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Re: Sri Ramanuja and Sri Andal

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • June 10, 1994 


Parthasarati Dileepan writes:
>  Why is Sri Andal
> referred here as "pinnaanaaL" to Sri Ramanuja?  One explanation I
> once heard was that Sri Ramanuja fulfilled Sri Andal's desire for
> offering 100 containers of "akkaaravadisal," -- Naacciyaar thirumozhi 9.6.
> I forgot how that made Sri Ramanuja a older brother.  Are there any
> other explanations?

A paper entitled "Andal and Acharyas", read at 
the All India Seminar on Andal, 1983, tells
the following story:

"While discoursing on the poem 'naaRu naRum pozhil' (Naacc Thiru 9.6)
in which Andal desires to offer a hundred vessels of butter and a 
hundred others of 'akkara-vadisil' or 'kshirannam', it occurred
to Ramanuja that only Andal's desire had been chronicled, but nowhere
was it said that it had been fulfilled.  He therefore fulfilled her
wish as his duty at the shrine of Thiru-mal-irum-cholai and then
repaired to Srivilliputtur to pay his respects to Andal.  Andal was
pleased with him and transcending her archa called him her 'aNNan'
elder brother, as he has carried out her wish as an elder brother
would do for his sister.  Consequently, the Vazhithirunamam of
Andal contains the line 'perumpoothoor maamunikku pinnaanaaL vaazhiyE'.
The Prapannamritam (53-8,9) mentions this as under:

	[A Sanskrit sloka is cited].

The Astottaram on Ramanuja by Andhrapoorna contained in chapter
54 of the Prapannamritam also has this line 'gOdAgrajO digvijEtA
gOdAbhIShTaprapUraka.h'. It is said that as a reminder of the
incident, the idol of Andal in Srivilliputtur remains in front
of the 'sanctum sanctorum' and not inside it as would normally
be the case."

Mani