Goddess Ellammaa

[N. Ganesan]

I am interested in published references
detailing or analyzing the popular goddess
called ellammA. Particularly from the Andhra,
Karnataka and Maharashtra regions. She is
also called(/related with) ReNukA and Maari.

A. Singaravelu Mudaliar, Abithana
Chintamani, The encyclopaedia of Tamil literature
(First edition: 1899) and other books tell about her
life legends:

ReNukA, wife of Jamadagni, lost her heart to
a Gandharva named Citrasena by looking at his
image in the river waters. Jamadagni
orders Parashurama (their own son) to kill her
for this crime (losing chastity, 'kaRpu' in tamil).
Some ellammaa/maari temple stalapurANams
state that only Ellamma's head is visible above
the ground level and fit for worship because
Parasuram revived Ellammaa by fixing her head
on top of the body of a low caste lady.

In the entry on Maari, the popular small-pox
goddess, A. S. Mudaliar tells a variant of
the above legend of the Goddess Maariyamman:
KArtavIrya's sons kill Jamadagni, and
irENukai commits satii. Indra orders VaruNa
to extinguish the sati fire. irENukai,
having lost her clothes in the fire, and with
burns on her skin, drapes neem tree leaves
and reaches the Pulaiyar quarters of the village
(pulaiccEri, traditional funerary ritualists)
and also, the washerfolks and partakes food among
the Pulayas and VaNNaar (washermen). Finally
Shiva appears on the scene, blesses Maari
to become the village goddess to remove
the small pox which resembles the burns she herself
suffered and gives a powerful boon to hurt those
who don't pray to her using her ChaNDALa-rUpam,
(the version as recorded by Sri. Mudaliar).

I think the tensions between ancient Dravidian models
of auspiciousness invested in folks like washerwoman as
recorded in the Sangam corpus versus the brahminical system
is brought out vividly in the ellammA legends.

In Karnataka and in temples like Periyapalayam
in AP near Madras, girls not wearing clothes but only neem
leaves visit ellamma temple on festive days. Devadasis are
dedicated in modern Karnataka at the ellammaa temples.

In Tamil, the root "el-" means bright, light, auspicious.
ellavan2 = 'sun, moon'. 'ellappa nAvalar' was a
famous poet. 'ellALan' was a Tamil king of Lanka
mentioned in Sinhala chronicles like Mahavamsa.
reNu means pollen which is yellow like turmeric,
paddy and gold, all auspicious substances. In the sanskritization
from ellammaa, the meaning 'light, auspicious' is
translated and rendered as reNukA.

In describing a King's white parasol, its light/brightness
and viRal 'power, strength, victory' are compared.
   veL kuTai viLakkum viRal kezu vEntu E - puR. 213;2

In sangam poetry, viRaliyar dance and the pANtil viLakku
'bowl-lamp' is mentioned together.

      pANTil viLakku parUu cuTar azala
      nal nutal viRaliyar ATum
                         - pati. 47:6-7

In the post-sangam poetry, temple dancers are usually
mentioned with the kumbha-lamp. Eg., ANTAL and other
Alvar saints and other medieval tamil lit. This makes one wonder
whether the pANTil-viLakku (pANTil = (mud) bowl/small cup)
is the proto-kuTaviLakku of dancers in postsangam
times.

In post-sangam times, devadAsi dancers, considered
the ever auspicious women, had a main duty to
wave pot-lamps in front of deities and kings
for purposes of lustration or investing auspiciousness.
"5. The task of waving the pot-lamp (kumbhAratti)
is central to the phenomenon of the Devadasi. This
ritual which removes the evil eye (dRSTi) from the
God was the legitimation for the status of Devadasi
and all rights and previleges that went with it.
All devadasi informants remembered the kumbhArati
ritual, some of them only that and nothing more.
[...]
The argument of the devadasi as remover of evil eye
and harbinger of auspiciousness (mangalam) was elaborated
by the present author in Nityasumangali, MLBD, 1987"
(Saskia Kersenboom, TiruttaNi Koyil Sampradaya:
The traditional repertoire of the devadasis of the
Sri Subrahmanya Svami temple in Triuttani,
p.47-58, JIAS, V, 2, 1988).

Dubois and Beauchamp, Hindu manners, customs and
ceremonies, OUP, 1906, p.149
"Whenever people in these positions have been obliged
to show themselves in public, or to speak to strangers,
they invariably call for the courtesans or dancing-girls
from the temples to perform this [aratti] ceremony
over them, and so avert any unpleasant consequences that
might arise from the baleful glances to which they had
been exposed. Kings and princes often have dancing girls
in their employ who do nothing else but perform this
ceremony.
  This aratti is also performed for idols. After the
dancing-girls have finished all their other duties in
the temple, they never fail to perform this ceremony
twice daily over the images of the gods to whom their
services are dedicated.  It is performed with even more
solemnity when these idols have been carried in
procession through the streets so as to turn aside
malignant influences, to which the gods are as
susceptible as any ordinary mortal.
[...]
1. The word aratti itself means trouble, misfortune, pain."

Ellamma (=Yellamma) appears to be rooted in
"bright/auspiciousness" aspects, and in modern Karnataka,
nityasumangalis 'ever-auspicious' dancers are in these temples.

Would be grateful for publications dealing with legends of
the goddess ellamma/reNukaadevi,
N. Ganesan

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