The term “mari” is associated with pestilence and disease, giving one possible meaning to her literally translated title, “the disease mother”. Pustules are often referred to as “pearls”. “Muttu” means “pearl” in Tamil it also suggests the disfiguring pustules that appear at the onset of smallpox or chickenpox. The name Muttumariamman is a good example to showcase the point. Thousands of temples are dedicated to this goddess, whose name has undergone occasional and specifically localising transformations, such as Karumariamman, Bhadramariamman, and Muttumariamman. Her most dramatic association is with deadly pestilences that gave her her name – The Smallpox Goddess. She is said to cause, prevent and alleviate illnesses characterised by fevers or diseases pertaining to the eyes. The original Mariamman is no middle-of-the road, namby-pamby, love and light, lace and silk goddess.
In the process of the Hindu expansion into South India, Mariamman has now become closely associated with the goddesses Parvati and Durga. But, the worst blow of all was the taking over of one of the major temples of Mariamman. Today, the numbers have decreased if not disappeared altogether. It used to boast of several temples to Mariamman. Samayapuram, is a suburb of the city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu. However, they were unable to shake the belief and faith of the people in the villages. To an extent, they did succeed especially, in the urban areas. Mariamman is also the God whom the Brahmin priests tried their utmost to integrate into Vedic Hinduism. She is the principal South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the villages of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Mariamman is an ancient goddess, whose worship probably originated from a pre-Vedic cult of the Dravidian people. But, today she is worshipped as a seraphic, beaming, all-loving goddess. Mariamman is without question the most popular god (goddess) worshipped by villagers in Tamil Nadu even today. More gods were trasformed and given names of Vedic gods making the process of Sanskritisation complete.Īnother example is Mariamman or Muthumariamman. For example, Murugan came to be identified with Subramanian and a son of Siva. The ancient village god was offered space in the temple on a par with Hindu gods. It was this part of simplistic, but wholesome spirituality that appealed to the Vedic Hinduism and was quickly adopted. The dominant family probably built the main village shrine. I believe, each clan had its own gods, and they built shrines to them and worshipped in the comfort of their villages. If you were to visit any Tamil village you will find they have their own set of gods, protectors, celebrations and practices. They prayed to their local gods, had their own non-Brahminic priests and rituals. These texts describe cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines, precepts on meditation and practices, four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity worship and ways to attain sixfold desires.) Instead, Tamil religious practices did not use Brahmin priests, Vedic scriptures or rituals. It means tradition or “that which has come down”. ( The agamas are a collection of scriptures of several Hindu devotional schools. Spirituality in a Tamil village pre-dates Vedic Hinduism in South India, where the spiritual practices were non-agamic.
It is a form of social change – a process whereby castes and tribes of a lower order aspire for greater good by emulating the rituals and practices of the upper and dominant castes.) Regardless, the Tamils have managed to cling on to some of their gods and Mariamman is of them. Among one of the sad things that has happened is the Sanskritisation of ancient Tamil Gods. Sometimes the growth is good, at other times its not.