Ma
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and the
e Mystical Twelv
The Divine Bride
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(Continued from the previous issue. . .)
he birds sang as they hopped from one branch to another. The early morning sun, with its tinge of light orange, was making an impressive entry. The dewdrops on the grass shone like tiny silver beads. Poorva stepped out of the hut, ran across the grass, and climbed onto one of the lower branches of a huge banyan tree. Swinging on the branch, she surveyed the garden. It looked arrestingly beautiful. The huge lawn was dotted with flowering plants of various colours – jasmine creepers, shenbagam plants, rose shrubs, rows of thulasi, a huge pond with pink lotuses, and another with red and blue lilies. A deer frolicked about and a squirrel hitched a ride on its back. As she swung on the branch, Poorva caught sight of Periaazhvaar coming out of his house, with a flower basket in his hand. She jumped down from the tree and ran behind him. Unexpectedly, the Aazhvaar halted, and Poorva had to brake sharply to avoid running into him. In the process, she skidded on the wet soil and fell down. “Why on earth …?” she began. The rest of the question remained unasked. In front of the Aazhvaar, under a thulasi plant, was a beautiful baby girl! Poorva slowly looked up at the Aazhvaar and found him gazing at the baby with utter disbelief. Poorva heard the Swami’s voice reciting: “Thiruvaadi poorathu jagaththudithaal vaazhiye …” She turned around and found him prostrating before the child. Shocked, Poorva walked towards him and saw that he was in a trance-like mood. “Join your hands together and pray, Poorva. A goddess has been born on this earth. Pray, Poorva, pray!” he The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles on Indian music and culture to her credit. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com Illustrator: Smt. Lalithaa Thyagarajan. lalithyagu@gmail.com
July 2021
The Story of Aandal
29 The Vedanta Kesari
PA G E D O N O R : S R I S R I N I VA S A R A M A N G O V I N D A R A J A N , C H E N N A I
LAKSHMI DEVNATH