Andal''s Love

The only woman among twelve Alwars, Vaishnavite saints of South India, Andal Had lived in the 8th (9th)century AD. Andal, also Kodai, was found as a baby By Perialwar, under the shrub of basil. The brahmin priest had her as his daughter. She would deck herself with the garlands made By him for the Vishnu Idol, to his frown.1 The girl grew up as madly devoted To Ranganatha (Vishnu)and resolved to marry None other than Him lying on His serpent In the Srirangam Temple, and as bidden In the dream, she was taken by palanquin From Srivilliputtur to Trichinopoly, Where, when she stepped out and went to the temple, She disappeared, having joined her Lord.2 Andal sang thirty stanzas, putting them Into the mouths of milkmaids, as rousing Lazy lie-abeds to come out and bathe In the cold mornings and after the bath To go to the temple and rouse Krishna Sleeping there. They are the Thiruppauvai. They are lyrical and dramatic in tone, Chiding her maids and appealing Krishna. 3 ‘Favouring Margazhi's Full Moon is here-—— Maidens bejewelled, keen on bathing, come out! Darling girls of the cowherd clan, wake up.' ‘Narayana himself has offered His gracious drum all for us to sing His praise and gain the world's of his.' Thus, Andal calls her maid friends to wake up So as, on bathing, to rouse Krishna.4 ‘If we, all clean, adore him with flowers, Sing full—throated: give him our minds, Our sins both past and yet to come Will all be burnt like cotton in the fire! ', With this assurance, she called her maids. Reaching, she pleaded in many words with Nappinna, thebeloved of Krishna, To let them have the vision of Krishna.5 ‘For ever and ever, your slaves praising you, We have come today for your grace, Krishna, Won't you relent? ', Andal addresses Him And insists Him to remove their sorrows. ‘But you must take us in your own employ. Not only for today do we seek your drum But for ever and ever, seven times seven births! Would be one with you, work only for you—'6 Andal's erotic composition comes As Nachiar Thirumozhi in fourteen sets, Ranging from little girls building sand castles To a woman much frustrated in love, Calling her lover with all bitterness To account him for having led her on And betrayed her. Her womanly passion For lover is classic and erotic.7 ‘If I should meet that Govardhan Who cares not if she lives or is dead, Who inly melts and is worn out All for that mischievous bandit's love I shall pluck my useless breasts From their roots and fling them On his chest, and so put out The raging fire of my love.' 8 In all her frenzied love of Krishna, Andal does not lose sight of the external world Around her - the clouds, the birds, trees and flowers. Only, all of them are related, or made To relate to her and her passion in all. Her love born of her libido is strong And in disguise diverted and directed Towards her mentor, Lord Ranganatha.9 ‘O Manmatha, I worship you with tender rice! Grant that I get fame on earth as the one Whose splendid belly and breasts were caressed With love by Lord who thrice measured the world. Take note of the penance I undergo——— My body unwashed, hair unbound, one meal a day. That my womanhood may not be a waste. Grant me this, My life's aim, that I become Kesava‘s maid. 10 O Kama, I have shown on that wall your ancestry; From my childhood I have dedicated My surging breasts to the Lord of Dwaraka Alone-— Join my destiny quickly with his. Kama, I will not live If, as an offering Set apart for the gods is seized by a Jackal, My broad breasts surging, set apart for him Are noised about as meant for a man. 11 O rogue, Kesava, don't you have any eyes? With small white sand we have made these houses Even if you destroy them, though our hearts will break And melt, won't be filled with anger against you! Must you enter our courtyard unbidden, And break not only our houses, also our hearts? What will those around us say if they saw us? Don't ruin our sand-houses; don't ruin our hearts. 12 Before the cock could wake us up, we came To plunge in this pool.0 you have humbled us, Made us your beggars—- We shall not come here- My friend and I will raise our hands, Give us back our clothes. We will never consent to that, Child, you must wait. If our mothers should see this, they won't let us in. Perched on that tree you don't think of the scandal We will give you all you want-—— Give us our clothes. 13 If I'll have the fortune to touch and fondle The feet of the God whom many pure devotees Worship with raised hands, if he'll run to me And take my hand with a fond embrace, and If he will come who from of old is the Vedas' Essence, the lovely one embedded In the hearts of pretty milkmaids,0 loop I draw, come out aright and show my luck. 14 ‘The Spotless One, conch in hand, will enter me, Watch my woe and lead me an endless dance. Bones melted, spear-long eyes unsheathed These many days plunged in a sea of sorrow I struggle for lack of the Vaikuntham. My two eyes like carp—fish at war won't close Because I yearn to see his golden feet Which stay stuck in Villiputtur', longs she.15 ‘I have lost the beauty of my pearly smile, Of my red mouth and breasts because of the cruel Heart Thief' Andal points out Krishna to Koel, ‘Through my greed to embrace the one on the milky sea, My surging breasts in their ecstasy melt And distress my soul. What do you gain, Koel? If you coo and bring to me the one with the conch And mace, you will get a place in heaven. 16 ‘My friend, I dreamt that Naranan, ' says she, ‘With a thousand elephants came in a procession, That tomorrow being fixed as my wedding day, And entered like a bull to take my hand. That numerous priests brought water for sprinkling From the four corners and raising Vedic chants, Knotted the guardian string round my wrist17 That I may wed Kannan the pure. And he, An elephant in must, took my hand in his And we both walked around that holy fire. Naranan caught hold of my foot and put it With his lovely hand on the grinding—stone. I dreamt I was smeared with sandal and saffron paste, And the two of us taken on an elephant Through decorated streets in a procession. 18 ‘That the tears from my eyes should drown these hills, My breasts! Does it become his greatness to kill A woman‘s essence thus? ', she asks of clouds She asks the clouds to tell Venkatam's Lord, That day after day ‘I yearn that my own body With its young breasts should clasp his body bright My humble plea— let him enter me but one day And wipe away my breasts' saffron, and I will live.19 ‘Have a look at these breasts of mine meant For Govinda alone, which will not look at anyone's face But his with the fliscus in hand.', assures she. Andal believes He alone can cure her love sickness. ‘My changed complexion, depressed mind, pale lips And shamelessness, ‘No taste for food and sunken Spirits will be cured when the sea—hued one crowns me With a Chaplet of cool basil.', says she. 20 ‘To the sight of that black god called Kannan I'm an addict; Don't stand aside and mock Me pouring acid on my wound; Take from the room Of that great Lord to whom a woman's woe is nothing.' ‘I was caught in the net of that great Lord Who slept on a banyan leaf; Don't drill holes in me With a spear by saying whatever you please; With green basil, deck my soft hair on fire! '21 ‘My parrot in its cage cries, Govinda! It wants it to be taken to Dwaraka.' ‘If through secret service now 1 can't gain Govinda's love and quench the ardour of my breasts What use of future penance? ' has she asked. ‘Bind my pair of innocent breasts to his shoulders Palm tree—like so that the guilt of his betraya1 By that bondage is atoned.', demands she. 22 Why don't you, rain, come crowding and pour him Into me so that I may embrace him Caught for ever in my heart to adore? Sea,0 sea, tell him who entered you, Churned and took your nectar away, That he entered my body as well To stir, churn and deprive me. Can you carry all my sorrows To Him? 23 The lord of Srirangam, where the Cauvery flows. Has taken all my goods and now my body too! With his lovely hair, his lovely mouth His lovely eyes and the lovely lotus From his belly button—‘— My husband Has my loose bangle made me lose indeed! He has made his possessions Now complete With the bangle which I wore on my hand!24 Who in this world is there to console me Unstrung and broken by that black bull Of the cattle-yard, who lorded it over all? Bring the nectar which never sates from his mouth: Don't let it go dry,0 feed me with it, And make me get well. Bind my innocent breasts To his shoulders so that the guilt of his Betrayal by that bondage is atoned.25 "Did you see the god who caught with his eye in a raincloud me, poor fish, to play and twirl And drag me along wherever he goes"? "Did you see that mischievous wretch Who does not know propriety, brows lovely bent Like his own bow, his nature never consistent"? Where else other than in Brindavan can he be? Thus, Andal's libido met its catharsis.28 (Translation of Mr. P S Sundaram was based on.) NB (7)Measured the world: Vishnu as Vamana the Dwarf bepged for three feet of around from Mahabnli the Asura Emperor, and having obtained it stretched himself into a super-colossus, measured off a." earth with one foot, the skv with another, and for the third foot due to him he put his‘ foot on Maha— Dali's head and sent him to the nether world. Vaishnavite - the worshiper and follower of God Vishnu, who is represented by Krishna, Kesava, Narayana, Ranganatha, Kannan and Govinda Margazhi' - Name of 9th Tamil month corresponding to Dec 15th - Jan 14th Srivilliputhur - a town in Pandya kingdom near Mudurai. Here Andal was found and brought up. Srirangam in Trichinopoly in Chola Kingdom is the Vaishnavite shrine, the abode of Lord Ranganatha. Manmatha, Kama are the names of God of love in mythology Vaikuntham. The heaven after death to Vaishnavites