Andal

Andal was a Tamil poet from southern India and the only woman among the twelve Alvars, the poet-saints associated with the Srivaishnava tradition of Hinduism. She is usually placed around the eighth century CE, although the exact chronology is uncertain, and some scholars suggest the name may stand for more than one person. She matters because she composed devotional works in Tamil that devotees still recite today.

According to tradition, she was raised by Periyalvar, a devotee of Vishnu who found her as a girl under a tulasi plant in the garden of the temple at Srivilliputhur. They named her Kotai, and she grew up devoted to Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. It is said she wore garlands before offering them to the god, and Periyalvar scolded her until Vishnu appeared to him in a dream and asked that only the garland she had worn be offered. From then on she was known as Andal, or Chudikodutha Sudarkodi, the woman who gave her garland to Vishnu. She resolved to marry no mortal man and instead devoted herself to Ranganatha, the reclining form of Vishnu at Srirangam.

Her writing consists of two Tamil poems. The Tiruppavai has thirty verses in which she imagines herself as a cowherd girl keeping a vow of devotion in the month of Margazhi. The Nachiyar Tirumoli, a poem of 140 verses, is a mystical love song that draws on classical Tamil poetic conventions and weaves in stories from the Vedas and Puranas. In it she promises Vishnu a thousand pots of sweet rice, a vow which, according to tradition, was fulfilled by Ramanuja in the twelfth century. Conservative Vaishnava institutions promote this second poem less, because of its erotic tone.

Her legacy remains strong. The Tiruppavai is recited every year in Margazhi, and her verses have inspired classical dance and festivals at many temples. Women's groups such as the Goda Mandali, formed in 1970, spread her songs. For many women readers and devotees, Andal stands as an example of a direct and personal bond with Vishnu.