Recently the festival of Aadi pooram was celebrated in South Indian Vaishnava temples over the globe, to commemorate the birthday of Andal. One of the twelve Alwars or saint-poet-philosophers of Tamil Nadu, Andal was the only woman amongst them.
When I contemplate on the Andal phenomenon, it is amazing how this iconic figure has survived the test of time and lived on. My first tryst with Andal was as a child when at the temple I would stand mesmerised in front of the painting of Andal; bedecked, beautiful, a magnificent hair-do, parrot on her shoulder, surrounded by the adoring faithful, animals, birds and a benign, smiling Krishna.
It was a tableau with much detail that conjured up a vision of perfect synergy and harmony in all creation. There was so much to see, admire, dream about, in that painting. In my child’s mind I would always wonder how this lovely woman befriended the parrot! Since then I have been listening to Andal’s musical poetry. The first one I learnt was the august Mayanai in Sriragam from my mother. The beauty of this poetry and music spurred me into looking deeper at the Alwars and their music which forms the crux of my cherished presentation called Music of the Mystics.
The Alwars lived supposedly between the 6-9th centuries. Their anthology of four thousand verses known as the Divya Prabandham, often referred to as Pasurams are considered musical poetry with inherent rhythm, melody. Andal’s thirty immortal poems, the Tiruppavai, have found an indelible place in Carnatic music.
The story of the beautiful Andal found under a tulasi plant by her foster father Perialwar, one amongst the Alwars himself, the evolution of Andal into a poet, philosopher and saint who merged into the deity of the sanctum, has gripped musicians’ and dancers’ imagination over years.
The late scholar-musician S. Ramanathan had years back, visited my home. He had painstakingly worked on the musical element of the Alwar pasurams. And spontaneously broke into Odumatheen kuzharke, a Nammalvar pasuram painting the woebegone maiden that came alive through his voice in pathos-laden Ahiri raga.
He followed it up with Andal’s fascinating apostrophe to Vishnu’s conch , Karpuram Narumo. “How sweet are His lips? Like the aroma of camphor or the fragrance of the lotus?” is Andal’s sensuous and lyrical question to the conch. My father, an old-time listener, never fails to remember the legendary Carnatic vocalist Ariyakudi Ramanuja Aiyyangar’s signature Tiruppavai songs. Many albums of music legends like M.S. Subbalakshmi, M.L. Vasantakumari, K.V. Narayanaswamy, R. Vedavalli have been dedicated to the Tiruppavai. Dance presentations on Andal are history; from Rukmini Arundale’s pristine Andal Charitram of yester years to Anita Ratnam’s Nachiyar, a wonderful choreographic blend of tradition and modernity of this day.
Years back I came into contact with Padma Veeraraghavan, a wonderful musician and teacher and composer yet completely self-effacing, living in Chennai.
A repository of many rare compositions and inspiring stories of her learning years, Padma Veeraraghavan runs a music group since long years called the Goda Priya Samiti, a fascinating effort to preserve the link between the Goda heritage and music. It does not take much to coax Padma Veeraraghavan into speaking of her passion for Andal music. She has set to tune many an Andal verse including one that I truly adore, Chenkamala in a haunting Valaji. The late Srirama Bharati worked untiringly with the music of the Alwars too. Andal also known as Goda, Kodai, has without doubt a place of her own in classical music and dance.
In the modern sociocultural scene Andal’s pastoral beauty describing honey-drunk lazy bees, morning song of birds, flowing rivers, milk-giving cows are enduring images of natural freshness and prosperity. Her more mature creation, the Nachiyar Tirumozhi of 143 verses whose immortal song of the dream Vaaranam Aayiram, are a poetic representation of a woman’s mind in the throes of love and passion. She was a woman who defied her times. She wore the garland that was meant for the Lord and inspired the ire of her devout father. From a besotted girl she evolves into a passionate woman whose strong emotions drive her to raving, ranting, restlessness, dreaming.
Andal has inexplicable richness and an eternal newness about her. A certain mysticism and aura surround her persona, her creation, her music. The musicality of the verses comes through in a simple read. Andal herself vouches for this through words like “pan”, “isai”, “paadi”, that suggest melody, raga, singing, music. Even today, Tamil brides are invariably dressed as Andal.
She is the undying symbol of feminine youth, grace, beauty, talent, purity. She lives on in people’s minds through temples, religious discourse, calendar pictures, almanacs and so on. In the world of art, while creators seek new contemporary avenues, the link with the past still is largely preserved. Carnatic music plays a lion’s part in this.

Dr Vasumathi Badrinathan is an eminent Carnatic vocalist based in Mumbai. She can be contacted on vasu@vasumathi.net