The Village Gods of South India

 தமிழக நாட்டுப்புற பாடல்கள்-ஒரு ஆய்வு.

 எங்க ஊரு அய்யனார் கோவில் .

 "களிமண்ணால யானை செல குதிர செல செஞ்சுவச்சா

 ஒடஞ்சுபோயிடுதுன்னு, 

கருப்பு கருங்கல்லால யானை செல குதிர செல செஞ்சுவச்சாக 

எங்க முப்பாட்டன் பரம்பர"

The Village Gods of South India

The worship of village-gods is the most ancient form of the beliefs, customs, and practices of the primitive tribes prevalent in South India, as in the case of other similar ancient cultures in Western Asia, in the transition period from the nomadic to the pastoral and the agricultural phases of life.

Most of the grama-devatas (village-deities) are con¬ ceived of not as supreme cosmic powers, but only as local deities with jurisdiction limited to the village concerned. The fertility-cult and the predominant role of women in an agricultural economy were perhaps responsible for most of these deties (except Ayyanar and some of the guardian deities) being regarded as female.

Ayyanar (pi. 1-a), also known variously as Arya, Hariharaputra, Ayyappan, and Sasta, is regarded as the guardian deity of the village, protecting it and warding off evil spirits. His shrine—generally found in a grove on the outskirts of the village—is surrounded by burnt-clay figures of horses on which He and His attendants are supposed to ride during their nocturnal vigils.

Pidari (Bhatan) (pi. 2-a) is the archetype of the female village deities. She is regarded as the guardian-deity pro¬ tecting the people against evil spirits and especially epide¬ mics like cholera. She is known by various names. Kali (The Dark One), with power over Death, is pro¬ tectress against evil spirits and wild beasts. She is later integrated with Durga or Mahishasuramardini. Human and animal sacrifices were offered to Her. There are a number of Pallava sculptures of Durga flanked by devotees in a head-offering posture. Martyamman is the goddess of smallpox and other epidemics. Her name is perhaps derived from that of Mara, the God of Death, as His female counterpart. When epidemics break out in a village, buffaloes and sheep are offered as sacrifices to appease her. SeUiyamman, Draupadi, and Angalamman are the other names of this important goddess. To my knowledge, there are extant today in South India three saptamatrika shrines—the Selhyamman temple at Alambakkam, the Vakra-Kah shrine at Tiruvakkarai, and the Selliyamman temple at Velachcheri. These are small ekatala (one-tier) stone shrines, which could be assigned to the late Pallava or early Chola times

Minnadiyan (Mun-Adiyan) and Madurai- Veeran are male guardian-deities attendant on the grama-devatas; Karuppan (Kala) is sometimes worshipped separately. At the Alagiriswami temple near Madurai, He is regarded as the guardian of the eighteen steps in the compound of the temple and as the custodian of the key of the temple-treasury

In addition to these deities, the people worshipped serpents and the deities supposed to preside over the arts and crafts, and appeased the spirits of ancestors, of those who had had violent or untimely deaths, and of boundary stones, hills, rivers, forests, and trees

The shrines of these village-deities were humble brick buildings with thatch—rarely of stone—under the shade of spreading trees in the village-common. Sometimes, there was within the shrine only a rough figure carved in bas-relief on a small stone. In some places, the shrine was simply a rough stone-platform under a tree with stones or iron spikes stuck on it to represent the deity. Sometimes a large rough stone served both as the shrine and as the image. These shrines were humble structures with no pretensions to be ranked as architecture

Sources:

Early Chola Art

Part I

Author: S. R. Balasubrahmanyam

ASIA PUBLISHING HOUSE

BOMBAY CALCUTTA • NEW DELHI • MADRAS LUCKNOW ■ BANGALORE LONDON NEW YORK