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South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s1: I

South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s1

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I

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Most of the Saivite goddesses described above have been found to be of fearsome appearance, fond of flesh, blood and wine¹ and intimately connected with goblins, spirits, demons and diseases. One of them Tvaritā, it was seen, was the Tāntrik goddess of the Kirātas, and Vindhyavāsinī was evidently another living on the Vindhya Mountain. Āpyā (Durgā) 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 *grāma-dēvatās*, 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 Kollāpuri-amma, Huskūr-amma, Punganūr-)amma, Hosūr-amma, Uchchangi-amma, etc. Other popular names among village deities are the "Seven Kanniyamār," Bhadrakālī, Kāliyamma, Māriyamma, Mutyālamma, Ponnamma, Ellamma,² Ankālamma, Kolumamma, Selliyamma, Pattālamma, Vandi-Kāliyamma, Alagiyānāchchiyamma, Ulagāttāl, Pidāri, Pēchi, Kāttēri, Pōlēramma. Gangamma,¹ Chaudamma, Durgamma, Nūkalamma, Paidamma, Āsiramma, Pādālamma, Gontyālamma, Paradēsamma, Nēralamma, Mallamma, Peddintamma, Sōmalamma, Mātangirāla, Talupulamma, Sellāndiyamma, etc. Some of these names like Bhadrakālī, Kollāpuri-amma (Kollāpura-Mahālakshmī), Kāliyamma or Kalā-Pidāri (Kālī), Gangamma (Gangā), Chaudamma (Chandī ?), Durgamma (Durgā) and Mātangirāla (Mātangī, a recognized synonym of Pārvatī) are clearly mentioned in the Tāntrik works; and others can easily be traced to the same source. Māriyamma, for instance, under the name Mārikā occurs in the Purānas as the goddess presiding over small-pox and other infectious diseases. Kolumamma or Kulumāyamma, Selliyamma (Tsalamma of the Telugus) and Sellāndiyamma are evidently synonymous with Sītalā. Pōlēramma, the village goddess commonly worshipped in the Telugu country, is also supposed to correspond to Sītalā.² Peddintamma is perhaps Jyēshthā.

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¹ In the *Silpasāra*, where the Chaushashti-Yōginis 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 (Lankā) are enumerated.

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² Nagendra Natha Vasu in his *Mayūrabhanja* speaks of a Greek goddess called Ellā and connects her with Ajaikapād, one of the forms of Rudra, already mentioned.

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¹ In parts of the Guntūr 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 Rāmāyana, where the heroine Sītā is made to worship the goddess Gangā (Ganges), she promises to offer, on her safe return from exile, fowls, buffaloes and wine to that goddess.

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² Sītalā or Sītalādēvi is recognized as the goddess presiding over small-pox both in the Canarese and the Telugu districts.

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It is, however, difficult to explain similarly the origin of names like Ankālamma, Pattālamma, etc. Of these again, a few are of a flattering nature such as Mutyālamma, “the pearl-like mother” (fig. 138), Ponnamma or Bangāramma, “the golden mother,” Alagiyānāchchiyamma, “the beautiful queen mother,” etc. Ellamma probably means the goddess of boundaries (Telugu, ella).

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Kālā-Pidāri and Durgā-Paramēśvarī of four arms are names of village goddesses which occur in early Chōla inscriptions. The shrines of these are generally termed tirumurram.³ But sometimes, when they are structures, well endowed and patronized like the other orthodox Hindu temples, they are called *srikōyil*. Four varieties of the goddess Pidāri are known from the records of Rājarāja 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-ūr-udaiyāl, “the village deity common to all (classes),” Kuduraivattam-udaiyāl “the deity surrounded by (clay) horses,” and Tiruvāl-udaiyāl, “the deity of the sacred banyan tree.”

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³ Rai Bahadur Venkayya describes Pidāri 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 Brahmā and a goad. Her throne is an altar. Pidāri temples contain also an image of Vighnēśvara and the entrance is guarded by two horrible door-keepers called Mannadiyār. She has eighteen generals. Pidāri 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 Pidāri ;” S.I.I., Vol. II. Introduction, p. 41, note 1.

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FIG. 138.—Mutyālamma ; Āvani.

Cites (3)