South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses/Chapter 6

by Hosakote Krishna Sastri

CHAPTER VI.

VILLAGE DEITIES.

I

Most of the Saivite goddesses described above have been found to be of fearsome appearance, fond of flesh, blood and wine^[1] and intimately connected with goblins, spirits, demons and diseases. One of them Tvarita, it was seen, was the goddess of the Kiratas, and Vindhyavasini was evidently another living on the Vindhya Mountain. Apya (Durga) is described in the Harivamsa as the goddess of the Sabaras, Pulindas, Barbaras and other wild tribes and as fond of wine and flesh. It will not now be difficult to trace a connexion between these and the village goddesses whose shrines are generally the haunts of malevolent demons and who are often appeased only by the slaughter of fowls, sheep, goats and buffaloes. Almost every village in South India, however insignificant it may be, has a shrine for one or more goddesses of this nature. Generally they are situated outside the village in groves of trees much dreaded by the people and are considered to be the grama-devatas, the guardian deities of the village. Often there are no temples properly so called, and where there are structures, they are crude and simple enshrining within them rough unhewn stones representing the amma or "mother" sacred to that village. Sometimes there is only a spear or a trident fixed up straight in the ground in place of the goddess-stones. The goddesses bear different names. Some are called after the villages where their primary shrines exist, such as Kollapuri-amma, Huskur-amma, Pung- (i.e., Punganur-)amma, Hosur-amma, Uchchangi-amma, etc. Other popular names among village deities are the "Seven Kanniyamar," Bhadrakali, Kaliyamma, Mariyamma, Mutyalamma, Ponnamma, Ellamma^[2], Ankalamma, Kolumamma, Selliyamma, Pattalamma, Vandi-Kaliyamma, Alagiyanachchiyamma, Ulagattal, Pidari, Pechi, Katteri, Poleramma, Gangamma,^[3] Chaudamma, Durgamma, Nukalamma, Paidamma, Asiramma, Padalamma, Gontyalamma, Paradesamma, Neralamma, Mallamma, Peddintamma, Somalamma, Matangirala, Talupulamma, Sellandiyamma, etc. Some of these names like Bhadrakali, Kollapuri-amma (Kollapura-Mahalakshml), Kaliyamma or Kala-Pidari (Kali), Gangamma (Ganga), Chaudamma (Chandi?), Durgamma (Durga) and Matangirala (MatangI, a recognized synonym of Parvatl) are clearly mentioned in the Tantrik works; and others can easily be traced to the same source. Mariyamma, for instance, under the name Marika occurs in the Puranas as the goddess presiding over small-pox and other infectious diseases. Kolumamma or Kulumayamma, Selliyamma (Tsallamma of the Telugus) and Sellandiyamma are evidently synonymous with Sitala. Poleramma, the village goddess commonly worshipped in the Telugu country, is also supposed to correspond to Sitala.^[4] Peddintamma is perhaps Jyeshtha.

It is, however, difficult to explain similarly the origin of names like Ankalamma, Pattalamma, etc. Of these again, a few are of a flattering nature such as Mutyalamma, "the pearl-like mother " (fig. 138), Ponnamma or Bangaramma, "the golden mother," Alagiyanachchiyamma, "the beautiful queen mother," etc. Ellamma probably means the goddess of boundaries (Telugu, ella).

Kala-Pidari and Durga-Paramesvariof four arms are names of village goddesses which occur in early Chola inscriptions. The shrines of these are generally termed tirumurram.^[5] But sometimes, when they are structures, well endowed and

Fig. 138.—Mutyālamma; Āvani.

patronized like the other orthodox Hindu temples, they are

called srikoyiL Four varieties of the goddess Pidari are known from the records of Rajaraja I of the first quarter of the eleventh century A.D., viz., Punnaitturainangai, "the goddess (living on a river bank), in a grove of punnai trees," Poduvagai-ur-udaiyal, "the village deity common to all (classes)," Kuduraivattam-udaiyal " the deity surrounded by (clay) horses," and Tiruval-udaiyal, " the deity of the sacred banyan tree."

II

Worship of The worship in the shrines of village goddesses is generally these deities, performed by non-Brahmans. In the Chingleput and North Arcot districts are a class of priests known as Ochchans 1 who are exclusively devoted to service in Pidari temples. They say that they are Brahmanas of the Sakta creed and perform the worship according to the Tantrik ritual. Sometimes, but very rarely, Brahmanas also worship these fearful goddesses installed even within the sacred precincts of orthodox temples. 2 For example, Vattapirai-amman, " the mother who wears the circular crescent (on her head) " at Tiruvottiyur near Madras, is a goddess of this kind to whom animal sacrifices are offered on fixed days in the year. On such occasions it is stated that the Sudra priest takes the place of the usual Brahmana and an entrance opening directly into the outer courtyard of the temple kept closed on other days of the year is now thrown open for the goddess to receive animal sacrifices and worship from her Sudra or other devotees. After the annual festival is over, the goddess is purified. The buffalo sacrifices, which these village deities are generally fond of, indicate their connexion with MahishasuramardinI, the slayer of the buffalo-demon and with other similar Tantrik goddesses mentioned above.

Some of the ceremonies peculiar to the temples of the ceremonies, village goddesses, besides animal sacrifices, are (l) fire- walking, (2) swinging on the sidi with a hook passed through the skin during what is otherwise known as the chakra-puja, (3) lashing oneself with a whip, (4) piercing a metallic wire right through the tongue or through the sides of the mouth, (5) slashing at the breast and forehead with swords until the blood

1 Thurston's " Castes and Tribes," Vol. V, p.

2 Jn many important Siva temples of the South, I have observed processional images of village goddesses kept in a separate room and worshipped. It is gathered from the priests of the temples that before commencing any important festivals in the Siva temple, these images are carried in procession and the village deities are first appeased, the expense being met from the Siva temple. spurts out, (6) thrusting a spear through the abdomen 1 and (7) carrying on head the karagam, lamps of ghee, or earthen pots with blazing fire in them. Annual festivals called jatras are generally held in honour of the village deities. But when infectious diseases among men and cattle prevail, special worship is arranged for, to appease the deities by sacrificing animals, offering heaps of cooked rice mixed with blood, or by carrying the karagam. This last is celebrated by dressing the selected person who has taken a vow to perform the ceremony, in the yellow cloths of a woman, putting on him the ornaments of women and making him carry on his head a pot or pots profusely decorated with flowers and margosa leaves and supposed to contain in them the spirit of the particular goddess for whose propitiation the ceremony is gone through. A class of Tamil-speaking gardeners, called Tigalas in Mysore and allied to the Pallis or Vanniyans of other districts, are particularly devoted to the five Pandavas of the Mahdbharata story, and to their common wife, Draupadl. DRAUPADI The illustration from the courtyard of the Draupadl temple * em P les an < at Kumbakonam (fig. 139) shows a group, in which the figure of Bhadrakali with eight arms and a flaming crown, crushing the head of a giant under her left foot, is dis- tinctly seen. The original goddess of the temple is, however, Draupadl whose metallic figure with that of Arjuna, one of her five husbands, is preserved in the central shrine. The two huge heads seen in the illustration, next to Bhadra- kall, are those of the hero, Aravan said to be a son of Arjuna by a Naga princess. He is believed to have been offered as a sacrifice on the great battle-field of Kurukshetra, especially with the object of securing success to the Pandava brothers. Substantial big temples are built for Draupadl and the Pandavas under the name Dharmaraja in the country round Kolar and Bangalore. The karagam-carrying ceremony is performed every year and attracts immense crowds of excited sightseers. The central figure of the ceremony is the priest who, as he madly trips along with the sacred weight over his head, like a high tiara decorated with flowers, is closely followed by a select number of men the supposed attendant deities with drawn swords in their hands. This scene very strongly reminds one of the goddess SulinT, who has been described above to be one of the Tantrik goddesses,

1 Some of these inhuman practices seem to be but remnants of the older human sacrifices which were once quite a common feature of Sakti worship. Epigraphical evidence has been adduced to show that voluntary human sacrifices were offered even to the male deity Virabhadra (above, p. 161, footnote 2).

I5-A

Fig. 139.—Group of images in the Draupadi-amman temple; Kumbakōnam.

followed by four unmarried girls with swords and shields in their hands or of a form of the goddess Durga surrounded by maids with drawn swords. The Saptamātrikās of the Tantras are also counted among village deities and are, perhaps, the same as "the Seven Kanniyamār (unmarried girls)" or the "Seven Sisters." They are frequently appeased by special worship when any unforeseen and sudden illness takes hold of a man. The local fortune-teller, often a woman of the Korava caste, being consulted, says that the patient is possessed by the "sisters" while walking alone in untimely hours of the day near tanks, gardens or groves. At once the goddesses are propitiated. A temporary shrine is constructed. Seven small stones are planted in a row, near a tank, almost touching the edge of the waters, and a small shed erected over them with leaves and flowers. Coconuts, plantains, fried rice and pulse are then offered to the stones and not unfrequently also a fowl. Even Brāhmanas worship the "Seven Sisters" in this way, but when a fowl is to be sacrificed they get a Sūdra to do it. The worship is enjoined to be performed in wet cloth after bathing.

Sati-worship and the fire-walking ceremony

The practice of honouring and even worshipping women who committed sati appears to have been very old in Southern India. Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil poem Silappadigāram, died on hearing of the unjust death inflicted upon her husband by the Pāndya king of Madura. She was thenceforth worshipped in shrines built for her throughout Southern India and Ceylon. In the latter island she is known as Pattinī and is very popular. The mother of Rājārāja I is stated to have committed sati and in consequence of this act, evidently, an image of her was set up in the temple at Tanjore. Pērantālamma, a woman who committed sati, is equally reputed in the Telugu districts. Kanyakā-Paramēsvarī who is the tutelar deity of the Vaisya (Kōmati) caste is also connected with the story of a woman entering the sacred fire. The fire-walking ceremony peculiar to the temples of village goddesses may have some connexion with sati.

III

Aiyanār

The village gods are not so many in number as the goddesses. Aiyanār, Hariharaputra or Mahā-Sāstā is supposed to be, as his name implies, a son of Siva and Vishnu.^[6] When the celestial nectar was obtained by the dēvas and asuras after churning the ocean (see p. 139f, above) they quarrelled about the distribution of it. Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful young woman, called MohinI, and by her attractions enticed the asuras and made them agree to depute her to distribute the precious liquid equally to all. She of course deceived them and gave the nectar to the gods alone. Siva saw MohinI at the time and was enamoured of her. He wedded her, and the result of their union was Hariharaputra. This deity is largely worshipped in Malabar and parts of Tinnevelly and Tanjore. In these districts he is not assigned the subordinate position of a village deity as in others. In the latter, however, he is one of the guardian deities of the village and, as such, is attended by bhutas and pisachas. He has long curly hair, a crown and ear-rings of gold-leaves. In his two arms he holds the bow and the arrow. He is dark of colour and is seated on a throne below a banyan tree. In the illustration given (fig. 140) the position of the hands of what is believed to be a figure of Aiyanar does not appear to suit the weapons, bow and arrow, which he is stated to hold. 1 In the figure from Valuvur he is seen riding on an elephant in the very same posture, holding in his right hand what looks like a whip or an elephant goad (fig. 141). In front of his temple are placed figures of horses, elephants and other animals, made of wood or of painted brick and chunam, which are supposed to serve him as vehicles in his nightly perambulations. A third figure from Ramesvaram(fig. 142) represents him as riding on a horse. Puranai and Pudgalai are stated to be his two wives, and Madurai-Vlran and Pavadairayan, his generals. Madurai- Vlran is a historical person whose adventures are noticed in the South Arcot District Gazetteer? Kuttisattan, Sattan, Karuppan, Mundan and Gulikan are the names of some of the malignant demons that attend upon Aiyanar.

Karuppannasami is a similar god worshipped by the Kallars of Madura. Chains, clubs, spears and bill-hooks are his symbols ; and these are presented by devotees at his shrines as votive offerings. They are generally found either hung on the trees or stuck into the ground. A similar god much dreaded by the people is Munlsvara whose name is quite popular. He is represented by a block of stone, a bush or sometimes a tree. Men and women called Muniyappa, Munisami, Muniyamma, etc., are so named because they were evidently born as the result of propitiating Munis vara. It

1 We have a similar figure of stone within the Nataraja temple at Chidam- baram, which people call Ardhajama-Alagar.

2 Vol. I, p. 101.

Fig. 140.—Aiyanār (metal); Tiruppalātturai.

Fig. 141.—Aiyanār (metal); Valuvūr.

Fig. 142.—Aiyanār (metal); Rāmēsvaram.

might be noted that Buddha is called Muni in the lexicon

Amarakdsa and that the forms of Siva known as Dakshinamurti, Bhikshatana, Vlrabhadra, etc., are often those of wandering mendicants.

Heroes (virulu) who have given up their lives under romantic circumstances, in the cause of their native village or province, are also honoured as village deities and festivals are celebrated to propitiate them. Madurai-Vlran mentioned above was one of this kind. In the Palnad taluk of the Guntur district, temples for heroes are quite a common feature.

Devil-dances in connexion with the annual festivals of village deities are common in Malabar and South Canara. The figures of the devils as represented by the Tuluva devil- dancers are described in detail with illustrative plates by Dr. Burnell in his article entitled "Devil Worship of the Tuluvas," in Indian Antiquary, Volumes XXIII and XXIV.

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1. In the Silpasara, where the Chaushashti-Yoginis are described, some are stated to feed on dead bodies, some to wander at nights like devils and some to be quarrelsome demons with ugly eyes and erect hair on head. Eighteen well-known shrines of these goddesses in India and Ceylon (Lanka) are enumerated.
2. Nagendra Natha Vasu in his Mayurabhanja speaks of a Greek goddess called Ella and connects her with Ajaikapad, one of the forms of Rudra, already mentioned.
3. In parts of the Guntur district Gangamma is seen with the crocodile vehicle, e.g., at Pullagunta in the Palnad taluk. Evidently she represents the presiding deity of the river Ganges. In the epic poem Ramayana, where the heroine Sita is made to worship the goddess Ganga (Ganges), she promises to offer, on her safe return from exile, fowls, buffaloes and wine to that goddess.
4. Sitala or Sitaladevi is recognized as the goddess presiding over small-pox both in the Canarese and the Telugu districts.
5. Rai Bahadur Venkayya describes Pidari as a seated goddess with "fire issuing from her whole body to indicate her great wrath. On her head she wears a crown, various ornaments in her locks, on her forehead the mark of Siva, bulky jewels in the large holes of her ears and two flowers behind them. She has four hands holding in them, respectively, a kettle-drum with a snake, a trident, the skull of Brahma and a goad. Her throne is an altar. Pidari temples contain also an image of Vighnesvara and the entrance is guarded by two horrible door-keepers called Mannadiyar. She has eighteen generals. Pidari is said to be the chastizer of all evil spirits because those who hang or poison themselves, or die any violent death, are turned into malignant demons who would destroy the whole human race if not kept in check by Pidari ; " S.I.I., Vol. II. Introduction, p. 41, note I.
6. For a fuller description of Aiyanār and his position among village deities, see S.I.I., Vol. II, Introduction, p. 40, note.