South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c11.s2.9

c11.s2.9

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*.