- Andal's Srivilliputhur

Aandal’s  Srivilliputhur- 21^st-24^th Dec 2017

                                         Aandal temple- Golden Vimanam. Pic. Nithya

Introduction:

Mystical Palmyra and RATHAM took us all on a magical tour, a  focussed look at Aandal & Rengamannarkoil, Vatapatra Sayee koil, Madavar Vilagam (Vaidyanathaswamy temple) and Thiruthankal (Cave temple).

Prof Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan very graciously and generously shared his enormous knowledge and scholarship on all these topics, and sang for us select  Andal’s pasurams and from  Nachiar Thirumozhi , told us stories, pointed out the highlights and generally answered all our million   Qs most patiently. Made me recall the wonderful couplet by Tulsidas , which I always remember along with my Kabir’s dohas and Rahim’s few- even though I used to scrape through in Hindi, in school!

“ Dhan se vidya dhan bado- rehat pas sab kal” (Better than riches is the wealth of knowledge, it always stays with one)

 “ Deyi jitho- bhade thitho, Chor ne layee, nrupal!” (The more you dole out , the more it increases, no thief can take it away, nor can the  king grab it .) Prof Madhu has enriched himself and all of us, made us thirsty for more!

I will now transfer my hastily scribbled pencil jottings in some order, hopefully to remind me of how much I learnt, plus maybe interest more people in our own history , heritage and arts. These trips not only help me appreciate beauty, enjoy the wonderful stories and myths, but help me meet wonderful people, re charge my batteries, help me find my identity, as one small speck in the hoary tapestry of our past. Remind me that we continue to live on layers of history, civilizations and  dynasties. Help me co relate whatever I remember of the poetry, literature and music I have learnt and enjoyed. Of course I also try to sketch and draw something of interest to personalise these experiences and share with those I love and am close with.

Part one:

Is the temple Gopuram of Srivilliputhur the one on  our state’s emblem?

Back in 1947, Omandur Rediar asked Sri T.K.Chidambaranatha Mudaliar (Ti-ke-si) who was the first commissioner of HR&CE , to think of a logo for the state of Tamilnadu. Since he himself hailed from Srivilliputhur, he suggested the temple Gopuram of Srivilliputhur as one of the key elements. When the note went up to Nehru, reportedly the Prime Minister asked if a religious emblem would be suitable for the state? It was explained that this was a cultural symbol, temples were cultural centres, Tamilnadu gopurams were unique to the region, over thousands of years old… etc. The proposal was accepted.

Mr.Krishna Rao of the College of Arts Egmore( from the applied arts dept.) was asked to design the same. This gentleman hailed from West Street Madurai. He had always been  fascinated by the proportions of the West Gopuram of the Meenakshi temple. He designed the  logo with a temple gopuram, inspired by this particular one. (Prof.Madhusudhanan further  shared: a monograph has been released by Lalit Kala academy sometime ago on this, this fact has also been confirmed by the daughter of Krishna Rao- Ms.Kamala Rao).Yet most people continue to state it is the  Srivilliputhur Gopuram on the state’s emblem.  Looking closely at the emblem, it is not a faithful replica of any particular gopuram, as all emblems invariably get re hashed, to stand reduction and ensure clarity.

All of us felt that when an authentic account is made available, we should strive to be truthful.

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The Story of Andal starts with Perialwar .

Perialwar (before he attained that title) was Vishnu Chitthar, a devout Brahmin who lived between 7^th-8^th century, tending his little garden in Srivilliputhur. This garden (still marked with a garden on the right of the main temple) had plenty of flowering shrubs. Vishnu Chitthar would pluck the flowers every morning, string them into lovely garlands and take it to the Perumal temple. He was no pundit himself, only a most devout worshipper filled with pure love for the Perumal.  One day he heard the cry of a baby as he entered his garden. He found a beautiful baby girl among the tulsi plants . She was a radiant , beautiful child. He brought her up as his own daughter. He shared his love for the Perumal with her, told her stories of Krishna. Andal’s young heart was thus  already given to the Lord.

The Lord wanted the world to know the true devotion and strength of Vishnu Chitthar. So a drama was enacted. The Pandya king of those times , ruling from Madurai, once on his incognito tour of his land overheard a couple talking and got interested to know "what is the true purpose of this life…"? Here, a second version was shared by Prof Madhu: this version  says the king saw a line of ants scurrying into their ant hill- carrying food. He asked his minister why are they so much in a hurry? He was told that  they were storing food because the monsoon would  be there soon. The King wondered- “ but will these ants live that long? Why store when you don’t even know how long you will live?” Filled with such questions the king offered a purse of gold coins to whoever could clear his doubts.

As was the custom, this bag was hung in court.  Scholars came and tried to give explanations.If their answers were true- divine intervention would make the bag shower the gold down on them.

Vishnu Chitthar had a dream, in which Perumal asked him to go to the  Pandia kingdom (Madurai) and meet the king and answer his questions. The terrified Brahmin asked the Lord-“ But I am not equipped with such knowledge, I am a simple devotee of yours, content to string garlands for you”- but the Lord replied – “you will be equipped- I will give you the knowledge”.  There was an old friend of Perialwar who was a minister in the Pandya king’s court. So Perialwar journeyed to Madurai, met this man who presented him to the king. The king asked his queston. Perialwar’s total pure faith enabled him to answer simply and truthfully.

How did he explain the ants behaviour?

He is said to have pointed out that our sole aim in being born is to become one with the Lord, to attain his feet. Hence like the ant, regardless of our age, regardless of how long we are going to live, we should devote our time and attention in seeking Him. Not wait till we are too old to journey or unable to walk!

This simple truth made the bag of gold coins open up and shower on  Vishnu Chitthar , who is hailed as  Perialwar- one of the 12 venerated Alwars. He was given full honors, taken on a procession on the royal elephant around the streets of Madurai. Conches blared, attendants celebrated around him, crowds thronged to see him. Suddenly as this procession moved around the streets, Perialwar saw Lord Ranganatha with his consort in front of him. Unlike all other normal humans, he was filled with concern for the Lord! He was worried that the lord was exposing himself to such crowds and may be  in danger. So he  wanted to distract the crowds,  not realising that only he could see the Lord! He jumped down from the elephant and tolled the bell, to turn the attention of the crowd away from the spectacle, and he burst into song: “Pallandu, pallandu…pallayirathu andu” the first of his 450-500 songs!

Even though that is all he wrote- he is still “Perialwar”. Such was his protective love for the Lord! He brought back the gold and expanded the garden, continued to string garlands and sing songs on the Perumal.

We all are familiar  of how little Andal would try on the garlands first , without her father’s knowledge, admire herself in a reflection in a well, in their house. Then when Vishnu Chitthar found what had been happening he was terrified , admonished Andal for desecrating the garlands. He quickly made another on that day and took it to offer to the Lord. But Ranganatha would not have it. He missed Andal’s scent!

Then the father knew- this was no ordinary girl.

We saw the garden- or at least one on the spot where the mythical one was, saw a well, closed up, saw a hall of mirrors- to remind us of how Andal used to admire herself. Andal herself inside the sanctum was simply beautiful, decked in the finest jewels..well that’s another story for another chapter.