Plot The film begins with elderly Krishnan (Suriya) returning home after a haircut. Once he reaches home he vomits a profuse amounts of blood and is kept to bed rest. After the doctor checks him, he is reported dead after a few moments of grief with his wife Malini (Simran), daughter Shreya, and daughter-in-law Priya (Divya Spandana).
This news is informed to his son Surya (Suriya) who is on a military mission traveling in a helicopter. He begins to shed tears and starts thinking about his memorable moments with his father and the story of how his parents loved each other during their college days. Krishnan is a student in the same college where Malini studies.
They fall in love and get married. They soon have a son, Surya. He grows up as a friend to his father.
He joins an engineering college near Tiruchi and parts from his family. There he takes part in cultural activities and develops his guitar skills. When he is on a train back home after completion of college, he meets Meghna (Sameera Reddy) who is doing Engineering in National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli. He soon proposes to her. She rejects him, saying that they have known each other for a very short period and it's not possible to fall in love without taking time to understand him.
Surya then tells her that wherever she goes, he will meet her. Surya is disturbed constantly by Meghna's thoughts and consequently ends up going to her house. There she tells him that she is going to University of California, Berkeley in a week to pursue higher education. During that period Krishnan, Surya's father, gets his first mild heart attack and is admitted to the hospital.
Then on, an inspired Surya obtains projects and finally builds a house for his parents. After that, he goes to the United States, with the acceptance of his father, and meets Meghna in San Francisco where they have the time of their lives.
Meghna is convinced that he is the right person and that he will be accepted by her father. Their happiness does not last long when she goes to Oklahoma City for a project. Surya joins her later traveling by the Greyhound bus. When he reaches there, he witnesses the Oklahoma City bombing and realizes that Meghna is amongst those injured.
She dies on her way to the hospital. A heartbroken Surya returns to India. He meets Shankar Menon at the airport who tries to console him with words and offers him encouragement. Surya still can't take the situation.
He once again and starts hanging out with his friends to get over his loss. He meets Priya (Divya Spandana), his sister's friend. However, the thoughts of losing Meghna still haunts him, and he resorts to taking drugs. Surya's parents try to get him to break the habit by locking him up in his room and removing him from all external contact. Once they detect his withdrawal symptoms, they ask him to take a long break to rejuvenate himself. Subsequently, he takes a leisure trip to Kashmir. There he learns that Aditya, the son of Shankar Menon, the person who inspired him in the airport was kidnapped.
He visits them in Delhi. On seeing the lethargic attitude of the police, he takes matters into his own hands and goes in search of the kidnappers. After days of roaming streets and gathering information, he locates the kidnapper (Prithviraj) and the place where Aditya is kept. He battles the kidnappers single-handedly, overpowers them and rescues Aditya. Back home, Surya starts to go out with his sister and her friend Priya. One day Priya proposes to him, but he doesn't respond.
Surya decides that the only way to forget the pain in his body is to prepare it for bigger things. He goes on a strict workout training and joins the army. After six years, Priya comes to the Indian Military Academy where he is posted to meet him and proposes again; this time he accepts. They marry and have a son. Suddenly Krishnan is diagnosed with throat cancer and is operated on. After some days Surya is called upon to go on a mission to rescue a journalist which brings the scene back to the present day.
After completing the military mission with the help of a masked man (Gautham Menon) who tells them where the culprits were, Surya returns home to see his dead father. Surya, his sister Shriya, Malini and Priya let go his father's ashes in the sea and Malini relates her husband's life to Surya by uttering a verse from a prayer. The film ends on a happy note as the four walk away smiling; conveying the message that 'Whatever happens, Life has to go on.'
Nachiar Tirumozhi is a set of 143 verses composed by, one of the twelve in tradition. In her restlessness and eagerness to attain the, Anadal attempts various methods by which she can attain union with which forms the major part of work. Among the Thirumozhis, is very well known and has a special significance. It details Andal's narration of her dream of her experiences with her friends on her way to achieve her purpose of birth (getting married to kannapiran). These 143 verses are a part of the 4000 divine hymns of. The verses are classified into fourteen decads namely, prayer to, not to destroy sand castle, Vastapraharana, securing union with Lord, requesting cuckoo to call her Lord, Kothai's marriage, eulogizing Vishnu's conch, Megha Sandesa, prangs of separation from Lord, seeking help to attain Lord and in praise of.
Contents. Etymology Thirumozhi literally means 'Sacred Sayings' in a Tamil poetic style and 'Nachiar' means goddess. Therefore, the title means 'Sacred Sayings of the Goddess.' This poem fully reveals Andal's intense longing for Vishnu, the divine beloved. Utilizing classical Tamil poetic conventions and interspersing stories from the and, Andal creates imagery that is possibly unparalleled in the whole gamut of Indian religious literature.
Organized way of the verses These 143 pasurams (verses) are organized in 14 segments and each one is called 'Tirumozhi'. Thus the first set of ten pasurams is called as first Tirumozhi. And is named after the first phrase of the first pasuram 'tai oru tingalum' (Tamil: தையொரு திங்கள்).Similarly all the other Tirumozhis are named after the first phrase of first pasuram.And each Tirumozhi deals with one specific topic. The first Thirumozhi, is called “tai oru ti’ngaLum”, based on the first phrase of the first pASuram.
Similarly, all the other tirumozhi-s are named based on the first few words of the first pasuram of the Thirumozhi. The first decad is a set of verses to pray (cupid) to seek as his husband. Andal expresses that she will lose her life if she is married to someone else other than Lord Krishna.
The second decad is a compilation of Andal's prayer to preserver the sand castle she built on the river. The third decad is a set similar to the vastraprahana, the playful chapter in Krishna's life when he took away garments of Gopikas and their request to get them back. The fourth decad has poems where she expresses her union with Lord. Kuyil Pattu or cukoo's song forms the fifth decad where Andal requests cuckoo to sing in praise of Krishna.
Experts attribute the verses to Pancharartra Agama, a mode of worship practiced in Vaishnavite temples. The sixth decad indicates her dream to marry Lord laying down the principles of spiritual dynamics.
The 8th Thirumozhi called “Vinnila Melappu” deals with telling her plight to the clouds and sending them as her messenger to Govindan, who is stationed in. The remaining Thirumozhis are dedicated to different efforts by to somehow speed up her union with Perumal. In the process, she goes through lots of impatient waiting, and finally in Patti Meindor Karerur Thirumozhi, she is reunited with Vishnu. Critic views Some of Andal's verses express love for Lord Vishnu, written with bold sensuality and startlingly savage longing, hunger and inquiry, that even today many of her most erotic poems are rarely rendered publicly. In one such verse Andal dispenses with metaphor and imagines that she herself in lying in the arms of Krishna, and making love to him. Coax the world-measurer to caress my waist, to encircle the twin globes of my breasts In one of her poems, Andal says that her voluptuous breasts will swell for the lord alone, and scorns the idea of making love to mortal beings, comparing that with the sacrificial offering made by Brahmins being violated by jackals in the forest, and in another verse she dedicates her swelling breasts to the Lord who carries a conch.
In popular culture The songs of are regularly sung in all the Vishnu temples of South India daily and also during festivals. Andal is worshiped as a God in South India and enshrined in all the Vishnu temples. The verses of Thirupavai and Nachiyar Thirumozhi are sung commonly in all the households and temples during the month of Margazhi (December - January).
Rao, Shivshankar (31 March 2013). Sushmajee: Dictionary Of Hindu Religion.
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Andal (14 October 2000). Penguin Books Australia. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
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The Financial Times Limited. Retrieved 13 July 2015. ^ Chakravarty, Uma (1989). 50-51-52: 25. Retrieved 18 September 2015. Dehejia, Vidya (2008). New York: Columbia University Press.
Retrieved 25 January 2018. Kandasamy, Meena (2010). Ms Militancy. Mulchandani, Sandhya (2014). The Indian Quarterly. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
Bilwakesh, Champa (16 March 2011). Archived from on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015. Chabria, Priya Sarukkai (2016). Chabria, Priya Sarukkai; Shankar, Ravi, eds. Andal: The Autobiography of a Goddess. Zubaan Books.
access-date= requires url=. Venkatesh, Arundhati. Retrieved 25 January 2018. Ghai, Anuj.
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Retrieved 15 April 2018 – via. (Subscription required ( help)). References.
Is a wonderful introduction to the Bhakti saint-poet and a soul-stirring translation of her works from medieval Tamil. While many Tamilians would have heard of Andal, and some may even have heard her poetry being recited in the month of Markazhi, most would not be able to understand it. So this translation of her works – Thiruppavai and Nachiyar Thirumozhi – from eighth-century Tamil, is of value to Tamilians and non-Tamilians alike, to those who are familiar with her story as well as those who aren’t. A Bhakti saint like Akka Mahadevi or Meera, Andal loved Krishna as a child; as a teenager she refused to be betrothed to any mortal man.
So who is Andal? Andal was the only woman among the twelve Alwars – medieval Vaishnavite poets who took the scriptures to the masses, composing hymns in Tamil that are considered the equivalent of the Sanskrit Vedas. Along with Shridevi (Lakshmi), Andal appears beside Vishnu as his consort, Bhoodevi – the personification of earth. I find the similarities between Sita’s origin and Andal’s interesting – the latter was found as an infant under a tulsi plants by her father, Periyalwar (also one of the twelve Alwars), in his field in Srivilliputhur, and known as Kodai. Andal, though, had to undergo no agnipariksha; she is said to have merged into the godhead at the Sri Ranganatha temple in Srirangam. A personal connect with Andal I was born in Srirangam, and as a schoolgirl, spent summer vacations there with my grandparents; I’ve always wondered why Andal is revered as much as she is, why women see her as one of their own. So it was with a degree of anticipation that I set off on this journey to discover the young Kodai; I was not disappointed.
The colours on the jacket brought back memories of my ancestral home with its red-oxide floors, the kolam design on each page transported me to the streets of Srirangam. Mani Rao’s preface sets the tone beautifully, giving a glimpse of what one can expect from the book, the differences in the two translators’ styles ensuring the reader is eager, and ready, to receive Andal. While the introduction and translators’ notes are necessary for context, I grew a bit impatient after fifty pages; I couldn’t wait to dive into the Thiruppavai. (Possibly not a complaint for those encountering Andal’s story for the first time.) The authorship of Andal’s hymns The question regarding the authorship of the Thiruppavai (thirty pasurams – paragraphs of poetry set to music – attributed to the young Andal) and the much longer Nachiyar Thirumozhi (fourteen hymns said to have been composed in her teens) is important, and the book does justice to it. The translators bring to the reader the theories that abound – that Andal did not exist and was a figment of her father’s imagination, that the creator of these compositions was Periyalwar himself.
Even the suggestion makes me indignant, so I was relieved that the translators did not subscribe to the theory that Andal was merely a construct. But, as the book says, the question remains; it is upto us to draw our own conclusions. What has been omitted, and would have been of value to a reader in this process, is the background of the other eleven Alwars. For can Andal be seen in isolation? True equality in the Alwars But what the book fails to mention, I can!.
The majority of the Alwars did not come from the brahmin or priestly class. Thiruppana Alwar was from the Panar community that was not allowed into temples. Kulasekara Alwar was a kshatriya, a king turned devotee.
Thirumangai Alwar was from the kazhwar, or robber community. Nammalwar belonged to a shudra family; he did not have speech for the first sixteen years of his life and did not open his eyes either. Thirumazhisai Alwar studied Buddhist and Jain scriptures, and became a staunch devotee of Shiva assuming the name Shiva Vakya, before his initiation into Vaishnavism. In one of his verses, Thirumazhisai has said he was Avarna – not of the four varnas – and untouchable. Thondaradipodi Alwar had been under the influence of a prostitute whose mother stole all his money.
He too vehemently opposed the caste system. It is widely accepted that the Alwars were chosen to bring people of all kinds, across castes and classes, into the fold, to include marginalised communities. To demonstrate that anyone with devotion would be accepted.
And Andal was the lone woman. Like Andal, Tirumazhisai Alwar too was a foundling. Born to a sage as a lifeless lump of flesh with no arms or legs, he was raised by a tribal couple. The Mudhal (first three) Alwars, Poigai, Bhutha and Pey are said to have been born miraculously. So why single out Andal? Why doubt her existence and authorship alone?
It is widely accepted that the Alwars were chosen to bring people of all kinds, across castes and classes, into the fold, to include marginalised communities. To demonstrate that anyone with devotion would be accepted.
And Andal was the lone woman. The reasoning that a young girl could not have mastered the poetic form, or possessed knowledge of the gods to be able to compose the hymns credited to her, is flimsy. Kodai lived close to the temple in Srivilliputhur, grew up in the household of Periyalwar, and her abilities as a poet have been recognised by Periyalwar himself in one of his verses.
Andal the saint-poet and her love for the Lord Then comes the much-awaited Thiruppavai. Having two translators interpret it works really well, giving the reader a better sense of what the original may be like. Neither translates literally, or approaches it as a philosophical text, choosing instead to focus on the aesthetics. And yet they have distinct styles. Priya’s poetry instantly appeals. She conveys Andal’s sense of urgency, skilfully capturing the voice of a petulant young girl with her use of imperatives.
Spirited, energetic, Kodai mocks the lazy ones who slumber on when they should be joining in the hymns and seeking His grace. “As Kumbhakarna slid down death’s throat did he slip you his gift of demonic slumber?” “You promised to herald our lotus-eyed Lord.
Vaaranam Aayiram Thiruppavai Lyrics In Tamil Pdf
Are you worse than a parrot that mimics our vows?” More mellow, but equally delightful, is Ravi’s style with his use of imagery: “Dawn the colour of bruised mango” His poetry just flows. The Thiruppavai was definitely worth the wait!
Andal stone carving Unlike the (shorter) Thiruppavai where we get to experience Andal through both Priya and Ravi, not all fourteen hymns of the Nachiyar Thirumozhi are translated by both. The decision has been made wisely, and where both translations are featured, the sequencing is thoughtful. Here we encounter a more mature Andal. “My surging breasts long to leap to the touch of his hand which holds aloft the flaming discus and the conch.” She entreats Manmatha (Kamadeva) in the first hymn: “Coax the world-measurer to caress my waist, to encircle the twin globes of my breasts” In the second, she pleads with Krishna not to destroy the sandcastles they have built, a symbolic reference to hearts being broken and hopes being shattered. The third, where Krishna steals the clothes of the gopi girls, is rich in metaphor too – “Lord strip us of our shame, succour us – else return us to our drape of worldly life” “Unclothed by devotion we’re unfit for the world.” “Climb no higher on the wild lime with our fine inner clothes, our tender feelings.
Return all.” In the fourth song, she is engaged in a game of circumscribing a circle on the ground with her eyes closed – she longs for the circle to connect and complete, sign of her imminent union with Krishna. The poem is replete with references to Krishna’s conquests – from Kaliya to Mahabali. In the fifth, a lovesick Kodai yearns for union with her lord, and pleads with a kuyil bird to carry her messages to Him. The sixth is the well-known wedding hymn, Varanam aayiram. Andal visualises herself being wed to Narayana, she describes her dream – as also the wedding rituals that are followed to this day. The song itself is now part of the Tamil Vaishnava wedding ceremony. In the seventh song, she speaks to Vishnu’s conch in a voice dripping with scorn: “you possess his lips that should possess mine.
Great is your glory!” And addresses the conch as “Lip-leech”. In the eighth, requesting the monsoon clouds to be her messengers, Andal gets even more desperate and explicit. The translators make beautiful use of imagery in this hymn, seeing Andal’s breasts as ‘full hills’ or ‘upturned blossoms’, and referring to her ‘body’s simmering valleys’. Andal is earth, after all! (As Vishnu’s consort, Bhoodevi, our earth, was to be treated with respect – relevant in these times of wanton forest fires and illegal mining.) With each song, there is a perceptible change not just in her age, but also her state of mind. Priya and Ravi succeed in capturing Andal’s love and longing, her various moods ranging from playful to passionate and pining. Image source: Andal rages and rants against the creatures of the grove. She becomes morose that the monsoon has come and gone and yet her lord hasn’t appeared.
Along with her anguish, we sense her increasing frustration against her beloved. ‘Those who love me, I shall love in return’. Software free download for windows 7. If this is a lie What is left To believe?” The tone then changes to one of fury: “I shall pluck out my useless breasts by the roots and fling them at his chest” But Andal remains devoted even when wrathful. “If he won’t enfold me in his radiant chest then at least let him look me in the face, utter the truth and give me leave to leave. My love-swollen breasts cry for his grasp.
My only wish is to serve in all the ways that please.” Then, in the fourteenth and final song, Andal suddenly turns composed, wise, steeped in devotion, devoid of desire; there is a feeling of calm, of understanding, surrender. Periyalwar’s ode to his daughter turned goddess takes you through the entire spectrum of emotions, makes you experience Andal’s love and devotion, a fitting end to a wonderful book. I wish many relish Andal’s poetry, that there are several reprints, and I hope the typographical errors are rectified in subsequent editions. A deeply satisfying read that, as Priya has said in her acknowledgement “remade me as a bhakta”. I got the answers to my questions too: Why is it that these songs are considered accessible unlike the scriptures? What is the essence of the Vedas that the Alwars convey with their hymns? In one word: Surrender.
I understood why Andal resonated with the women I saw in my childhood in Srirangam. Andal is everywoman. Getting your own copy? If you’d like to pick up Andal: The Autobiography of a Goddess by Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Ravi Shankar, use our affiliate links: at, at or at Women’s Web gets a small share of every purchase you make through these links, and every little helps us continue bringing you the reads you love! Header image source Andal stone sculpture source.
Tamil Stotras - Agastya - Sri Hayagriivaashtottarashatanaamastotram - Prapatti Online www.prapatti.com - Slokas, Stotras, and MP3 Voice Recordings A NDAL 'S N AACHCHIYAAR T IRUMOZI IN T AMIL A ll of these stotras or prayers have been compiled into Tamil PDF format. Please view the box to the right for additional viewing options. Note: designates that several more stotras are available in the folder. Designates that an MP3 (audio recording) of the stotra is available.
Browse all available MP3 Sloka Author (Suitable for double-sided printing) Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal Andal.
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