna, Aandaal of South India, is said to have merged with her consort at Srirangam, as a young bride. The only two Sree Vaishnavite shrines directly associated with Aandaal are Srivilliputtur and Srirangam, although she has referred to Mathura, Brindavanam (Aaippaadi), Tirukkannapuram, Azhagar Koyil, Tirupati, Dwarka in her Tamil hymns.
Aandaal is regarded as more than a saint or a poet, although she is considered to be one of the Aalwaars, by virtue of her contribution in Tamil verse - to Sree Vaishnavite liturgy. Aandaal is regarded as Bhu Devi - or Mother Earth, the consort of Vishnu, and a shrine to Aandaal adorns several of the Sree Vaishnavite shrines. She is also regarded as a symbol of the strength of womanhood, a person with a sense of sublime purpose, complemented with a strong determination to attain the purpose successfully. An acknowledgement of these virtues is reflected in the belief that prevails that reliving this determination, through the chanting of the Tiruppaavai hymns would aid one in attaining their objectives.
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