Goddess Ellammaa

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

goddess ellamma/mari is generally angry, euphemistically
she is called siitaladevi. In the 18/19th centuries she
was hurting/curing with smallpox, and now even her shakti
is tested to its limits. She is the AIDS-amma, and India's
prayer is she does not let the new affliction grow
to the order and magnitude that Africa faces.

AIDS-amma in Karnataka:
http://www.news.harvard.edu/science/current_stories/24.Feb.00/aids.html

--- "N. Ganesan" <naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> The tensions between ancient Dravidian models
> of auspiciousness invested in folks like washerwomen, potters,
> shaman priests of Murukan called as vElans, and dancers like
> 'viRaliyar'  as recorded in the Sangam corpus versus the brahminical
> system are brought out vividly in the various reNukA-ellammA legends
> and rituals. The transition accomplished in post-sangam period is
> clear from the name of the Goddess, mAri. Ethnographers often connect
> Dravidian goddess name "mAri" found all across the South with the
> tamil verb, mARu-tal 'to change'. Her physical body itself is a
> Changed one.
>
> Jamadagni, ("all devouring fire") seems to be symbolically related
> with the "pot-lamp" authority (kuTa viLakku) ever associated with
> devadaasis. The legend of Parasuraama Jaamadagnya, killing his mother
> and later completely  wiping out all of the Kshatriyas and giving the
> whole earth away to Brahmins,  seem to point mythologically to the
> Sanskritization process of Southern India. And, the popular
> Ellammaa-ReNukA-Maariyamman legends with a composite physique of a
> low-caste body fitted with a brahmin head marks the change of ritual
> authority from indigenous priests, vElan shamans of Murukan,
> viRaliyar-type dancers into the hands of brahmins.
>
> "The marriage of a Pariah god with a Brahman woman or of a Brahman
> goddess with a Pariah man, a god's double parentage (one set of
> parents being of high caste, the other of low caste, eg.,
> Kaattavaraayan, Maturai Viiran), and the theme of the split body
> (eg. the story of ReNukA) seem to be various expressions of the
> paradox that the deity in question is both a Pariah and a Brahman.
> [...]
>
>      ReNukA's story is very apt. She is one of Brahma's daughters
> and wife of a sage. When she realizes that she has the body of an
> Untouchable, she does not return to her husband (probably in heaven)
> but remains as Maariyamman on earth, where she brings disease and
> death but also cures and rebirth. Although she is involved in the
> violence and impure activities on earth, a part of her, symbolized
> by her Brahman head, remains in the realm of the transcendent,
> the pure. "
> (p. 90-91, Eveline Masilamani-Meyer's Kattavarayan essay in
> A. Hiltebeitel, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays
> on the Guardians of Popular Hinduism, SUNY, 1989.)
>
> A particularly important offering to ReNukA-Maari is the
> fire burning in pots. This is related with the 'pot-lamp'
> waving to add lustration to chiefs, kings done by devdasis
> from ancient times.
> "they (ie., men and women) form a procession towards the [Mariyamman]
> temple while each dances and carries a fire-pot (pU-caTTi) fire in
> it. The pUccaTTi used here is smaller than the one used only
> by the pUcAris in other places. It is carried with both
> hands outstretched. In front of these fire-bearers, other men
> in Mariyamman's garb, take the lead and dance without any pot.
> As soon as they enter the temple, the fire-pots are put down
> in front of the Goddess. They will be left there and removed
> much later by the priest."
> (p. 27, M. Biardeau, Brahmans and Meat-eating Gods, in
> A. Hiltebeitel, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees: Essays
> on the Guardians of Popular Hinduism, SUNY, 1989.)
>
> Has the ReNukaa legend in the MBh. been analyzed in Indological
> publications? Is the "ReNukAmAhAtmya, SahyAdrikhaNDa, Bombay, 1877"
> considered in modern scholarship?
>
> Regards,
> N. Ganesan
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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