This day, A few hundred centuries back, maybe even many hundred centuries back, was born Godha under a Thiruthuzhai(Thulasi) tree. She was found by Shri Vishnuchittar in the temple town of ShriVilliputhur. As she grew into a beautiful maiden, she was consumed by the love of the Lord.
I guess all of us would be familiar with the story of the garlands she wove for the Lord. Before sending it through Her father to the temple, she used to adorn it Herself. When Her father discovered this practice, he put an end to it immediately. What a blow! The Lord Himself refuse to wear the pristine unadorned garland the next morning. Such was Her love and devotion to the Lord.
Is it such a surprise? Wasn't She the Mother incarnate? Born to bless mortals with Her devotion and consequent acceptance by the Lord, Her life stands example to the fact even one janma is too short to be accepted by the Lord. Only love matters.
Her name itself was designed to set free sins. An interesting side note :
In the Ramavatar, the Lord bereft of His consort,Sita, ran over panchavati crying Her name aloud and asking animals, trees, the sky and rivers about Her whereabouts. Of all those, the river Godavari, which knew Her direction as Ravana had flown over her, hid the fact and remained silent, afraid of Ravana's wrath. She was cursed by truth for hiding it. Her waters ran accursed for a long time. But taking pity on her, rishis assuaged her anguish by promising her that a time would come when the Mother Herself would be reborn on the earth. At that time, She would be named Godha, and then the waters shall run pure again.
So it happened and the curse was lifted.
Thus even with Her very birth, She sanctified those around Her.
As she grew older, Her love for the Lord manifested itself in poems and hymns composed with the love of a young woman towards Her Lord and Master. The bhakti rasa stands out in the beautiful songs. The compositions are the Thirupaavai and Nacchiyar Thirumozhi(143 lyrics) which literally means The words of the Goddess. Of these the Thirupaavai and Varanamayiram are very famous. My favorite is :
Karpooram Narumo? kamala poo narumo?
Thirupavazha sevvaithan thithuthu erukumo?
Marupusitha Madhavan than
Vaai chuvaiyum natramum viruputtrukk ketkiren,
sollaazhi ven sange!
Does the camphor smell divine? or does the lotus?
Is the beautiful read coral lips taste sweet?
The sweet taste and the divine aroma of the
mouth of the Lord,
is what I need of you, white conch of His(of Paanchasanniyam)
The thought that struck me was, I knew, the world knows of the fact that the conch was blown by Him during the war. I never imagined it the angle that it was the only one which had seen the insides of the Lord's mouth. It is not about visualizing the Lord as being flesh and blood. But even the most mundane stuff misses out when we don't really observe at all.
When asked, learned elders speak of the Thirupaavai as the Vedas themselves. The sara of the Vedas is the Mahabharata, the sara of the Mahabharata is the Gita. That of the Bhagavad gita is the Sahasranama, of that is the Thirupaavai, of the Thirupaavaai, the name "Govinda". The beautiful lyric immortalized by The Mother herself, "kurai ondrum illatha Govinda" has been struck into Hindu hearts all over with the simple song "kurai ondrum illai.." by the brilliant stateman and Man of India, Shri Rajaji.
Another interesting side note, Once the Lord was listening to His bhaktas speaking about Him. Suddenly one of them mentioned,"Couldnt He have been more merciful towards the Pandavas? Did He have to kill all of Draupadi's kids after the war? Did He have to..? Did He have to..?" without really understand His deeds. But the Lord for once took it to His heart. He fell silent and grew melancholic. All the devotees were now worried. What happened to the cherubic young handsome dashing Krishna? Then She who knows decided to take it into Her able hands. She said,"kurai ondrum illatha Govinda..." , which mean,"You who have no faults..". The Lord became happy again.
So if we go to a temple, we must always pray to the Lord as, "You have given me everything. I have no wants, no worries and no regrets. Thanks My Lord." Whatever be our personal sorrows, there are people who are suffering more but bearing it happily.("He who bears it best, serves Him best.."Milton Paradise Lost) Then, go to the Mother and explain your situation. Not as a complaint but as a counselor. She will at the right time alleviate our sorrows.
Getting back to the topic, Godha was beckoned by Her Lord to come to SriRangam and was wedding to Him in pomp and glory. You can see the small house She stayed in Srirangam for a night at the end of the Chithira veethi in Srirangam. Also is well preserved at the temple of ShriVilliputhur is the house that She abided in. You can also see the well in whose waters She saw Herself after dressing Herself in the temple. Shri Villiputhur Raja Gopuram held the feat of being the tallest gopura in Asia for a number of years. Also it adds pride to every government insignia in Tamilnadu by decorating the seal of the TN Govt.
Also almost as famous is the Paal gova that is sold by the stalls by the temple. :))
Shrivilliputhur is a shrine of extreme importance and prominence. Do take time by visiting the temple and worshiping to the girl who ruled the Lord. Aandal.
