India, Sept. 30 -- The Bhakti tradition often finds its clearest, most moving expression not in grand temples, but in small, ordinary acts of unguarded love.

Andal, a young devotee raised by her father, a garland-maker for the temple, would secretly wear the fragrant flower garlands meant as a formal offering to Lord Vishnu before they were ever presented at the altar, admiring herself in them quietly, then carefully replacing them exactly as they had been, hoping no one would ever notice. When her father eventually discovered this and was horrified at what he assumed was clear disrespect toward the deity, he quickly discarded those garlands and offered fresh ones instead, ashamed of his daughter's innocent trespass. That very night, Vis...