Andal
Andal (), also known as Kothai, Nachiyar, and Godadevi, was the only female Alvar among the twelve poet-saints of South India. She was considered to be the human incarnation of the Goddess Bhudevi. As with the Alvar saints, she was affiliated to the Sri Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. Active in the 8th-century, with some suggesting 7th-century, Andal is credited with two great Tamil works, Thiruppavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi, which are still recited by devotees during the winter festival season of Margazhi. Andal is a prominent figure for women in South India and has inspired several women's  groups such as Goda Mandali. The Story of Andal. According to literary and religious tradition, Periyalvar (பெரியாழ்வார்), originally called Vishnuchithan, was an ardent devotee of Perumal (Vishnu) and he used to string garlands to the deity every day. He was childless and he prayed to God to save him from the longing for a child. One day, he found a girl under a Tulasi in a garden inside the temple. The child was considered to be the Goddess Bhudevi herself. He named the child as Kothai, who grew up as a devotee of Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, the supreme  God. She is believed to have worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of the temple. Periyalvar, who later found it, was highly upset and remonstrated her. Lord Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked him to dedicate only the garland worn by Andal to him because when the new garland was put on Vishnu's idol, it fell down but when the garland was worn by Andal, Vishnu turned into gold. The girl Kothai was thus named Andal and was referred to as "Chudikodutha Sudarkodi" (சூடிகொடுத்த சுடர்க்கொடி), meaning the lady who wore and gave her garland  to Lord Vishnu. Periyalvar took Andal to the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam and Andal was reunited with Vishnu as his bride. The practice is followed during modern times when the garland of Andal from Srivilliputhur Andal Temple is sent to Tirumala Venkateswara Temple on Garudotsavam during the Tamil month of "Purattaasi" (September – October) and Azhagar Koyil during Chitra Pournami. Andal is also called as Nachiar or Andalnachiar. Devotion to Perumal. Kodhai was brought up by Vishnuchitta (Periyalvar) in an atmosphere of love and devotion. As Kodhai grew into a beautiful maiden, her fervor for the Lord grew to the extent  that she decided to marry only the Lord himself. As time passed, her resolve strengthened and she thought constantly about marrying Ranganathar of Thiruvarangam (the reclining form of Vishnu). Andal had another name too, it was Nachiar. She wrote Thiruppavai and Nachiyar Thirumozhi. Andal's Bhakti. In North India, Radha is celebrated as the "Queen of Bhakti (devotion)." Among the female devotees, Mirabai's name is also taken as an example of complete devotion or Bhakti to Lord Krishna. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu Andal is remembered for her pure love and devotion. In the Thiruppavai, Andal, as a Gopi in  Ayarpadi (Brindavan), emphasizes that the ultimate goal of life is to seek surrender and refuge at the Lord's feet. Andal's Garlands. It is also believed that Ranganatha of Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with the idol. Since Andal married Ranganatha, the presiding deity is called Rangamannar. For Tirupati Brahmotsavam, garlands worn to Andal in Srivilliputhur temple are sent to Venkateswara Temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. These traditional garlands are made of tulasi, sevanthi and sampangi flowers. These garlands are worn by Lord Venkateswara during the Garuda seva procession. Every year Tirupati Venkateswara's garland is  sent to Srivilliputtur Andal for marriage festival of Andal. Andal garland is also sent to Madurai Kallazhagar temple for the Chithirai Festival. Andal's Hairstyle. Andal's hairstyle and ornamentation are unique to ancient Tamil culture. The tuft of the hair is bunned to the side and adorned with jasmine flowers and elaborate jewellery Andal's Parrot. Srivilliputhur Andal's hand-crafted parrot is made with fresh green leaves each and every day. This parrot is kept in the left hand of Andal. It takes approximately four and half hours to make this parrot. A pomegranate flower for beak and  mouth, Bamboo sticks for legs, banana plant, petals of pink oleander and nandiyavattai are used to prepare this parrot. Literary works. Andal composed two literary works, both of which are in the rich Tamil verse form and express literary, philosophical, religious, and aesthetic content. Thiruppavai. Her first work is the Thiruppavai, a collection of 30 verses in which Andal imagines herself to be a Gopi, one of the cowherd girls known for their unconditional devotion to Lord Krishna. In these verses, she describes her yearning to serve Lord Vishnu and achieve happiness not just in this lifetime, but for all  eternity. She also describes the religious vows (pavai) that she and her fellow cowherd girls will observe for this purpose. It is said that Thiruppavai is the nectar of Vedas and teaches philosophical values, moral values, ethical values, pure love, devotion, dedication, single-minded aim, virtues, and the ultimate goal of life. Nachiar Tirumozhi. The second work by Andal is the Nachiar Tirumozhi, a poem of 143 verses. "Thirumozhi" literally means "Sacred Sayings" in a Tamil poetic style and "Nachiar" means Goddess. Therefore, the title means "Sacred Sayings of the Goddess." This poem fully reveals Andal's intense longing for  Vishnu, the Divine Beloved. Utilizing classical Tamil poetic conventions and interspersing stories from the Vedas and Puranas, Andal creates imagery that is possibly unparalleled in the whole gamut of Indian religious literature. In "Nachiar Tirumazhi", Andal craves for the Lord and says she would offer the Lord a 1000 pots of "akkarvadisal" if He marries her, which was later fulfilled by Saint Ramanuja in the 11th century. Nevertheless, conservative vainava institutions do not encourage the propagation of Nachiar Tirumozhi as much as they encourage Thiruppavai because Nachiar Tirumozhi belongs to an erotic genre of spirituality that is similar to Jayadeva 's Gita Govinda. Importance in South India. Andal is one of the best-loved poet-saints of the Tamils. Pious tradition holds her to be the incarnation of Bhūmi Devi (Sri Lakshmi as Mother Earth) to show humanity the way to Lord Vishnu's lotus feet. Representations of her next to Vishnu are present in all vaishnava temples. During the month of Margazhi, discourses on the Thiruppavai in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi take place all over India. The Srivilliputhur Divya Desam at Srivilliputhur consists of twin temples, one of which is dedicated to Andal. Most South Indian Vishnu temples  have a separate shrine for Andal. There are a number of festivals dedicated to Andal, among the most notable being the Pavai Nonbu in the Tamil month of "Margazhi" (December – January), Andal Thirukalyanam in "Panguni", Pagalpathu, Rapathu, Adi Thiruvizha, when Andal is depicted seated in the lap of Ranganathar. Andal is known for her unwavering devotion to Lord Vishnu, the God of the Gods. Adopted by her father, Periyalvar, Andal avoided earthly marriage, the normal and expected path for women of her culture, to marry Vishnu, both spiritually and physically. In many places in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, Andal  is treated more than a saint and as a form of god herself and a shrine for Andal is dedicated in most Vishnu temples. Thousands of people from the state Tamil Nadu participate in the "Aadi Pooram" festival celebrated in the Andal Temple. After early morning special pujaas, the presiding deities, Shri Rengamannar and Goddess Andal are taken in decorated palanquins to the car. The festival marks the adoption of presiding deity, Andal, by Periyazhwar after he found her near a Tulsi plant in the garden of Vatapatrasayi Temple at Srivilliputhur on the eighth day of the Tamil month of  Aadi. In poetry, 9th-century Andal became a well known Bhakti movement poetess, states Pintchman, and historical records suggest that by 12th-century she was a major inspiration to Hindu women in south India and elsewhere. Andal continues to inspire hundreds of classical dancers in modern times choreographing and dancing Andal's songs. Andal is also called "Goda", and her contributions to the arts have created "Goda Mandali" (circle of Andal) in the Vaishnava tradition. Through poetry of saints (such as Andal) women are thought to be able to connect with the Lord directly and those words are thought to  encapsulate their personal emotions. Goda Mandali (circle) which was named after Andal was formed in 1970 and reorganized in 1982 spreads Andal songs widely through TV and radio programs. The group would gather weekly to learn songs and would sing at events such as festivals where they would raise money for shrines. Contemporary commentaries and inspired poems. Bhakti Poetry. In contemporary commentaries on Tamil "bhakti" poetry, A.K. Ramanujan's work remarks on how many other religious traditions would keep and treat passionate love and devotion to God as separate, while in the "bhakti" tradition, they can be in resonance with  one another: "All devotional poetry plays on the tension between saguna and nirguna, the lord as person and the lord as principle. If he were entirely a person, he would not be divine, and if he were entirely a principle, a godhead, one could not make poems about him. The Vaishnavas, too, say that the lord is characterized by both 'paratva, 'otherness' and soulabhaya, 'ease of access'; he is both here and beyond, both tangible as a person and intangible as a principle-such is the nature of the ground of all being. It is not either/or, but both  and; myth, bhakti and poetry would be impossible without the presence of both attitudes". Feminist Interpretations. Marriage to Vishnu. Contemporary interpretations view her act of marrying Vishnu as feminist. Divine marriages and virginity allowed women's subjectivity, as she is able to choose her husband, and given an "aristocratic freedom". It is said that by devoting herself to God and rejecting marrying a human, she avoided the regular duties involved with being a wife that would inhibit her freedom. In one of her poems, Andal says that her voluptuous heart will swell for the Lord alone, and scorns the idea  of making love to mortal beings, comparing that with the sacrificial offering made by Brahmins being violated by jackals in the forest, and in another verse she dedicates her swelling breasts to the Lord who carries a conch. Feminist interpretations look at some of Andal's verses as her open acknowledgement of her love for Lord Vishnu, written with bold sensuality and startlingly savage longing, hunger and inquiry as widely found in Tamil Sangam literature that express women's longings and their separation from their men; even today, her most erotic poems are rarely rendered publicly. In one such verse  Andal dispenses with metaphor and imagines herself lying in the arms of Krishna, making love to him: <poem> My life will be spared Only if he will come To stay for me for one night If he will enter me, So as to leave the imprint of his saffron paste upon my breasts Mixing, churning, maddening me inside, Gathering my swollen ripeness Spilling nectar, As my body and blood Bursts into flower. </poem> William Dalrymple- In search of Tamil Nadu's poet-preachers Quoted from "Feminism and world religions" by Arvind Sharma, Katherine K. Young: "What  Andal and other women poets did by living the way they did was to negotiate a space within a marriage-dominated society and made at least some sections of society make room for them". Andal fulfilled the expectation of becoming a wife by marrying God, but since her husband was divine, she gained her autonomy. This act is referred to as virginal feminism by numerous scholars in patristic theology. Virginity is viewed as giving women the option to avoid childbearing, "male domination" and live a new life of devotion to God. Krishnadevaraya's Amuktamalyada. Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagar Dynasty composed  the epic poem Amuktamalyada in Telugu, which is considered as a masterpiece. Amuktamalyada translates to "one who wears and gives away garlands", and describes the story of Andal or Goda Devi, the daughter of Periyalvar. Amuktamalyada describes pain of separation (viraha) experienced by Andal, who is described as the incarnate of Lakshmi the consort of Vishnu. Further the poem describes Andal's beauty in 30 verses written in the keśādi-pādam style, starting from her hair, going down her body till her feet. Mangalasasanam. Andal has sung in praise of eleven holy sites: