![]() ![]() We, however, have attempted to do something different. Most translators concentrate on expounding Srivaishnava philosophy or render literal translations that exhibit remarkable fidelity to the original. Andal’s unconditional surrender (prabati) to Narayana-Vishnu is of such intensity and anguish that she scolds and even rages against god while demanding his caress. ![]() Nacciyar Tirumoli is a work of layered suggestion and unambiguous wild passion wedded to an overwhelming enchantment with the divine. Her work calls to question all markers of identity and boundaries as she passionately sings for bliss to enter her body and spirit. In Nacciyar Tirumoli (The Sacred Songs of The Lady), her second and last work at age fifteen or sixteen, Andal sings of her individual need for spiritual and sexual congress with her chosen god, and of an abundant female desire that is explicitly sited in the body, which, too, is holy. Her first work, Tiruppavai (The Path to Krishna), composed when she was thirteen, is a song of congregational worship. Unique among mystics, Andal demands Vishnu takes her as his bride, not merely in spirit, but as a living maiden she craves the ecstasy and terror of this visceral transformation. For instance, the South Indian mystics privileged the senses of taste, touch and smell, they sang of eating, scenting, even being pawed by the Divine while those of the North favoured hearing or seeing God. However, plural practices flourished under the bhakti rubric. The Alvars are among the earliest proponents of the bhakti movement, a devotional and socially radical form of personal worship that emerged in medieval South India and spread to the rest of the subcontinent. She was the only woman among the twelve Alvars who “dived deep and drowned themselves in the love of god,” implying their complete devotion to Narayana/Vishnu (The Preserver in the Hindu pantheon). ![]() Andal, the 9th century mystic poet of Tamil Nadu was elevated to goddess status within a few centuries of her birth. ![]()
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