Chapter Thirty-Two
Bright banners decorate the way
there are golden urns on every threshold
Narayana comes with one thousand elephants
this vision I dreamed, my friend
Nacciyar Tirumoli 6:1
Andal’s wedding party stretched the length of Villiputtur. People flocked to the streets, scattering marigolds in front of the procession so when the petals were trampled the way turned into a mosaic of bright golds and yellows. As Villiputtur’s temple tower grew smaller and the tumult of percussion and hundreds of voices faded, Andal fell into the rhythmic sounds around her palanquin, the footsteps of the four men carrying her, the occasional whinny of a horse, the wheels of chariots and bullock carts, and the thump-thump of Madurai’s royal elephant at the front. King Vallabhadeva, shaded by the
