Mariamman
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| Mariamman | |
 Mariamman at the famous temple at Samayapuram |
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| Rain and protection | |
| Tamil script | மாரியம்மன் |
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Goddess Māri (Tamil: மாரி) is known as Mariamman (Tamil: மாரியம்மன்), also Maariamma (Tamil: மாரியம்மா), or simply Amman (Tamil: அம்மன்), meaning "mother". She is the main South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Though her origin is believed to be Proto-Dravidian or non-Vedic, Goddess Māri is closely associated with goddess Parvati and goddess Durga.
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[edit] Origin
Māri originated in an ancient Village Goddess related to fertility and rain. In Tamil language, māri means rain. This goddess is a local deity, and thus is connected to a specific location, close to a specific tree, a rock or a special spot. These locations are mostly in rural areas. There is another often less associated myth. mari in Tamil also means change. Hence this might also refer to Maria Amman (meaning goddess who has changed).
[edit] Iconography
Māri is usually portrayed as a young beautiful woman with a red-hued face, and wearing a red dress. Sometimes she is portrayed with many arms, representing her many powers, but in most representations she has only two or four. Her hands may display some mudra and her usual attributes are the trident or spear and the bowl. Mariamman's attributes are usually derived from the stories told about her.
[edit] Goddess of Disease
Mariamman was the Smallpox Goddess before this disease was eradicated. Now she cures all so-called heat-based diseases like pox and rashes. During the summer months in South India (March to June), people walk miles carrying pots of water mixed with turmeric and neem leaves to ward off illnesses like the measles and chicken pox. In this form goddess Māri is very similar in characteristics to Sitala Devi[1], her counterpart in North India. She can therefore also be compared with the orisha Babalu Aye of the Yoruba tradition.
[edit] Fertility goddess
People also pray to Mariamman for progeny, a good spouse, etc. The most favoured offering is "pongal", a mix of rice and green gram, cooked mostly in the temple complex or shrine itself in terracotta pots using firewood.
Some festivals in honor of goddess Māri involve processions carrying lights. In the night, the devotees carry oil lamps in procession, which is a beautiful sight.
[edit] Amman Temples
Most Mariamman temples are humble shrines in villages, where non-Brahmins act as priest who use non-agamic rituals. In many rural shrines, the goddess has no form and is represented by a granite stone with a sharp tip, like a spear head. This stone is often adorned with garlands made of limes and with red flowers. These shrines have often an anthill that could be the resting place of a cobra. Milk and eggs are offered to propitiate the snake.
However, some temples have also attained enough popularity that Brahmins do officiate them. This is the case in most important Mariamman temple in India, the Samayapuram temple near the shore of river Cauvery. In this particular temple rich agamic traditions are followed and all rituals are performed by Gurukkal of Brahmins.
At Punainallur, near Thanjavur (Tanjore), there is another famous Māri temple. The history says that once Goddess Mariamman appleared to the King Venkoji Maharaja Chatrapati (1676 - 1688) of Tanjore, in his dream and told him that she was in a forest of Punna trees at a distance of about 3 miles from Tanjore. The King lost no time in rushing to the spot indicated to him and recovered an idol from the jungle. Under the king's orders a temple was constructed and its idol installed at that place, which was called Punnainallur. Hence the deity of this temple is known as Punnainallur Mariamman. Mud replicas of the different parts of the human body are placed in this temple as offerings by devotees pleading the mother for cure. It is said that the daughter of Tulaja Raja (1729-35) of Tanjore, who lost her eyesight in an illness, regained it on offering worship at this temple.
Other important temples of Mariamman in Tamil Nadu are in the towns of Anbil, Narthamalai,Thiruverkadu, Salem, Virudhunagar and Sivakasi.
Another famous Mariamman temple is situated in the state of Karnataka, in the town of Kaup,7 km from the famous temple town of Udipi.
[edit] Vedic Worship
Though her origin is believed to be Proto-Dravidian or non-Vedic, Mariamman has been incorporated into the Hindu pantheon as the sister of Lord Vishnu (Sriranganathar) and called Mahamaya.
The Samayapuram Mariamman is also worshipped on the first day of the Tamil month of Vaikasi by the Iyengar/Srivaishna Brahmins of Srirangam. They claim that she is the sister of Lord Renganath (A form of Vishnu) of Srirangam. This is the second temple in Tamil Nadu following Palani regarding income.
Another version suggests that she is the mother of Parasurama, Renukadevi who is appeased for rains.
[edit] Outside India
There are many Mariamman Temples in southern India, as well as some in locations outside of India such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Vietnam and South Africa (See Tamil diaspora).
Among the latter is a notable Sri Mariamman temple in Singapore, a Mariamman temple in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as one in Medan, Indonesia.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- The Village Gods of South India (London, 1921) by H. Whitehead
[edit] References
- ^ Kolenda, Pauline Pox and the terror of Childlessness: Images and Ideas of the Smallpox Goddess in a North Indian Village in P. Kolenda Caste, Cult and Hierarchy: Essays on the Culture of India (New Delhi: Folklore Institute, 1983) 198-221
- ^ Rigopoulos, Antonio The life and teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi State University of New York press, Albany, (1993) ISBN 0-7914-1268-7 pages 78, 80, 160, 224, 226, 250
