The garland of Love crossing barriers
Know this to understand and feel how Dharma and Bhakti unite people across regional, social and linguistic barriers. Recollecting this slice of history is very apt on the holy occasion of the ongoing annual Brahmotsavam festival in Tirupati.
- The Āmukta-mālyada (ఆముక్తమాల్యద) is a renowned Kavya in Telugu, considered as a classic in the literature of that language.
- It describes the story of Sri Āṇḍāḷ (ஆண்டாள்), hailed as an Avatara of Bhu-Devi, Goddess Earth, a poetess of 8th century CE who expressed her unmatched divine love for the Lord Vishnu in stirring Tamil poems which are part of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the sacred Tamil scripture collection containing the works of all the Azhvar Vaishnava saints of Tamil Nadu.
- The Kavya is authored by the king Krishnadevaraya (ಕೃಷ್ಣದೇವರಾಯ) of the Tuluva dynasty, who ruled the Vijayanagara empire in the 16th century CE from its capital Hampi in Karnataka.
Āṇḍāḷ means “she who rules”. Āmuktamālyada translates to “one who offered the garland after wearing it herself”.
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The little girl from the dusty town of Srivilliputhur in the Pandya country bordering Keralam, growing up with overflowing Krishna-Prema-Bhava ‘faltered’ in the strict rules of regimented worship, but then won the heart of the Lord. No doubt that her divine love rules over the Lord and his devotees, but it also melts the heart of a conqueror and ruler, inspiring him to write an epic in her glory.
The garland here signifies so many things, the flowers, the fragrance and the colours of devotion and the string of love that brings them together. What a wonderful story it is.
And to enshrine it in ritual and festivity, garlands offered to Sri Andal in Srivilliputhur temple are sent to Tirupati during the annual Brahmotsavam, and the garlands worn by Lord Sri Venkateshwara are sent to Srivilliputhur during the annual Andal Thiru-Kalyanam (wedding) festival. A non-stop annual garland-exchange ceremony that has been going on for a few centuries.
If this phenomenon needs to be given a name in socio-cultural terms, it would be Hindutva.
Om.
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