Chapter Eight
You ruin our sandcastles then come into our courtyards
O Govinda! You span the earth then break into our hearts
Nacciyar Tirumoli. 2:9
Every morning when her father returned home from his garden, Andal joined him in their courtyard. She watched Vishnucitta intently as he wove flowers for her dark-skinned god reclined on his serpent bed in the temple next door. Never had a day passed where Visnucitta did not enter the temple’s innermost shrine, hold high the garlands he had made, and whisper gratitude into the ears of Lord Tirumal for the gift of his daughter.
Mounds of marigold and roses, sacred basil, lotus and kuvalai lilies lay in piles all around them. In the summer, Andal brought her father thalampoo flowers fallen from high branches in the night. They looked like l
