Āṇḍāl at Sri Rangam

Āṇḍāl composed the Tiruppāvai, thirty verses, as a means of performing prapatti, surrender, to the Lord and seeking refuge at His lotus feet. The great teachers who came after her recognised the profound depths of this composition.

When Periyāzhwār raised the subject of marriage, Kōdhai would name no groom but Govinda. Periyāzhwār understood her well, for he himself had raised her to think of nothing but Kaṇṇan. He knew, too, that it was Sri Ranganātha who had stolen her heart. He worried, rightly, how she could possibly be married to the Almighty, and his worry grew day by day, just as Āṇḍāl's love for the Lord grew.

The Lord appeared in Periyāzhwār's dream and asked him to come to Sri Rangam the next day. He also appeared in the dream of the Pandya king Vallabhan and asked him to bring Āṇḍāl and Periyāzhwār to Sri Rangam with full honours. The next day the king and his retinue, the archakas of the Sri Rangam temple, his officers and ministers, and all the people of Srivilliputtūr gathered at Periyāzhwār's house. Palanquin, ceremonial umbrella, fly-whisks, the temple elephant and the royal elephant were all brought to carry the blessed father and daughter.

The women adorned the already lovely Āṇḍāl in silk, gold and jewels.

Periyāzhwār and Vallabhan led Kōdhai slowly and lovingly to the palanquin, and Āṇḍāl took her seat in it with the grace of a bride. All along the way there were arches of flowers and festive decorations, and crowds thronged to see the blessed beauty of Srivilliputtūr. They reached Sri Rangam and were led straight to the sanctum, the sannidhi of Tiruvarangan. Kōdhai stepped into the inner court, gazed upon the Lord's face, and at once merged with Him as a jyoti, a divine light.

Periyāzhwār was overcome with grief and wept bitterly at the loss of his beloved daughter to the Lord. Though he knew the whole of bhakti and the meaning of the Vedas, he could not hold back his tears at being parted from his dearest Kōdhai:

"Orumagaḷ thannai uḍaiyēn; ulagam niraindha pugazhāl

tirumagaḷ pōl vaḷarththēn; sengaṇmāl thān koṇḍu pōnān."

"I had but one daughter. I raised her like Tirumagaḷ, Mahālakshmī Herself, and her fame filled the world. Now the red lotus-eyed Lord has taken her away."

Periyāzhwār felt suddenly old after losing his child. With the king's help he consecrated a vigraham of Āṇḍāl in Srivilliputtūr, and until his last day he continued his service of garlands to Sri Vaṭapatrashāyī, with a heavy heart and his thoughts always on Kōdhai.

"Pāthagangaḷ thīrkkum, paraman aḍi kāṭṭum,

vēdham anaiththukkum viththāgum, kōdhai thamizh;

aiyaindhum aindhum ariyādha mānidarai

vaiyam sumappadhum vambu."

"It removes all our sins and reveals the feet of the Supreme; it is the seed of all the Vedas. That is Kōdhai's Tamizh. Those who do not know these thirty verses are only a burden to the earth."

To recite these thirty verses of the Tiruppāvai each morning is to seek the blessing of Āṇḍāl, who is none other than Bhūmi Pirāṭṭi, and whose grace alone can free us from the sorrows of samsāra.