Symbol of a cultural transition
SUDHAKSHINA RANGASWAMI
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In December Chennai wakes up not just to music and the allied arts. It is also the time when discourses and harikatha find prominence.
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IN RAPT ATTENTION: Audience listening to a discourse.
Come December, Chennai metamorphoses into a happening metropolis on the tourism map with homesick NRIs and rasikas from all over the country descending on the city to soak in the ambience of its centuries-old cultural tradition. The month-long extravaganza — kalakshepam, upanyasam, harikatha, namasankeertam apart form the kutcheries — has something to whet the appetite of every cultural aficionado, young and old. The music season runs in tandem with the Tamil month of Margazhi (December 16-January 13 this year) and a welcome trend seen in the programmes of some of the Sabhas over the recent years is the inclusion of upanyasam series on the Tiruppavai of Andal, which has mostly been confined to the temples till recently.
`Tiruppavai' is not just a religious hymn, but perhaps the paradigm which captures the transition of the Tamil cultural ethos from the Sangam era to the Bhakti movement (7th-9th Centuries A.D.). Margazhi became synonymous with Andal in the Tamil speaking land over centuries and continues to inspire art and culture to this day.
`Choodi Kodutha Nachchiar', as Andal is popularly known, is the only woman among the Azhwars of the Srivaishnava tradition whose hymns, the Tiruppavai and the Nachchiar Tirumozhi, have been canonised in the `Nalayira Divya Prabandham,' which comprises the hymns of all the Azhwars. She is exceptional among them in that she is revered as the manifestation of Bhu Devi — the gift of Mother Earth to humanity — one of the consorts of Lord Vishnu, not born of a human mother (Ayonija). Vishnuchitta (Periazhwar) found her among the holy Tulasi shrubs in the garden he tended, to make flower garlands for the deity, Vatapatrasayi, at Srivilliputtur where he lived.
Vedantam Krishnan.
He became her foster father and named her Goda but in the end their relationship transcended mortal ties when she, inspired by his narration of the Bhagavata Purana and devotion to Lord Krishna vowed she would wed no mortal. His little Goda transformed into Choodi Kodutha Nachchiar that very moment and came to be hailed as `Andal' when she persisted in her aspiration and married Lord Ranganatha.
Bridal mysticism
Andal's hymns, the `Tiruppavai' (30 verses — one for each day of Margazhi) and `Nachchiar Tirumozhi' (143 verses) are the finest exemplars of bridal mysticism in Tamil literature. Another distinction that the `Tiruppavai' has is in the extensive commentaries that have been written on it. Hagiographical accounts recount that Ramanuja held this hymn in very high esteem (he was known as Tiruppavai Jeeyar). It is the time of the year to relive this spiritual experience by listening to discourses on the Tiruppavai. They are being held at: the city centre of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (M. V. Ananthapadmanabhachariar), Bharat Kalachar (Velukkudi V. Krishnan), Narada Gana Sabha (Kalyanapuram R. Aravamudachariar) and Sri Tyaga Brahma Gana Sabha (Sudha Seshaiyyan).
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