Mariamman

One of the most popular Goddesses, particularly in the Southern India, Sri Lanka and in the South East Asian region (especially amongst the speakers of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam or Tulu). She is also one of the most popular village goddesses, and just like any other great goddesses, she is often identified with several names. A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities. ... South India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Tamil is the first language ever to exist since human literature. ... Telugu belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the official language of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. ... Kannada - aptly described as sirigannada (known to few as Kanarese) is one of the oldest Dravidian languages and is spoken in its various dialects by roughly 45 million people. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ... Tulu is one of the minor languages of India with under 2,000,000 speakers. ...

MuttuMariyamma Devotion to Mariamman Doctrines: India has always been a land of villages and in the context of village life the most important and powerful divine presence is the gramadevata, a deity identified with the village. A village may have several gramadevatas, each with its own function. Village deities are more numerous than Indian villages, though some are known throughout a region and one of these is the goddess Mariamman (Also called Mari, Mariamma, Maryamman. In the Puranas she is known as Marika.) who has devotees all over South India. A village is a human settlement commonly found in rural areas. ...

The village belongs to the goddess. Theologically she was there before the village and in fact she created it. Sometimes she is represented only by a head on the soil, indicating her body is the village and she is rooted in the soil of the village. The villagers live inside or upon the body of the goddess. The goddess protects the village and is the guardian of the village boundaries. Outside the village there is no protection from the goddess. The village is a complete cosmos and the central divine power of the village is the goddess. The relationship between the village and the goddess is primarily for the village as a whole and not for individuals. Mari can mean sakti, power, and amman is mother, so she is the mother-power of the village.

However, this relationship is not a simple one. In some places, Mariamman is invoked three times a year to regenerate village soil and protect the community against disease and death. Other places may have an important Mariamman festival. Mariamman is not a peaceful and benign goddess. She can be vindictive, inexorable, and difficult to propitiate. Essentially she is a personification of the world's natural forces, but specifically she is a goddess of smallpox, chickenpox, and other diseases. Her role is ambivalent for she both inflicts the diseases and protects the village from them. The onset of disease or disaster causes special worship or a festival of the goddess, for they are caused by demons let in because the goddess's defences have broken down or because the goddess is angry at being neglected. Mariamman reminds people that their ordered world can be shattered at any time and worshipping her makes one's view of reality less fragile. When the villagers are afflicted, so is the goddess invaded by demons. The villagers and the goddess are suffering the invasion of the village together and that is why one can say that the goddess causes the epidemic. The goddess suffers most but cannot contain it all and spreads it to the villagers, who help her deal with it. Mariamman is especially favourable at this time to those suffering from the disease, for they are helping her bear the burden of the demonic attack. Blood offerings of animals are commonly sacrificed at festivals of Mariamman, but this is not invariably the case. Whitehead in his classic study The Village Gods of South India (1921) found at the village of Vandipaliam in Cuddalore district that at an annual festival of ten days to Mariamman no animal sacrifices were ever offered or on any other occasion at the shrine. At Shiyali in Tanjore district during the sacrifices of animals to other gods at the festival (of all the village gods) a curtain is drawn in front of Mariamman.

History One story about the origin of Mariamman is she was the wife of Tirunalluvar, the Tamil poet, who was a pariah, outcaste. She caught smallpox and begged from house to house for food, fanning herself with leaves of the nim or margosa tree to keep the flies off her sores. She recovered and people worshipped her as the goddess of smallpox. To keep smallpox away they hang nim leaves above the doors of their houses. Another story involves the beautiful virtuous Nagavali, wife of Piruhu, one of the Nine Rishis. One day the Rishi was away and the Trimurti (an image with three heads representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) came to see if her famed beauty and virtue was true. Nagavali did not know them and, resenting their intrusion, turned them into little children. The gods were offended and cursed her, so her beauty faded and her face became marked like smallpox. The Rishi returned, found her disfigured, and drove her away, declaring she would be born a demon in the next world and cause the spread of a disease which would make people like herself. She was called Mari, meaning 'changed.' Both stories are reported by Whitehead and he remarks that in Mysore he was told that Mari meant sakti, power.

Mariamman is an ancient goddess, whose worship probably originated in the tribal religion of Dravidian India before the arrival of the Aryans and the brahman religion. According to tradition, among the Dravidian mountain tribes as in Coorg in southern Karnataka, human sacrifices were offered to Mariamman. These were replaced with animals and as we have seen, in some villages no animal sacrifices are offered. Here we can see a historical gradation. Local goddesses such as Mariamman who protect villages and their lands and represent the different castes of their worshippers have always been an important part of the religious landscape of South India. However, we can note periods of special significance. The eclecticism of the Vijayanagar period (1336-1565) encouraged folk religion, which became more important and influenced the more literate forms of religion. In the last century and a half there has been a rebirth of Tamil self-consciousness (see Devotion to Murukan). In the middle of the present century deities such as Mariamman have become linked to the "great tradition" as the strata of society which worship the goddess has become integrated into the larger social order.

Symbols At the centre and source of the village is a boddhu-rayee, navel stone, with which the goddess is associated. As mentioned in doctrines, the goddess may be represented by only a head on the ground, as her body is the village. To protect the village, shrines and symbols of the goddess are often placed at the boundaries of the village. These symbols are usually simple, rough, unhewn stones, five or six inches high and blackened with anointing oil, or there may be a stone pillar. If there are shrines these will often be crude simple structures. Mariamman's colour is yellow and sometimes a stone is adorned with a yellow dress, only a small part of bare stone emerging at the top. Sometimes there is only a spear or trident thrust in the ground in place of the goddess-stones. In larger villages a slab of stone may be carved with a rough figure of a woman, who may have four, six, or eight arms, or none at all, and the arms hold various implements such as a knife, a shield, a drum, a bell, a devil's head, and a three-pronged fork. It is common to have a fixed stone image in the shrine and to use a small portable metal image in processions. Mariamman can be represented as riding naked on an ass with a winnow on her head and a broom and water-pot in her hands. Sometimes there is no image and the goddess is represented by a brass pot of water decorated with nim leaves. The nim tree is sacred to Mariamman. In poor villages an earthenware pot is used.

During the ceremonies of the goddess there is a symbolic marriage. Although the goddess is sometimes said to have a consort, she is really married to the village, so the goddess and village can nourish each other. A blood sacrifice at her festival can appease the goddess to withdraw her anger symbolised as the heat of disease or it can symbolise the defeat of the invading demon. Traditionally a buffalo was offered. After it was beheaded, its leg was thrust into its mouth, fat from the stomach was smeared in its eyes, and a candle was lit on its head. It was then presented to the goddess. This humiliation of the victim symbolises the defeat of an enemy, the demon who causes the epidemic or disaster.

Village festivals are filled with symbolism. At a festival in Karnataka, the Mariamman image is first painted in bright colours and put in a shelter of nim leaves and a sheep sacrificed to placate the goddess. Then a he-buffalo is sacrificed by untouchables and the head put in a pit before Mariamman. The blood and parts of the buffalo are mixed with rice and put in a large basket. This is caraga and it is carried in procession by untouchables followed by other villagers carrying sickles and weapons to guard it. At other shrines sheep are sacrificed and mixed with the caraga, which is then sprinkled on the fields and along the boundaries of the village, thus regenerating the soil and protecting the village. Even vegetarian farmers believe that the soil needs blood and if it is not given then human lives will be taken.

Festivals without animal sacrifice may offer boiled rice, fruit, flowers, cakes and sugar, and incense and camphor are burnt. There is Abishegam, ceremonial washing of the image twice a day, with water, oil, milk, coconut milk, turmeric, rose water, sandalwood, honey, sugar, limes, and a solution of the bark of certain trees, separately in a regular order. The image of the goddess is carried twice a day on the shoulders of devotees around the village and there may be a car procession one day. Under brahmanical influence, the image can be towed around a tank. At many festivals an important role is played by a Matangi, a low caste woman who is unmarried and holds the office for life. She is a living symbol of the goddess and becomes possessed by the goddess, dancing wildly, using obscene language, spitting at devotees, and pushing people around with her backside. The festival reverses social norms and the Matangi's behaviour, which would ordinarily be highly polluting, is purifying and people seek out her spit and insults.

Adherents Millions of villagers across South India worship Mariamman, especially in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Mariamman is one of the deities worshipped in almost every Tamil village. Nearly all members of a village participate in the goddess's festival, even brahmans and Muslims. The different castes to some extent mix freely. This is not the case in daily life. The ritual topography of a village in Karnataka, for example, has an inner village inhabited by the purest castes and the rest live outside this. The shrines of the goddess would be in the outside part of the village. The oldest, largest, and most important Hindu temple in Singapore is the Mariamman Temple, which was established early in the nineteenth century. Pilgrims at a Mariamman festival wear mostly yellow, the colour of the goddess. Some men dress as tigers and other animals. Pilgrims may come because of a specific fear or debt or because one of their family has a disease associated with the goddess or they themselves have recovered from the disease. Particular castes are associated with Mariamman, such as fishermen and builders on the coast of Tamil Nadu. Pilgrims fast before the festival and bring offerings, such as money in a propitious amount, say one hundred and one rupees. Some pilgrims have made vows to Mariamman to walk on fire, carry burning pots on their heads, or perform covadi, when they swing suspended on hooks through their flesh.

Headquarters/ Main Centre There is no one main centre for Mariamman.

She is often associated with disease especially Small Pox, Cholera and Chicken Pox. She has also been credited with causing and relieving Tuberculosis. There are two terminologies when associated Mariyamman with these disease : "Little Mother" and "Big Mother"

Little Mother : when one describe her capacity to cause and prevent Chicken Pox Big Mother when she is associated with more serious infectious disease.

There are some who have understood Mariyamman to be another form of Durga or Kali, but the rituals and mythologies involved are quite different from any of these goddess.

Several etymologies have been offered for the names of Mariyamman a) Muttu is a word that means `pearl'. This is also a suggestion that `pearls' refer to the pustules often contracted during the onset of Chicken Pox or Small Pox.

b) Mari is associated with pertilencec and disease, which then give one possible meaning as `the disease mother'. Some have associated the word Mari with her ability to change suddenly. There form Mari can also means `to change' in Tamil. This word `change' to describe her as having an unpredictably dangerous capacity for anger, heat and violence. Another group have proposed that "Mari" means "rain". She has been described, sometimes euphemistically, as a cool goddess, or as a goddess whose image likes to be cooled with water. Because she is traditionally most active in the peak of the hot season, when contagious fever post great danger, and when rains are desirable, she is approached by worshippers requesting coolness and rain.

c) Ammae means Mothers. This term is more of honorific than descriptive. Mariyamman is often depicted as without children. Most of the story of Mariyamman; she is either a widow, a little girl or a woman cast out of her home by her husband.

These are three version of the Story of Mariyamman that I have found so far, and they are :

1. A young Brahmin girl is courted by and eventually married to an untouchable who has disguised himself as a Brahmin. On discovering the trick, the woman becomes furious and kills herself. She is transformed into a goddess and in her divine form punishes the untouchable by burning him to ashes or otherwise humiliating or humbling him. Another version to this story is that, Goddess Parvati implanted herself [ classic case of Parthenogenesis ] in the womb of a Brahmin Woman, and was born. In school she met a Pariyan boy [ an outcast ] who fell in love with her. He went to her father, concealing his caste and asked for her hand in marriage. The father not suspecting, consented to the marriage, only to discover it later on. However they also realized that nothing could be done since the wedding had already taken place. Later, contemplating the discover of her marriage to a man of such inferior status, the new bride became furious. Looking at her husband with rage, she became immediately changed, and the fire from her anger engulfed his body. He pleaded with her to stop the burning, but she replied that even though he was her husband, he must never again enter the house. Instead, he was to stand outside forever. His body was reduced to ashes by the heat , and where the ashes fell a margosa tree grew. The young woman had become a changed person : Mariyamman.

2. She [ Renuka ] is an extremely pious, pure wife who is married to a devout holy man. She is so pure that she can perform miraculous tasks such as making jars out of loose sand and boiling water simply by placing a pot of water on her head. One day, however she sees two gandharvas making love and feels envy for them. Thereupon she loses her miraculous powers. Discovering this and suspecting sexual disloyalty, her husband commands their son [ Parasuraman ] to kill his mother. The Son obeys his father and decapitates his mother. To show his great pleasure to the Son, the father grants him one boon. The Sons asks that his mothers life to be restored. Eventually she is restored to life, but in the process her head and body get transposed with those of an untouchable woman. When she return home [ in her new state : body of an untouchable ] her husband refuse to accept her changed form, and curses her instead. She became the bearer of the "Pearl" which is the name given to Small Pox. She has authorities over this disease. She brings this disease upon the rishis who begs for healing. She offers him healing if she be permitted to go to the four worlds of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma and Yama. The rishis granted her wishes. She went to Shiva and causes the disease on him. In exchange for healing she receives his Shoolani [ a forked weapon] and his cow. She inflicts Vishnu and gets from him his Conch Shell and wheel. From Brahma she gets consent for converting her name. She is no longer Renuka but assumes the name Mariyamman [ the changed mother ]. She then inflicts Yama with and from Yama wife she demanded a huge festival for her only then she remove the "pearl- like' form from Yama face. Another version to this story is that, when the husband refuse to take her back, she is sent out into the village to live from the gifts of the people. Here she utilizes her powers to protect all those who sustain her with food, offerings and worship.

3. Nagavalli is a wife of Rishi Piruhu. One of the nine great rishis in the olden days. She is famous for her beauty and also her virtue. One day when the rishi was away from home Brahman, Vishnu and Siva came to visit her to see whether she was as beautiful and as virtuous as reported. Not knowing who they were and resenting their intrusion, she had them changed into little children. They took offense and cursed her, so that her beauty faded away and her face became dotted with marks like those of small pox. When Piruhu returned and found her thus disfigured, he drove her away and declared that she should be born a demon in the next world, and caused the spread of disease which would make people resemble her. When she was cast out a washerwoman took care of her.

The act of restorating the head, Mariyamman becomes an immortal. If you read my message on Chinnamasta : the self decapatitating (message 26 }

"The severing of ones head symbolically represents liberation. The realization that one is not separate from others but part of the great self. Nevertheless severing the head is not just the end of it, the ability to restore one's head is the completion of the "sacrificial" process in which marked not of death but of immortality."

Satapatha Brahmana, a sacrificial text states that : " when one receives a new head, a transformation occurs which is usually interpreted as receiving a better head" and with reference to Ganesha, when he received his elephant head, he received his `real' head which express his true nature.

Therefore one can apply this logic to the case of Mariyamman. This new state of transformation, She is able to assume various forms. It is said that she can be imagined as the seven sisters. Another form that Mariyamman closely associated is Ellaiyamman. A very powerful Goddess, who protects the people from all evil. And that she have a troops of devils under her control. She protects the villages in all four directions. The only distinctive different between Ellaiyamman and Mariyamman is that, for Ellaiyamman, she has the head of the Untouchables and the body of the Brahmin woman, whilst Mariyamman has the head of the Brahmin and the body of the Untouchable. In some versions the untouchable body is Maatangi. In some of Ellaiyamman iconography she is sometimes represented with the torn-off head of Brahmin woman in her hand.

There are many other stories about Mariyamman, but all of them tends to fall into two categories

a) Mariyamman as an exemplary human female whose harsh and unjust treatment at the hands of callus, indifferent or negligent males causing great suffering and eventually undeserved death. In Tamil nadu, a premature, valiant and unjust death is often the occasion for apotheosis. In this case Mariyamman the human is transmutted into a goddess.

b) Mariyamman born as divine intercession [ as in the classic case of Parthenogenesis ] and as a woman she suffers indignities and assaults by males - human, demonic and divine, until finally she strike back, devastatingly and definitively, becoming a goddess in the process of potential and poised vengence.

Several themes to these [ found in almost every account of Mariyamman ]

1. Is that she begins her life as a virtuous woman or as an exemplary goddess who, in the transformative cycles of rebirth, happens to be born as human. But no matter in which guise she appears, she is confronted and mistreated by male arrogance, violence, deceit or neglect.

2. In almost many of the stories, there is always an unfortunate woman who will comes to the aid of the mistreated or unfortunate Mariyamman providing comfort and shelter. In this Mariyamman becomes a best example of the plight of unfortunate Indian woman : widows, outcasts etc.

If we were to sum up the mythologies of Mariyamman on the whole, it can be seen that the males are being portrayed as the guilty perpetrators of violent or injustices. Women on the other hand are companions in suffering to the goddess, just as she becomes one of them in the world where men must be defeated, punished and humiliated for their transgressions against female virtue, innocence and goodwill.

Symbolism of Mariyamman & Ellaiyamman

Mariyamman is thus understood to have a Brahmin head and an untouchable body, which significant in the terms of both her ambivalent nature and her role as a village goddess exemplifying the social status quo in which Brahmins are at the head of the social systems. But in Ellaiyamman it's the reverse. The head that symbolizes power/knowledge of the Brahmin (erudition in the Vedas and schooling in the proper practice of Ritual, wisdom of orthodoxy and orthopraxis ) is being replaced with the head that signifies the power of the untouchables. This in many sense is a symbolic act of subversion, an inversion of the status quo as propagated by Hindu Myth and Practice.

The story points out to the complex nature of the relationship between the untouchables/low caste population and the Brahmin. In an article presented by Sathiananthan Clarke [ see reference ] in which he states that the story of Ellaiyamman and Mariyamman propound the idea that the Paraiyars or the untouchables are caught / victims of conflicts of the caste system. Another studies carried out by Robert Deliege in to the myth of origins of the untouchables, Hanjans consider their low degraded position as a result of a mistake, some mockery or an accident. [ Replication and Consensus : Untouchability, Casta and ideology in India ]

Ironically they use the symbolism of a woman to associate it victimization.