Journey to Srirangam Vishnuchittar started towards Srirangam, with Goda, her friends and all his sishyas. On the way, they reached the opulent city of Madurai and Goda asked her father where they were. Her father replied that this was the great city of Madurai which was ruled by the Dynasty of Chandran and they worshipped Koodalazhagar. "I once came here to prove that ShrimanNaraayaNa is the absolute and Supreme God. I won all the debates and received the golden bundle", he added. Then he pointed towards the north and said, "Look at those hills. That region is called Cholai Malai. It has thick forests and the lions here think that the thick clouds resting on the top are elephants and roar. Devas inhabit the caves of this hill and live here with their Devis since the dark clouds give them total privacy. And occasionally these maidens can be seen like a flash of lightning. This makes peacocks dance thinking that this is the lightning that foretells rain! "There is a river (on these hills,) that flows from Thirumal's anklets and has the beautiful name "Noopuaragangai". Its water is fragrant with the white sandalwood and `ahil' trees that are abundant in the hill and is sweet too, since the monkeys in the hill shake fruit trees and the juices of the fallen fruits flow into the water! The river is beautiful with abundance of lotus, lily, and all other flowers" He went on: "And my sweet daughter! The handsome "Sundaran", also known as `Sundara baahu' resides here and his consort "Sundaravalli" adorns him and adds to his good looks. Come! Look at the eighteen steps of this temple and bow before this temple tower". Goda did so and crossed the threshold of the temple and went in. ( Goda parinaya champu: alakasundaram aananasundaram nayanasundaram amsasusundaram. charranaabhi saroruhasundaram vinamathi sma karasundaram.) She saw the handsome Sundaran ? kuzhalaghar, vaayaazhagar, Kannazhagar, koppoozhil ezhukamala poovazhagar ?and lost herself in His beautiful form! Vishnuchittar, who understood his daughter's heartfelt desire, proceeded to cholamandalam with her and reached the river Cauvery. " Listen ! Cauvery is welcoming you with bird songs and her waves. Look at her fertile banks ? she is really Ponni, indeed!" He pointed out to Goda. >From there they looked at the auspicious city of Srirangam that really looked like "VaikunTam". Shri Vishnuchittar asked his students to guard Goda and got down to the river reciting AghamarshaNasuktham. But even as his sishyas were looking on, Goda disappeared from her palanquin. On returning from his bath, Vishnuchittar found that everyone was looking for Goda here and there and found that the palanquin was empty. Deeply distressed, he called out to the trees and asked them if they had seen his daughter. Extremely worried, he went looking for her (nallador taamaraippoygai, peiyaazhvar thirumozhi 3.8) and reached the temple and entered the sanctum to tell ShriRanganathan about his daughter's disappearance. What a surprise! There was his young daughter, happy at the side of ShriRanganathan. VishnuChittar was overjoyed to see that his daughter was united with her groom and he prostrated before Ranganathan. He shed tears of happiness and requested Lord Ranganathan to come to ShriVilliputtur and wed his daughter formally according to Shastras and Shri Ranganathan agreed and indicated with his actions, that he too was very happy. He looked at Vishnuchittar with eyes filled with affection and said: "Vishnuchitta! Return to your city and make preparations for this auspicious wedding and I will come there with my relatives and retinue and marry your daughter!" Peiriazhvar returned to ShriVillliputtur and began the arrangements for the auspicious event! {Note: 1. "kuzhalaghar, vaayaazhagar, Kannazhagar, koppoozhil ezhukamala poovazhagar" is taken from Andal's decad on Srirangam Perumal which starts with `thaamukakkum than kaiyil shnagame polaavo". This must be a little bit of "poetic licence" on the part of the author Kesava Kaviraja! However, AndaL sings "chindurachchembodi pol" with the famous verse in which she mentally offered hundred cups of butter and hundred cups of Akkara vadisal to "Sundaran". And this kainkaryam is later fulfilled by Shri Ramanuja and hence she is referred to as "perumpuduur maamunikkup pinnaanaaL. 2. We have shared the shlokam from the Champu that describes KaLLazhagar, the Lord of Azhakar kovil} To be continued?.. Shreemathe naaraayaNaaya namaha shubha and Venky Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/join (Yahoo! 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