Terracotta Horses

[jdwhite at unccvm.uncc.edu]

In Tamil Nadu and elsewhere groups of terracotta and/or stone horses are
often gifts (i.e., sacrifices) to village guardian deities (gramadevata) for
use by the deity or their army in protecting the village.  It is possible
that at one time actual horses were sacrificed to the village deity at a
certain time to insure continued protection by the gramadevata.