AnDAL and her unique devotion for Krishna (PerumAL) that is filled with awe, obsession, beauty and intimacy all at once has fascinated me for the last few years. It is not until recently that I came to know that the kshEtram of SriviLLiputhUr was her hometown.
I vividly recall that it was in 1983 when I first heard the name of that town. I was working in HAL, Hyderabad then and I used to ride bus #6 from home every morning. A senior colleague Sri Raghavan used to ride the same bus. When I had once asked him where he was from, he said, "SriviLLiputhUr" resoundingly with almost a touch of pride. I don't know why that memory stuck in my mind for over 40 years. The name was new to me, but it sounded layered and poetic.
My journey from that innocuous exchange to my ThiruppAvai yajnam of 2024-25 is nothing short of mysterious and filled with coincidences in retrospect. The dots were always there and were occurring at regular intervals but, the thread that connected them all wasn't all that apparent at the time.
Early Memories
My paternal uncle was one of my many relatives based in Tamilnadu. He was a devout Sri Vaishnava. He and his family were frequent guests at my parents' home. He used to go about his morning routines chanting various Tamil poems. At the time, my knowledge of Tamil was close to nil, but I can recall him chanting 'PallAnDu PallAnDu PallAyirattAnDu' though I did not know then what it meant. Later, when we were in Tenali during my 5th grade, our neighbours who were devout Sri Vaishnavas used to send us DhanurmAsya rice prasadam every day during DhanurmAsam (MArgazhi). Aunty's name was AnDAL and her daughter's name was Goda Devi. It is incidental but, what a coincidence!
Many years later, when our daughter's arangetram performance happened, it included a rousing finale with AnDAL's 'VAraNamAyiram' while depicting the thirukalyanam of AnDAL with PerumAL. It was a very special performance that our daughter danced with a long, fresh garland around her neck that is typical of AnDAL's iconography. That was the first time I researched AnDAL's story and timeline before writing the introduction to be announced by the MC.
I was briefly curious and fascinated but, that was it. It didn't seem to go anywhere. I did not know its connection to music.
Orutti MaganAi pirandu
My initial introduction to ThiruppAvai was in 2012 when I had learnt Orutti MaganAi in a lilting BEhAg tune from my teacher. Many of her students learned it and my teacher had sung it in one of her annual concerts as well. The poetry and imagery that the pAsuram evoked were gripping. But that was it. I did not know that it was part of the 30 pAsurams of ThiruppAvai. I just noted in my music book that it was pAsuram #25 and moved on like I would for any number of Thiruppugazh poems that I had a chance to learn.
Later, during COVID 2020, when most learning was happening online, I had learnt another ThiruppAvai pAsuram #27 KuDArai from my teacher's rendition on radio when she was a child. My initial attempt at self-learning was met with her approval on my first attempt itself. These two pAsurams piqued my curiosity for the wonderful devotional poetry and the apt tunes by Sri AriyakkuDi RAmanuja IyengAr during the 1950s. The words were somehow delectable even if I wasn't extremely clear of their meaning. But isn't that what they say about Veda mantras and their very sound?
Then, in 2023, I had a chance to see Srirangam with through the nostalgic eyes of my college friend Ranga who was born and brought up in this storied kshetram. He took me and my wife on a comprehensive visit of the vast temple complex over 6 plus hours. We had an inspired satsang with his brother-in-law Sri Vasan, a retired professional serving the shrine of Sri ThonDar aDi poDi Azhwar now. We were photographed in front of VeLLai gopuram, a quiet path with coconut trees (Thennan Solai - Coconut grove) near the prAkAram (ramparts) built by Thirumangai Azhwar and Paramapada vAsal etc. I even got to sing Orutti maganAi to his mother who is devoted to Ranganatha and Srirangam. I consider that a blessing.
Initial Stirrings
I was reflecting on my music journey in late 2024. One of my wishes that I recorded in that was my deep desire to learn the rest of the ThiruppAvai. That was the first time that I put that wish in Black and White. That somehow seemed to have shaped my desire more firmly and started to breathe life into it.
Later on, I expressed my wish to my teacher several times. I was considering going to Chennai to learn them all in a special workshop as she said she had not learnt the rest of them and had no plans at the time either. I was a bit crestfallen but after a few reiterations of my deep desire, she suggested that I self-learn them from the YouTube album Kodai Amudam by Archana & Arati. I had made a mental note to do that someday. My initial fancy turned into an intention that is beginning to manifest and the golden reference for learning has been identified which meant that my ThiruppAvai yajnam had formally begun. However, it continued to be on the back burner for a little longer.
Sadhana - The Learning
In the summer of 2024, I sensed a looming hiatus in my music learning in general due to my teacher's and my own potential travel. While I did have several projects of practicing old compositions, reviving and refreshing songs I learned many years ago from my previous teachers and recording them after I reach certain fluency in rendition, a thought flashed in my mind. I thought I should start with a few pAsurams of ThiruppAvai during this break and submit them to my teacher for review when she gets back from her holiday. I am glad I did.
I started with the very first pAsuram - 'Margazhi thingaL' in Natta which I had heard in a junior musician's concert the year before. I also felt that the raga was familiar to me since I knew a few compositions in it. It took me a week of constant listening to the nuances, recording my rendition and self-correcting my attempts. The process of recording and self-correcting has helped me sharpen my ear since I started employing it since 2020 remote learning period. Since I was learning ThiruppAvai on my own, I used the same method to learn the pAsuram, a line at a time until it flowed naturally for me. In a week, I had a recording of my rendition that I was happy with.
I would go about learning the rest of the pAsurams in a random sequence guided by my familiarity of the pAsuram, ragam, complexity of the tune etc. Before learning a new pAsuram, I would transcribe the lyrics into Telugu by consulting both Tamil and Telugu text references and comparing them to what was sung in Kodai Amudam apart from watching Deepa S Pillai's abhinaya videos in her The Divine Doll series to get a broader picture of what I was going to attempt. At the outset, I eased the stress on myself by reminding myself that there was no time limit to learn these. All that I cared was that I learned them, learned them well and enjoyed the process.
I had 4 pAsurams ready for my teacher's review when she returned. A few would pass her fine-toothed comb unscathed while a few others would require some changes in the ragam, talam and/or my pronunciation. Being a non-native speaker of Tamil, I wanted to be correct in the language department for sure. Overall, I recall the exultation of getting a thumbs-up for 'Margazhi thingaL (#1), Ongi (#3), UngaL (#14), Elle (#16), Ambarame (#17), Kuttu ViLakkeriya (#19), Anru ivvulagam (#24), Vanga (SuruTi) without any revisions. For others, I would go back to the pAsurams with suggested corrections and record them again after several practice sessions depending on the complexity. I am indebted to my teacher for suggesting a wonderful reference to learn from and guiding me in the process. The reference renditions were classical, crystal clear and easy to learn from. I cannot say that about various versions that abound on the internet.
As I learned and recorded them, I used to send the then final versions to a few of my friends who used to humour me by listening to them and commenting on them. For one, my wife, a Balaji bhakta used to love them despite her unfamiliarity of the language. A friend, Tara used to egg me on to learn the rest by the margazhi of 2025. My stock response was that I was in no rush and was not marching to any timeline, I of course wished that I could be ready with all before the Margazhi 2025. All this has only helped me move forward a bit by bit.
The Signs
During the year of learning ThiruppAvai, I met so many kindred souls along the way in the uncanniest ways and enjoyed the interactions while they lasted. I also made some effort to drop my guard a bit and even be overwhelmed by them.
In November 2024, stars aligned in such a way that I could visit the amazing Kanchipuram. On the very first evening of my visit, I went to the Kamakshi amman koil and on my return to the hotel, almost bumped into the UlagaLanda PerumAL koil as it sort of juts out into the road at an odd corner.
On the second day too, I repeated my temple wanderings and stopped at the UlagaLanda PerumAL koil on my way back. It was raining quite steadily but I had an umbrella and a jacket for protection. There was very little crowd due to rain. I had the darshan of all 4 PerumALs as I did not note the names properly the day before. The garrulous priest was missing in action as other priests were preparing to close the temple down early due to inclement weather.
I did complete the pradakshiNam despite the rain thanks to the umbrella (the metaphor of VAmana approaching Bali with an umbrella is not lost on me here!) and collected the delicious prasAdam (Pulihora) and came back to Azhwar mandapam to pause and relish the prasadam. Just then, a magical episode happened.
As I was enjoying the Prasadam, an old couple wanted to borrow my umbrella for doing their pradakshiNam. I let them though I was in a hurry to see an old friend in town. While I waited, I had the idea to offer all 4 new pAsurams to AnDAL who was standing there peacefully and patiently. I sang them all to her with not a soul around. Towards the end, MaNi, the security guard came to me and appreciated it and was reminiscing how he learnt them all as a teenager. I took a picture with him. God appears in mysterious ways for sure!
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| With MaNi who knew to recite Thiruppavai |
In January 2025, I learned that a ThiruppAvai story telling session was being presented in two parts at a private residence in North Bangalore. I was familiar with the venue as I attended a different session there earlier. I was able to attend the second ThiruppAvai session though I had to miss the first one unfortunately. It was conducted by two dancers Smt. Deepa S Pillai and Smt. Anushka as a dialogue between Sridevi and Bhoodevi. They covered pAsurams #16-#30 in the session that I attended. It was very engaging and towards the end, the host offered them the AnDAL malas that a devotee brought all the way from SriViLLiputhUr. They really looked divine, and this special gesture added to the mystique of the poetry they were elucidating for all of us.
During a trip to Visakhapatnam and Araku last year, I came to know that my friend Ravi was from a town very close to SriViLLiputhUr and knew a lot about the temple and the people there. I will soon meet with him to plan my trip to The Town in the near future and hopefully offer all that I learned.
It all made me feel that there are signs all around to nudge you along the way even if you were a tiny bit open to whatever came your way.
MArgazhi 2025
After some sustained learning through 2024-2025, I completed learning all 30 pAsurams of ThiruppAvai a couple of weeks before MArgazhi 2025 was to begin. Soon after, I came across Malyada series by Sri Dushyant Sridhar. He enunciates the words and explains the meaning of each pAsuram followed by a dancer's interpretation - all under 30 minutes per pAsuram. I went through it all one by one and freshly transcribed the lyrics into Telugu and captured the meaning in a nutshell by the side. That would surely be a great reference for me in future.
I was in Chennai during December for attending the mArgazhi music season of concerts. When I am there, I become fully immersed in music by attending lecture demonstrations, katha kAlakshEpams, concerts or even reading a book on music. Now that I have just completed learning the ThiruppAvai, my heart would jump with indescribable joy whenever I listen to a pAsuram being presented as part of a concert. I listened to the day's pAsuram in one concert or the other on a daily basis.
Much to my joy, a heritage walk that I participated in took me to Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha in Mylapore. This was apparently the sabha that Sri AriyakkuDi RAmanuja IyengAr premiered his musical renditions of ThiruppAvai for the first time. I also learned that it was Kanchi Maha Periyava who had requested Sri AriyakkuDi to set the ThiruppAvai to music.
Tara (my friend who appeared earlier in the story) chose to send a link to my rendition of the day's ThiruppAvai along with a really wonderful depiction by the artist Vishnuprabha, to all her friends. She was sending the poetry, meaning and some other renditions in the previous years. It is very kind of her to offer mine instead this year. I have been forwarding her post to a few friends who receive my recordings almost on a weekly basis. I also requested my friends Karthik and Krishnan to play my renditions in their beautiful shrine daily and they happily did that. Blessings grow only exponentially, it seems!
The Last Word
I was thinking that AnDAL came into my life just a few years ago but I recently realized that she had been there with us in our house from the beginning. We had two Tanjavur paintings with us from 1995 onwards and they have graced all our homes. We kept thinking it was Meenakshi and Krishna till we realized just recently that it was indeed AnDAL and baby Krishna. No less! It felt like she had been with us all along hoping that we will open our eyes one day!
AnDAL is the only female Azhwar and what she wrote is considered equal to Vedam by Sri Vaishnavas. But to me, AnDAL brings the image of a charming poet and a beautiful baby girl who is intense in her devotion to her Krishna and relentless in getting all her friends (us?) together on her life mission.
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It is a miracle that I was able to learn ThiruppAvai set to music. Here are my renditions.
Now, coming to think of it, I just realized that I wrote this entire blog during MArgazhi and completed it on Day 30!
