The Autobiography of a Goddess

Priya Sarukkai Chabria and Ravi Shankar s elegant, new translations of eighth-century Tamil poet and founding saint Andal, cements her status as the South Indian corollary to Mirabai. In this one volume is her entire corpus, composed before she apocryphally merged with the idol of her chosen god as a young teenager, leaving behind the still popular song of congregational worship, the "Thiruppavai," a collection of thirty "pasuram" (stanzas) sung for Lord Tirumal (Vishnu) and the much less frequently translated and more rapturously erotic "Nacchiyar Thirumoli." Chabria and Shankar employ a radical new method of revitalizing classical and spiritual verse while shifting it into a contemporary poetic idiom in another language. Some of the hymns are translated collaboratively, others by one or another of the translators, and others yet by both of the translators, so that both versions are included. This kaleidoscopic approach allows the reader multiple perspectives on the rich sonic and philosophical complexity of Andal s classical Tamil. "