Village Deities of Tamil Nadu - Genesis of Vedic Connections

Genesis of Vedic Connections

The third category contains certain less spoken characters in the great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. For example, there are many temples dedicated to Draupadi (Panchali) and Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) in the Northern parts of Tamil Nadu. Temples dedicated Gandhari (mother of the Kauravas), Kunti (mother of Pandavas) and Aravan (the son of Arjuna and the serpent princess Ulupi) are found in Tamil Nadu.

The Vedic priests adopted various means to Hinduise the deities of folk tradition. Even though there are diversified characteristics between the Vedic and the folk tradition, they inducted these deities in their spectrum; they created various sthalapuranas which emphasised the relation between these gods and goddesses with any one of the gods and goddesses of Vedic tradition. For example, a male deity called Kuttandavar is worshipped in many parts of the Tamil country, especially in South Arcot district. The image consists of a head like a big mask with a rubicund face and lion’s teeth projecting downwards outside the mouth from the angles of the upper jaw. According to legend the creation of Kuttandavar, the god of Indra, is for the crime of murdering a Vedic priest, became incarnated in the form of Kuttandavar, and a curse was laid upon him that his body leaving only the head. These types of stories need to be carefully examined, because they are regarded as the kuladevatas by the oppressed and downtrodden people. In these circumstances they also altered the structure of these deities into either degraded or cursed form.

Hence changes have been made only on the popular deities. For example, Mariamman, another deity of subalterns, is highly influenced by the Vedic rituals. She is usually garlanded with skulls. But recently, the skull garland has been replaced by the lemon garland. Her poor outlook has been altered into a pleasant one. Sometimes these restructuring processes led to the degradation of the deities. When they stress the holiness of the deities of Vedic tradition at the same time they denied the holiness of the deities of the folk tradition. They described the gods and goddesses of folk tradition either as watching deities to the deities of Vedic religion or they related these deities with contagious diseases.

The process of Hinduisation can also be seen in the popular temples dedicated to the deities of folk religion. For example, the increase in the number of devotees to Samayapuram, Punnainallur, Vazhangaiman Mariamman temples in Tamil Nadu boosted the financial position. It attracts the Vedic priests to switch over their interest to Mariamman on account of the financial benefits. They not only dominate during the time of worship, but also on various other occasions. They have introduced the custom of Kumbhabhishekam. In addition to this, they have made Mariamman as a Suddhadevatas (non-vegetarian deity). With regard to the temples of folk tradition Vinayakar, Murugan, Iyyappan and others, Vedic deities are replaced by the deities of folk tradition such as Aiyanar, Madurai Viran and Karuppannasamy. Even the people of the folk tradition have begun to follow some customs and habits of higher castes in order to raise their social status.