आमुक्तमाल्यदा (विजयनगर सम्राट् श्रीकृष्णदेवराय - गोदा देवी आण्डाल भक्ति एवं साम्राज्य-नीति)

10 Goda's Garland of Devotion
rice cakes and dried vegetables (vadiyamulu, varugulu); hot weather
indicated butter-milk soup (timmanambulu) and tender mango
pickle (vadapindelu: a delicacy of Tamil Nadu known as maavadu!);
winter would mean pepper sauce and steaming rice. Again, Vishnu-
chitta's reception included oil and dal flour for the pilgrims to have
a healthy bath in the tank on Saturdays. The feeding of pilgrims
went hand in hand with the reading of the Puranas that speak about
the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Day and night one could listen
to the recitation of the Divya Prabhandha hymns. All told, here was
a remote holy township glowing with the pearly light of sattwa:
Vishnuchitta, the gentle devotee of Narayana, lived here in con-
tentment, at peace with himself.
Traditional accounts speak of Vishnuchitta as the son of
Mukundacharya and Padmavati. He was born under the Swati
star on an Ekadesi day. Considered as an incarnation of Garuda,
it was not just acquired scholarship that made him famous. Rather,
like Garuda, he seemed a living image of the Veda, a jnanin born.
The name 'Vishnuchitta' turned out to be appropriate, as the
young man's consciousness was filled with the Divine Presence. He
engaged himself in horticulture and laid out a vast garder where
he worked, spade in hand. Gathering the flowers he would make
lovely garlands and himself take them to the temple where the
priest decorated the deity with these honey-spilling garlands.
Living ir an atmosphere of delight with the rainbow beauty
of nature, Vishnuchitta could envision the Divine as pure Ananda-
maya, a loveliness past description. This beauty and joy percolated
into his poems on Krishna. Effortlessly he walked past space and
time to watch the Gokula where Krishna was born. His verses on
the childhood, boyhood and youth of Krishna inaugurated a new
form (Pillai-Tamil) in Tamil literature.
Vishnuchitta begins with the birth of Krishna, which is cele-
brated by the Yadava ladies with strewing coloured powder and
sprinkling curds, milk and ghee. Vishnuchitta is now Yasoda
fondling the babe, dressing up his hair, bathing him, feeding him
and playing with him. The pranks of Krishna have a divine charm
about them that, whatever the mischief, he is ever the victor! He
grows up, grazes the cows, plays with the Yadava maids, steals