This luminous brass-image, a young damsel with strangely braided hair and head-ornament and carrying a parrot on her left hand, is a representation of Andal, a widely worshipped divinity of the South. She is said to be the girl who ruled over Vishnu, the Lord of Srivaishnavas. A widely popular phrase likens her with a white creeper that gave her Lord her garlands after having worn them. Lord Vishnu had himself attributed this priority to Andal. As a popular tradition has it, once during rites his devotees laid a garland around his neck, but every time it fell down. Finally, a divine oracle revealed that only after Andal wore it the Lord would accept the garland. In contemporary contexts the message is obvious. The Lord shall accept a garland only when it comes direct from the neck of an earth-born creeper that in analogy is Andal. He would not accept a garland consisting of flowers which are not earth-born. It is significant to note that whatever the jewels – rubies, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, pearls … he wears a garland of fresh Parijata flowers is the essential ornament of Lord Vishnu. The only and the ever first woman poet-saint Andal was one among the twelve Alvar saints. She had contributed Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi that greatly enriched Vaishnava literature of the South. Though incarnations of one divine power or the other and thus perceived with a human form, none of the female deities other than Andal is attributed a proper date of birth. She is claimed to have been born on the 8th of June, 3004 BCE. Like Sita, the consort of Rama, who Raja Janak had found in a furrow when tilling a field and was hence named Sita meaning ‘furrow’, Andal, a tiny child, was found by a Brahmin, Vishnuchitta, under a Tulsi plant. Respecting her as the gift of the mother Earth Vishnuchitta called her Godai, a term meaning the ‘gift of the Earth’. Such was the divine aura of the child that it began effecting mysterious transformation of Vishnuchitta, her father, and soon he transformed into a great Vaishnava saint and under the name of Parialvar he was one of the early Alvar saints. As regards Godai, as she grew in her grew a mysterious temperament. Even in her adolescence she was often found immersed in deep thoughts. Taking this state of her being in consideration people began calling him Andal, a term meaning one immersed in the depths of enjoyments of God, the Omni-present mysterious One. Like Mirabai of the North Andal had decided to marry none other than Lord Vishnu which her father also approved. She not only composed verses in his praise but also sang them fully enthused. She was duly wedded to Him and immersed deep in His thoughts she passed her entire life. His consort, Andal is widely worshipped as Lakshmi, though far more than a consort for her unswerving devotion she is also equated with Radha. She wins the favour of her Lord by her great penance for which she is sometimes revered as Parvati, and born of the Earth she is likened with Sita. Thus, though a human born believed to incarnate the earth, Andal is sometimes venerated as Lakshmi, Sita and Radha and sometimes also Parvati of the Shaivite stream. Though her main seat is Srivilliputhur where she enshrines one of the twin-temples in absolute authority, the other being dedicated to her consort Vishnu, Andal is one of the most widely worshipped divinities of the South. Srivilliputhur is the place where she is believed to have emerged in Vishnuchitta’s garden under the Tulsi plant. The brilliant image of Andal wearing a large Vaijayanti defining her figure on both sides, has been installed on a tall two-tiered lotus pedestal consisting of a square base and a circular apex, both being inverted lotuses – one, a bit realistic, while the other, completely conventionalised. A bit dramatized her figure has been curved in ‘tri-bhang’ – a three-curved posture, revealing rare beauty of form. The gestures of the hands also create dramatic effects. Her strange head-dress, the crown as well as coiffure-cover, and the bird in her hand are the rare features of her imagery. Her figure has been conceived with a sharp nose, broad forehead, well-fed cheeks, rounded face, moderate but fascinating eyes and a mildly rounded chin. She is wearing a rich ‘antariya’ ornamented with laces, waist-band and a central ‘patta’ and a ‘stana-pata’ around her breasts. The figure has been elegantly bejeweled and brilliantly polished.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.
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