Story Series Part 1: Story of Andal

Andal is the only female Alvar among the 12 Alvar saints known for their affiliation to the Srivaishnava tradition
of Hinduism. Quite a few interesting stories hover around

Periazhwar (originally called Vishnuchittar) was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and he used to string garland to Vishnu every day. He was
childless and he prayed to Vishnu to save him from the longing. One day, he found a girl child under a Tulasi plant in a garden inside the
temple. The child was godess lakshmi herself incarnated to test the devotion of alvars. He and his wife named the child as Kothai, who grew
up as a devotee of Lord Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. She is believed to have worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of
the temple. Periazhwar, who later found it, was highly upset and remonstrated her. Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked him to dedicate
only the garland worn by Andal to him. The girl Kothai was thus named Andal and was referred as Chudikodutha Sudarkodi (lady who gave
her garland to Vishnu) For Tirupathi Venkateswara temple Brahmotsavam festival, Garland worn by Andal in Srivilliputhur temple (Tamil
Nadu) is sent all along to Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh one day before the Brahmotsavam.These traditional garlands are made of tulasi,
sevanthi and sampangi flowers.These garlands are used on prestigious Garuda seva day of Tirupathi Venkateswara in which the lord appear
as Maha Vishnu. It is also believed that Ranganatha of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with the idol.
Since Andal married Ranganatha, who came as a king (called Raja), the presiding deity is called Rangamannar.

In this context another interesting story is Lord Vishnu and Godesse Laxhmi querreld for days and the goddess left heaven in search of
peace. She took birth as a girl child and Periazhwar, a bhraman king found her in the Tulasi bush. He took the child under his protection and
brought her up as her own daughter. In the mean time Vishu started repenting and missing his consort. He searched the entire cosmos to
apologies to his wife. He dressed as a poor bhraman started living on earth. It is said that he was taken under the protection of an old
bhraman household and starting living by begging for food and meditating in the foothills of Tirumale.

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