Marriage and Asceticism in Veṅgamāmba’s Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmyamu

Tirupati is recognized as one of the richest Hindu institutions in the world; often overlooked in the studies of this bustling pilgrimage site is the network of temples—Vaiṣṇava, Śaiva, and Śakta—that surround the main Veṅkaṭeśvara temple upon the hill. One such temple, located a couple of kilometers from the town of Tirupati, is the home of Veṅkaṭeśvara’s wife, Lakṣmī-Padmāvati. Known as Tiruchanur or Alamelumangapuram (in Tamil, the City of Alar-melu-manga, the One Born from a Lotus), this site has shrines for Lakṣmī, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, and Sundararāja. Though there are many versions of this narrative (the most famous one being from the Padma Purāṇa), this paper will focus on a Telugu retelling of this story found in the Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmyamu (The Glory of Mount Veṅkaṭa) composed by 18th-century poet, Tarigonda Veṅgamamba. Starting with a brief summary of the overarching story, I will focus on two points of the narrative in which Veṅgamāmba considers the role of marital harmony in a woman’s life.

The story begins with a domestic quarrel: Lakṣmī is angry at Viṣṇu, who allowed a visiting sage to kick him on the chest (Lakṣmī’s residence on Viṣṇu’s body). Incensed that Viṣṇu overlooked this offense, Lakṣmī chastises him and departs to earth, to settle down in what is today known as Kolhapur, in contemporary Maharashtra. Lost without his wife, Viṣṇu too descends to the earth, winding up in Tirupati instead. There, known ironically as Śrīnivāsa, or the Abode of Lakṣmī, Viṣṇu rents a plot of land, falls in love with Princess Padmāvati, and goes into extreme debt to marry her. Subsequently, they settle down on the Tirumala hill; this story explains a symbiotic relationship between the deity in debt and his devotees in trouble. This is why, the story says, devotees arrive in droves with their offerings of cash and gold, when Viṣṇu fulfills their wishes: to help him pay off his debt (this is also why Veṅkaṭeśvara is known as vaḍḍi-kāsulu-vāḍa: “The God who Pays Interest.”) The main part of the story ends here.

The Padma Purāṇa then explains how Veṅkaṭeśvara sought to win back Lakṣmī (who was settled in Kolhapur) and performs asceticism to that end. His asceticism bears fruit and Lakṣmī is reborn in a golden lotus in the middle of a pond (which is why she is known as Alamelumanga). Lakṣmī retakes her place on Viṣṇu’s chest, and the gods celebrate their reunion. The temple in Tiruchanur, or Alamelumangapuram, with a small pond (koneru) attached to it, celebrates this moment of the story.

Vengamamba, however, has a different conclusion to this story. She is evidently very concerned about the unresolved fight between Lakṣmī and Viṣnu, and also about the potential damage that Viṣṇu’s marrying a local princess might have done to their already tenuous relationship. Thus, when Viṣṇu is performing asceticism to win Lakṣmī back, we witness a conversation that Lakṣmī has with Kapila, a renounced sage and incarnation of Viṣṇu, through which Lakṣmī comes to terms with the events of the past, recognizes her own role in the debacle, and forgives Viṣṇu in her heart. This conversation between Lakṣmī and Kapila is the first focus of this paper. In retelling this part of the narrative, dwelling on the consequences of the domestic tiff and Lakṣmī's pain through it all, Vengamamba highlights important concerns of hers, that we see coming up in a number of her compositions: resolving marital tensions (especially when there are multiple wives involved), and the role of asceticism in this process. Moreover, I argue, that reading this conversation between Lakṣmī and Kapila (an incarnation of Viṣṇu about whom Veṅgamāmba has already composed at least one text) adds a meta-textual commentary to the narrative.

Following a close reading of Lakṣmī and Kapila’s conversation, I will then focus on another interaction, this time between Veṅkaṭeśvara and the Lakṣmī he left behind originally (Adi Lakṣmī, as opposed to the Vyūha Lakṣmī that was born from the lotus). Adi Lakṣmī and Veṅkaṭeśvara have a conversation about what she is to do now that Veṅkateśvara has settled down in Tirumala, clear on his task for the rest of the age of Kali; they determine that Adi Lakṣmī is to live in the temple in Tiruchanur, helping contribute to the wealth of humans that they can then offer to Viṣṇu uphill. This section of the story, again one of Vengamamba’s own making, I argue, is an attempt to make sense of the surplus of wealth that surrounds the god in debt, while also considering the place of the “wife left behind.”

Placing these two important plot points in conversation with other oral tales surrounding Tiruchanur, I conclude this paper by emphasizing the insights that Veṅgamāmba’s retellings give us into her own life and approach to marriage and asceticism. As a child-widow who did not want to be married and spent most of her life as an ascetic practitioner, Veṅgamāmba’s overarching focus on the married woman with ascetic inclinations is, I argue, Veṅgamāmba’s own attempt to come to terms with the opposing forces of marriage and asceticism, and imagine a way in which they can co-exist.