I came to know about Andal & Margazhi – two major Tamil cultural aspects – from a play by Anita Ratnam and two other artists a few years back. It had some dance performances, recitations and narrations which gave us a peek into the culture of reading Andal’s Tirupavai every day of the month of Marghazhi, in Tamil households.

For me, this play was an introduction to Andal, the great Vishnu devotee, only women Alwar & intrepid poetess from the South. And also to the month of Margazhi, known as Margashirsha in north India. They put forth a lovely performance that left me feeling curious and interested to experience more.

Since then I have been looking to discuss Andal and the Tamil culture around Margazhi with some relevant people….

When Margazhi started recently in mid Dec 2020, I was planning a new YouTube channel for this blog and wanted to have a conversation on Andal and Margazhi (the youtube video series – aatmic is now live). However, by the time I launched the channel with the first couple of videos, it was already the last days of Margazhi. And after Margazhi, begins the month of Thai in Tamil Nadu. And the first day of Thai is Pongal – a harvest celebration (same time when Makar Sankranti and other other harvest festivities start across India). So, my Tamil relative became too busy to spend much time chatting about the past for now i.e. Andal and Margazhi. 😀

What I did manage, thanks to my aatmic efforts 😀 (aatmic means ‘of the soul’), was a quick chat with her, and now, doing a brief recap post for you,

Significance of Margazhi (aka Margashirsha)

Margazhi is the brahma muhurat for the devas. Makar Sankranti or Pongal, the day after Margazhi, is the start of the 6-month long “day” for the devas. So the month just preceding the “dawn” is Margazhi = pre-dawn = brahma muhurat. Daily, we consider brahma muhurat from 3.00 am and this is considered a super, duper time to do our yoga practices or other spiritual activities.

Krishna in bhagvat, when he is talking to Arjuna, said that in all the months, He is the Margazhi month,

Chapter 10, Verse 35

बृहत्साम तथा साम्नां गायत्री छन्दसामहम् |
मासानां मार्गशीर्षोऽहमृतूनां कुसुमाकर: || 35||

bṛihat-sāma tathā sāmnāṁ gāyatrī chhandasām aham
māsānāṁ mārga-śhīrṣho ’ham ṛitūnāṁ kusumākaraḥ

(source)

meaning: in the samaveda I am the brihatsama, in poetic meters I am the gayatri mantra, in months I am Margashirsh or Margazhi, in seasons I am Spring.

During Margazhi, the temples in TN (not sure of other states) open very early, so people can spend their daily brahma muhurat time, in the temple acknowledging the brahma muhurat of the devas 🙂

The Vishnu temples/shrines read Andal’s Tirupavai & Shiva temples/shrines read Manikkavasagar’s Thiruvasagam.

Margazhi is also the time when an amazing flurry of classical dance, music and arts performances happen in Chennai. I haven’t been able to dig deeper into this. Hopefully, will get a chance to experience this celebration some time in future.

Andal, an avatar of Bhudevi?

One interesting matter is that the Tamil aunty said, they consider Andal as the avatar/reincarnation of “Bhudevi”, the consort of Vishnu. I might write another post on this… because it is an intriguing matter with many layers to it. If we give the “avatar” status to all our amazing devotees and yogis – then aren’t we belittling human potential? Can any human being become an avatar? Is this more a case of relegating an honor to someone great by equating them with a deity? Is there truly Bhudevi incarnated in Andal?

Let’s see if I can blog on this next 🙂

🙂 While one can get the above and lot more information about Andal and Margazhi online, I don’t generally read random online websites to understand these things. I only use them for cursory research – like finding specific shlokas in sanskrit script or translating sanskrit word meanings in a dictionary and so on.

Identifying people who we feel are knowledgeable – with right knowledge and understanding – is v relevant. There has to be a personal connect or feel to things. Gaining spiritual knowledge must happen properly through right channels. So that we can also receive it properly.