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Thiru Adhyayana Uthsavam : Part XXIII: ANDAL weds Sri RanganAthan : BhOgi paNDigai.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • January 13, 2002 


SrI:

SrI RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Dear BhakthAs: 

Sri RanganAtha Temple at Pomona , NY celebrated
ANDAL ThirukkalyANam today.

Today is BhOgi PaNDigai day. It is the day before 
Makara SankarAnthi. Our dear ANDAL has Her wedding
with Sri RanganAthan today at SrivilliputthUr, Kanchi and 
Srirangam . When Her Father, PeriyAzhwAr 
brought Her with Koorai Pudavai (Wedding Saree)
and exquisite aabharaNams to Srirangam in a palanquin ,
She had already chosen  Lord RanganAthA in a Svayamvaram 
over EmperumAns of all the other dhivya dEsams.
She had dreamed about Her vivAham with the Lord and
sang about it in NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi's " VaaraNamAyiram "
decad. Srimathi KalyANi KrishnamAcchAri has summarized 
the meanings of these paasurams dealing with the many aspects
of the Vedic wedding described in those exquisite paasurams :

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar.html

ANDAL in KalyANa ThirukkOlam with RangamannAr , ANDAL's
sevai during the Thiruadhyayana Uthsavam and detailed 
information about Srivilliputthur and NaacchiyAr ThirumALikai
has also been assembled by Sri Venkat Iyengar , a native son
of SrivilliputthUr :

http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673

Returning to the Vedic Wedding described by ANDAL in
Her NaachiyAr Thirumozhi's 6th decad , it is available at:

http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar6a.html
http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/7673/azhwars/nachiyar6b.html

The Veda Manthrams used in SampradhAyic weddings , which form 
the basis  of ANDAL's VaaraNamAyiram decad have been described 
by adiyEn are archived in Sri Vaishnava Home Page:

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/rituals/sacrament/marriage_mantras.html 

Andal entered the garbha gruham of Lord RanganathA and merged 
with Him as His bride. This marriage was known only to Namm PerumAL, 
GodhA PirAtti and PeriyAzhwAr , the Father-in-law of the Lord. 
For the benefit of the world , Lord RanganAthan came to 
SrivilliputthUr and wedded ANDAL once again , this time 
in front of every one , in the Vedic way and decided to stay 
at His father-in-law's house as RangamannAr. He is there even 
today enjoying the Bhogam as MappiLLai in NaacchiyAr
ThirumALigai as a Gruhasthan and blessing us all with ANDAL 
as SaraNya Dhampathis. 

ANDAL ThirukkalyANam follows after 9 days of NeerAtta Uthsavam .
VivAham takes place on BhOgi day . At Kaanchipuram , traditional 
VivAham steps such as Oorvalam of ANDAL in Golden palanquin and
Oonjal Vaibhavam takes place in the morning of BhOgi day . 
She visits then Swamy Desikan Sannidhi and has special Alankaara 
Thirumanjanam there , ThiruvArAdhanam and stays there with 
Swamy Desikan until the evening when the Lord arrives for 
His ThirukkalyANam with ANDAL . Then She joins Her Lord 
and enjoys  Maalai MaaRRal at Naalu Kaal MaNDapam, Oonjal 
at ThoNDaradippodi MaNDapam and moves on together with 
Her Lord to AbhishEka (NeerAtta) MaNDapam. There BhOgi 
ThirukkalyANam , SamarpaNams , ThiruvArAdhanam , Manthra Pushpam , 
and nivEdhanam take place in front of Her Father and AchAryan , 
PeriyAzhwAr. 

Next day , which is the Makara SankarAnthi day ( Thai Maasa 
PiRappu) ,Thirumanjanam and AarAdhanam for " the newly wedded 
Couple" take place and thereafter , the dhivya dampathis 
travel around the four Maada Veethis of Kaanchi to bless all 
of their devotees eagerly assembled there to have the bhAgyam of 
this adhbhutha Sevai. They return thereafter to their aasthaanams.

BhOgi PaNDigai is a special Tamilian Festival , which was
originally known  as Indhran VizhA . A righteous king by
name of Upari Chara Vasu helped Indhran in his battles
and the Indhran presented Upari Chara Vasu with a chariot ,
which travelled in the celestial space without touching ground. 
That king celebrated the honor accorded by Indhran through 
a Festival,which came to be known as Indhra VizhA or 
BhOgi PaNDigai.The story of Uapari Chara Vasu is also 
linked with ThErazhundhUr Sthala PurAnam . 

On this special ThirukkalyANam day for Godhaa PirAtti ,
let us offer our visEsha prayErs to Her with the recitation
Of GodhA Sthuthi  , the magnificent sthOthra Grantham of 
Swamy Desikan (Meanings of the GodhA Sthuthi slOkams are
archived in July-August 2000 Bhakthi Archives).Here Swamy 
Desikan refers to Godhai's ThirukkalyANa MahOthsavam and
Her Vaibhavam .

AdiyEn would like to conclude this ANDAL ThirukkalyANam 
on BhOgi PaNDigai Day with the recitation of Her Vaazhi
ThirunAmam and Her MangaLa SlOkam :

ThiruvAdippUratthuc-chekatthutthitthAL VaazhiyE
ThiruppAvai Muppathum seppinAL VaazhiyE
PeriyAzhwAr PeRReduttha PeNN PiLLai VaazhiyE
PerumbhUthUr Maamunikku pinnAnAl VaazhiyE
Oru nooru naaRpatthu moonRu-uraitthAL VaazhiyE
UYAR ARANGARKKE KANNIYUHANTHALITTHAAL VAAZHIYE
MaruvArum Thirumalli vaLa naadi VaazhiyE
VaNN Pudhuvai Nahark Kodhai Malar Paadhangal VaazhiyE

Srimathyai VishNuchitthArya manOnandhana hEthavE
Nandanandana Sundaryai GodhAyai Nithya mangaLam 

ANDAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Asmath AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan/SaThakOpan 



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