Madal at the Golu

During Navaratri, houses in Thiruvallikeni (Triplicane) keep golu like houses everywhere else. But here people also invite the goshti, the group that recites the Divya Prabandham at the temple, to come home. They stand before the golu and recite one particular work: Thirumangai Azhwar’s Siriya Thirumadal. Someone asked me for a recording of it, so I recorded myself reciting it at home. Your browser does not support this audio element. The choice comes from the temple. Navaratri in Thiruvallikeni is Vedavalli Thayar’s utsavam. She has a purappadu every evening, and the goshti that walks with her recites the Madal, as it does on her Friday purappadu through the year. People call it the Madal goshti. So when a house keeps golu, it asks for what Thayar gets. It is a strange poem to recite in front of a row of dolls, though. A madal is the last resort of a rejected lover in old Tamil poetry. He makes a horse out of palmyra stalks, gets on it, and goes through the streets telling the whole…