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Mystique that transcends the mind
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"Andal - Today" the cultural extravanganza organised recently by the "Prakriti Foundation" was an attempt to fathom the mystique of the saint-poetess.
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Paintings and garlands on display at Sunder Mahal, Amethyst. - Pic By R.Ragu
The two-day cultural extravaganza pulled off by the Prakriti Foundation proved to be a fitting curtain-raiser to the annual Margazhi Mahotsav, which temporarily lulls the collective psyche of this metropolis into a state of self-congratulatory stupor that it has not lost its cultural moorings. But, I couldn't help wondering why the chosen theme was ``Andal-Today". Is She not the presiding deity of this month and the Chennai-ite treated to liberal doses of Her multifaceted personality as the sabhas and temples vie with one another to organise lecdems and Kalakshepams, and the artistes turn to the Tiruppavai and the Nacchiar Tirumozhi unfailingly to replenish their repertoire?
The paper presentations, discussions, exhibition and performances which showcased this saint-poetess at this forum dispelled this nagging doubt, as it became evident when the events unfolded that Andal will continue to offer fresh insights every time we try to unravel Her mystique. Perhaps like the "Other Festival'' was this the ``Other Perspective'' of Andal this season — though the organisers may not have intended it to be? Certainly it was a smorgasbord of delectable artefacts which whetted the appetite of every connoisseur — a photography exhibition by Satyajit Dhananjayan, garland and parrot display by garland makers from Srivilliputtur and Indira Venkatesan, images of Andal exihibited through paintings, calendar portraits and objets d'art tastefully displayed by Lily Vijayaraghavan and Shanta Guhan.
The setting and the strains of the Tiruppavai verses rendered by Padma Narayanan and her ensemble created the right ambience by transporting the exclusive audience to the old-world charm of the rural commune centred round the Srivilliputtur temple. Dilating on the theme for the morning deliberations. Prof.K.K.A.Venkatachari, who led the speakers, said the traditional understanding of Andal has been as one who ruled not only God, which is evident from Her life as ``Choodi Kodutha Nacchiar", but also as one who continues to rule the world of devotees as She was deified after She merged into Lord Ranganatha perhaps during Ramanuja's time (who is known as Tiruppavai Jeeyar). She is one of the Azhwars whose hymns have been canonised in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, which has been hailed as the Dravida Veda — the scripture in Tamil. But Her work revealed just the opposite, he said, as Andal identified Herself not with the sages but with the simpletons of the cowherd community of Vraja.
This perspective makes Her very human and accessible as anyone can identify with Her, the sense of belonging endearing Her as one's own, just as Vishnuchitta did, when he found Her among the Tulasi shrubs. He could chastise Lord Ranganatha for snatching Her away from him. It is this human facet of Andal, which has endeared Her to devotees over the centuries as She enters every home as the little girl, becoming the pivot of parental love finding its consummation and meaning in the sacrament of marriage when the darling daughter of the household transforms into the beloved of her husband.
The agony and ecstasy, which heightens the experience of the mystic-aesthete, is at the spiritual level the metamorphosis that has to be wrought in the very depths of the soul. This inner transformation is the leitmotif of the bridal mysticism portrayed in Andal's hymns, wherein the dynamics of the pilgrim's progress finds expression as the soul becoming the chosen one of God when it wakes up to its spiritual nature and this awakening leading to "the dark night of the soul", when the soul pines for union with the Beloved (God).
The Arayar Sevai at the Nityakalyanaswami Perumal temple, Tiruvidendai, on the first evening by the Srivilliputtur Arayar focussed on the incident of` `Muthukuri'' which portrayed Andal's father consulting a gypsy, worried to see Her emaciated condition, to foretell Her future from the pattern of pearls strewn — the leitmotif of this whole enterprise heightened visually for the sake of the participator and also in the rendering of Padams in the Bharatanatyam format by Priyadarshini Govind. This form of mysticism came naturally to Andal as She was a woman. This universal element makes Andal and Her hymns a perennial source of inspiration.
The papers presented encompassed a wide spectrum of perspectives within the ambit of the above theme. Prema Nandakumar traversed the centuries separating Andal and the present both in time and in space effortlessly by capturing the eternal in the moment with her eloquence. She also traced how the rituals embedded in tradition have helped in forging the bond with Andal both in the orthodox and in the folk traditions. Katherine Young's paper presented in absentia was an attempt at textual analysis of Andal's works interpreting them as a woman's conflict — her struggle for liberation from the shackles of prevailing orthodoxy.
Placing Andal in a historical perspective Prof.K.V.Raman traced the paradigm shift that marked Andal's time (7th-9th Century A.D.) in the history of the land — progression from the Sangam era to the age of the Bhakti movement, the transition of religion from sacrifices (Vedas) to temple worship (Agamas) and the scriptures in Sanskrit (Vedas) to Tamil (Nalayira Divya Prabandham). Srilata Mueller interpreted the commentary of Periavacchan Pillai on the Nacchiar Tirumozhi as reflecting a transitional phase showing both affinity and discontinuity between the Sangam and Bhakti literature. Archana Venkatesan's paper read out by Vasantha Surya aided by Mangai with the original text, was a comparison of Andal's poetry with that of a British poet (19th century) employing the tool of memory.
"The Playmate as the Soulmate'' by Sujatha Vijayaraghavan adopted the traditional approach to bridge the polarity of God's transcendence and easy accessibility through Andal's experience. The discussions sparked off by the papers reflected the mind-set of the Cartesian paradigm (duality) that has marked modern post-colonial discourse in Indological studies in the socio-religio-cultural areas, which juxtapose traditional/modern, sacred/secular polarities, thus providing ample food for thought. The limitations posed by these dichotomies are now being increasingly addressed in post-modern scholarship, which is moving towards a more integral, symbiotic and holistic perspective of the complex, plural cultural ethos.
For understanding Andal today at the threshold of yet another millennium it is imperative to recognise the difficulty of packaging different perspectives into a kaleidoscopic whole for Her mystique transcends such intellectual compartmentalisation. The Puranic metaphor handled by Kalyanapuram R.Aravamudan in his Harikatha of Bhu Devi descending to the world as Andal perhaps can give the insight. Is not Andal the benevolent Mother Earth bearing man's burden in his evolutionary ascent? This Margazhi She continues to knock at the doors of the intellect yet again. Is the intellect willing to let go and allow the spirit to embrace the experience of transcendence?
SUDHAKSHINA RANGASWAMI
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