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South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s2: II

South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s2

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II

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Worship of the deities. The worship in the shrines of village goddesses is generally performed by non-Brahmans. In the Chingleput and North Arcot districts are a class of priests known as Ōchchans¹ who are exclusively devoted to service in Pidāri temples. They say that they are Brāhmanas of the Sākta creed and perform the worship according to the *Tāntrik* ritual. Sometimes, but very rarely, Brāhmanas 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 Tiruvottiyūr 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 Sūdra priest takes the place of the usual Brāhmana 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 Sūdra 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 Mahishāsuramardini, the slayer of the buffalo-demon and with other similar *Tāntrik* goddesses mentioned above.

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¹ Thurston’s “Castes and Tribes,” Vol. V, p. 419f.

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² In 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.

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Peculiar ceremonies. Some of the ceremonies peculiar to the temples of the village goddesses, besides animal sacrifices, are (1) fire-walking, (2) swinging on the *sidi* with a hook passed through the skin during what is otherwise known as the *chakra-pūjā*, (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 spurts out, (6) thrusting a spear through the abdomen¹ and (7) carrying on head the karagam, lamps of ghee, or earthen pots with blazing fire in them. Annual festivals called jātras 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 Pāndavas of the Mahābhārata story, and to their common wife, Draupadī. The illustration from the courtyard of the Draupadī temple at Kumbakōnam (fig. 139) shows a group, in which the figure of Bhadrakālī with eight arms and a flaming crown, crushing the head of a giant under her left foot, is distinctly seen. The original goddess of the temple is, however, Draupadī 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 Bhadrakālī, are those of the hero, Aravan—said to be a son of Arjuna by a Nāga princess. He is believed to have been offered as a sacrifice on the great battle-field of Kurukshētra, especially with the object of securing success to the Pāndava brothers. Substantial big temples are built for Draupadī and the Pāndavas under the name Dharmarāja 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 Sūlinī, who has been described above to be one of the Tāntrik goddesses,

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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 Vīrabhadra (above, p. 161, footnote 2).

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DRAUPADĪ temples and karagam.

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FIG. 139.—Group of images in the Draupadi-amman temple; Kumbakōṇam.

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followed by four unmarried girls with swords and shields in their hands or of a form of the goddess Durgā surrounded by maids with drawn swords. The Saptamātṛkās of the Tāntras 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.

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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 Rājarāja 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*.

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