Goda or Andal was a tamil vaishanva
saint in the 8 century A.D. She was found by a devoted vaishnava saint
Sri Vishnuchitt Swamiji (Periazhwar) under a Tulsi shrub in Sri
Villiputtur town. Being childless Periazhwar brought her up as his own
daughter. Periazwar used to make garlands for his beloved Lord
Ranganatha and while doing so used to narrate stories about Lord
Ranganatha to Andal. The love Periazhwar had for his beloved Lord
intensified further in his daughter and she was particularly attracted
towards Lord Ranganatha's avatar as Lord Krishna. In Tirrupavai
she imagines SriVilliputtur as Gokul, her village folks as shepherds and
herself to be gopi who along with other gopis keep fasts for one month
in order to meet their beloved Sri Krishna.When she came of marriageable
age, she made up her mind to marry only Lord Ranganatha. Periazhwar
despaired about the fate of his daughter as he could not imagine how he
would ask Lord Ranganatha to marry her.
One night, Lord Ranganatha appeared in his dream and asked that Andal
be sent to SriRangam in all her wedding finery. Simultaneously, the Lord
appeared before the priests at SriRangam and asked them to prepare for
the coming of Andal. He made all the wedding preparations and arranged
for Andal's journey in a palanquin to Srirangam. Andal waited with
excited anticipation as the wedding party approached Lord Ranganatha's
shrine. The whole of SriRangam was beautifully decorated for this divine
wedding. As they entered the temple, she jumped out of the palanquin,
unable to restrain herself any longer. Running into the temple sanctum,
she embraced Lord Ranganatha and disappeared in a blaze of glory, having
joined her Lord. According to another legend Andal imagines a swavyamwar
where all the gods are invited and she chose Sri Ranganatha as her
bridegroom.
Andal had composed two works in her short life. Both are in Tamil and
are unique in their literary, philosophical, religious, and artistic
content.Her first work is the Tiruppavai, a poem of thirty
verses. The second is the Nacciyar Tirumoli, a poem of 143
verses. Andal has a very important place in the Sri Vaishnavism sect as
she is considered as the avatar of Sri Bhudevi and she is also
considered as one of the twelve Azhwars saints.
In Sri Rangji mandir Sri Vivah Utsav is celebrated every year in the
month of January to remember the divine marriage of Andal with Sri
Ranganath
