Goda Kalyanam: Dhanurmaasam.

Acharya Sudhakar V, Rao MD

“Karkaate poorvaphalgunyaam, tulasi kaananodbhavaam,

panDye viswambharaam, Godaam, vande Sree Ranganaayki”.

Dhanurmasam, also called Margasira or “Margali”, reminds us about Goda Devi and her song
called Tiruppaavai. The thirty verses of the song are called paasurams. A paasuram is a song of
devotion and expression of gratitude to God, like a hymn.
This Dhanurmasam is very special in the temples of Lord Sri Vishnu. It is called
“dhanurmasam” because of the transit of Sun into Dhanu raasi (the constellation of Sagittarius).
The thirty paasurams are recited one per day for the thirty days of Dhanurmasam in place of
Suprabhaata seva in all the temples of Lord Vishnu. Noted Telugu Emperor of Sri
Vijayanagara, Sri Krishna deva raya’s Telugu prabandha kaavya known as Amukta malyada
reflects this story. This is also known as “Vishnu chitteeyam” and is of great importance in
Telugu literature as one of “pancha kavyas”. The story is of the Kalyanam of Goda Devi
(Andal) and Sri Ranganatha, a form of Lord Vishnu.
Goda Devi is one of the 12 alvars. The last two alvars are Periyalvar and Goda Devi, his
daughter. These are the only two alwars from one family. Perialwar means, the great, or the
elder Alwar. This was Vishnuchitta, (called so due to his immense devotion), Vishnuchitta. The
last or the 12th Alwar is his daughter Goda Devi. Goda is of special importance because she is the
only woman among the 12 alvars and her father is also an alvar.
Vishnu Chitta’s original name was “Bhatta naatha”. He was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu in a
small village called Sri Villiputtur in Tamilnadu. He was called Vishnuchitta because his mind
was constantly on Lord Vishnu. Sri Villiputtur is the region where Lord Vishnu protected the
world as baby Krishna on banyan leaf and is called “Vata patra shaayi”. This is the reason, the
presiding God in the local temple is Baby Krishna.
Vishnuchitta used to offer flower garlands to God daily. It so happened that one day when
Vishnuchitta was digging the soil for planting tulasi plants, he found a beautiful baby in the soil.
When he asked the baby who she was, she replied, “ I am your daughter”. Taking this as a boon
from God, he took care of the baby as his own daughter. He named her “Godai ”. This name
evolved later as “Goda Devi”. She was therefore “ayonija” like Seeta.
Goda Devi developed immense devotion to Lord Krishna because she grew up hearing Krishna
stories. When grew up to be a young lady, that devotion changed in to obsessive love. Day and
night, eyes closed or open, she constantly saw Lord Krishna. She started believing that her
friends were gopikas and the village, Sri Villiputtur was Gokulam at one time in the past. She
also used to wear the flower garlands made by her father before they were offered to God and
experienced the delight of Sri Krishna’s companionship. One day Vishnuchitta saw this and felt
sad that a great disservice has been done to God. But lord Krishna appeared in his dream and
assured him that Goda Devi is an incarnation of Bhoodevi and offering the garlands worn by her
is not an offense or transgression but was a cause of delight.
Such incidents augmented her love of Sri Krishna immensely. She decided that she should
marry Sri Krishna only and no one else. She was advised to perform “Katyaayini vratam, once
performed by Gopikas to obtain Sri Krishna as their husband. This katyaayini vratam has several
very difficult restrictions, including no wearing of flowers, or collyrium for eyes, no milk and no
butter etc. This reminds one of the vratham performed by Parvati as a six year old girl to obtain
Lord shiva as her husband when Her mother tried to dissuade her saying “maa” meaning,
“don’t”. Thus She got the name “Uma”.
Goda Devi exhorted her friends to perform the vratham. She also described the procedural details
of the vratham. This is the content of the thirty verses of Tiruppaavai called paasurams. In fact
this is the content of some of the paasurams in Tiruppavai”.

With this strong devotion, Lord Krishna had to yield to her devotion. He appeared in the dream
of Vishnuchitta and told him to bring his daughter to Sri Rangam and He will marry her in the
form of Lord Ranganatha. This was also conveyed to the priests of the temple in Sri Rangam.
Vishnuchitta was delighted and took his daughter along with his friends in Srivilliputtur to Sri
Rangam.
They were welcomed into the temple. Goda Devi, fully decorated as bride walked into the
Sanctum sanctorum and while every one was watching, entered into the Shrine and disappeared,
becoming one with Lord Ranganatha. Vishnuchitta was saddened at this sudden turn of events.
Lord Sri Ranganatha bestowed atma gnana and thus removed the veil of ignorance of
Vishnuchitta. He became the 11th alwar and is now called “Perialwar”.

This happened the day before Makara Sankranti called “Bhogi panduga”. This is the reason , on
this day Goda kalyanam is performed.

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