TANIYAN 3:

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cuḍi koḍutta cuḍarkkoḍiyē! tolpāvai,

pāḍi aruḷavalla palvaḷaiyāi! nāḍi nī

veṅkaḍavaṛ kennai vidi yenṛa imāttam

nāṅgaḍavā vaṇṇame nalhu

O Āṇḍāḷ radiant like a flash of lightning! You bedecked yourself first with the garland intended for Lord Raṅganātha and then offered it to Him; by your great talent in poetry you composed the renowned and ancient hymn of Tiruppāvai. O Āṇḍāḷ adorned with many beautiful bangles, please shower your grace on us so that we may become greatly devoted to Lord Krishna; With the same sincerity of devotion that you asked of Kāmadeva — “O Kāmadeva, be pleased to make me a humble servant and bride of the Lord Veṅkaṭēśa!”

Interpreatation:

cuḍarkkoḍiyē!:

Golden creeper. Creeper requires something as support to climb. Lord is our support. He is ‘upayam’.

cuḍi koḍutta:

First decorated herself with garland and then offered the uchchhishtam to lord Vatpatrashayi. Thus, she is also called ‘cudi kodutta nachiyar’.

tolpāvai,:

Old ritual

pāḍi aruḷavalla:

The capability you have in singing. Gopis didn’t sing anything about the vratam, didn’t give any teachings. But, Goda is even greater. She sung and gave her teachings to us.

palvaḷaiyāi:

She is having bangles in her hand. Bangles Indicates that she is with her support, her spouse. Lord blessed you with his presence. He obeys you. He is your humble husband. His accessibility is well used by our divine mother.

When Husband is not present, even ring becomes bangles (bride becomes so thin due to pain of separation) and when husband is present, even bangles become rings (bride becomes healthy out of joy of union).  So, mention of bangle is deep and symbolic.

Goda prayed to Lord Srinivas Venkateshwar to make Ranganatha as her husband in ‘Nachiyar Thirumozhi’. Her wish was fulfilled too.  When Ramanuja constructed Govindaraja temple in Tirupati, he had this in his mind. The thayar (mother) in Govindraj temple is Goda devi.

There are some rishis who did tapas for God. There are some rishis for whom God did tapas (Alvars). While Vedas goes in search of Brahman, Brahman himself came running to the prabandham of Alvars. That’s the greatness of Divya Prabandham of Alwars.