Andal is one of the famous women poets of Tamil Nadu. She lived around 8[SUP]th[/SUP] century. Though she is known as a devotional poet, her knowledge in several subjects is amazing. She has sung about various subjects from Astronomy to Zoology. In her A to Z dealings, I am going to touch A for Astronomy and Z for Zoo in this article. Ancient Tamil women were well educated. We have scores of female poets (poetesses) in Sangam Tamil literature. We had more than one Avvaiyar in Tamil literature.
Among the devotional poetesses Karaikal Ammaiyar of fifth century and Andal of 8[SUP]th[/SUP] century AD are more popular.
Andals’s 30 verses known as Tiruppavai and another 143 verses known as Nachiyar Tirumozi are household names in Tamil Vaishnavite families. Her wedding song Varanam Ayiram (part of Nachiyar Tirumozi) is sung in all the Vaishnavite Brahmin weddings. She is the only one female in the twelve famous Vaishnavite Saints known as Alvars.
Two of the 30 Tiruppavai verses are known for her knowledge in Animal Behaviour and Astronomy. One may wonder whether she encountered a lion in a forest or a zoo when one reads her description of a lion. Unless she had keen observation power or a personal visit to a zoo in Madurai near her native place Srivilliputur she would not have described the lion in the following manner:
“ As a fierce lion, which throughout the rains
Within his mountain lair has lain asleep
And awakes, and flashes fire from the eye
And angrily with bristling mane he moves
All of his body, and shakes himself and stands
Upright and roars, and lordly issues forth:
So who flowerlike art, come graciously
Forth from thy shrine; in grace upon by throne
Of cunning craftsmanship, search out the cause
That brings us here. Ah, Elorembavoy (23)
(From Hymns of the Alwars by J S M Hooper)
Andal and Astronomy
Andal must be an amateur astronomer. Though she was a teenage girl she knew ornithology, zoology, astronomy etc. She mentioned a particular bird called Anaichathan (Asian Drongo Cuckoo or Valiyan Kuruvi) . Her keen observation of Venus rising and Jupiter setting in the early morning sky 1200 years ago helped us to confirm her period. We know approximately her period because of her father Periyalvar and the Pandya king of his times. Andal’s precise date was determined by her astronomical reference in the following verse:
Singing the glory of him
Who split the bird’s bill and killed
And Him who plucked the wicked demon as a weed
Girlies all reached the site of deity
Venus ascended and Jupiter had slept sunk;
Birds too clanged behold, belle gild:
The eye is a la flower or deer flirting?
Yet asleep in bed
Enjoin to dip and shiver in bath of cold;
Shed off thy stealth untold
This day is auspicious, consider our damsel.
In the very first verse of Tirupavai, she says that it was Full moon day in the month of Markazi.( Markazi thingal mathi niraintha nannaalal in Tamil) and then she says Venus ascended and Jupiter went down. This happened on 18[SUP]th[/SUP] December 731 AD according to scholars Raghava Iyengar and KG Shankar. Thanks to Andal we were able to pinpoint the date.
I am giving both the verses in Tamil for the benefit of Tamil readers:
Animal behaviour:
மாரிமலை முழைஞ்சில் மன்னிக்கிடந்து உறங்கும்
சீரிய சிங்கம் அறிவுற்றுத் தீவிழித்து
வேரி மயிர்ப்பொங்க எப்பாடும் பேர்ந்து உதறி
மூரி நிமிர்ந்து முழங்கிப் புறப்பட்டுப்
போதருமா போலே நீ பூவைப் பூவண்ணா உன்
கோயில் நின்று இங்ஙனே போந்தருளி, கோப்புடைய
சீரிய சிங்காசனத்திருந்து, யாம் வந்த
காரியம் ஆராய்ந்து அருள் ஏல் ஓர் எம்பாவாய் (திருப்பாவை 23)
Astronomy:
புள்ளின்வாய் கீண்டானைப் பொல்லா அரக்கனைக்
கிள்ளிக் களைந்தானைக் கீர்ந்திமை பாடிப்போய்
பிள்ளைகள் எல்லாரும் பாவைக் களம் புக்கார்
வெள்ளி எழுந்து வியாழம் உறங்கிற்று
புள்ளும் சிலம்பின காண்! போது அரிக்கண்ணினாய்
குள்ளக் குளிரக் குடைந்து நீராடாதே
பள்ளிக் கிடத்தியோ பாவாய்! நீ நன்னாளால்
கள்ளம் தவிர்ந்து கலந்து ஏல் ஓர் எம்பாவாய் (திருப்பாவை 13)
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