The Fascinating world of Kaval Deivangal of Tamil Nadu.

The Fascinating world  of Kaval Deivangal of Tamil Nadu.

 A humble request 

From

P.R.Ramachander

Any body who have traveled in to Tamil Nadu must have seen lot of roofless temples (mostly terracotta figures ) established near the entrance of most villages. They might have also seen the temples dedicated to the Goddess of pestilence –Mari , in the middle of the village.
Most of these Gods do not form a part of the pantheon of Hindu Gods. They have a great role to play in the day to day life of the villages. They

1.Are the Gods that guard the village from robbers, epidemics, pestilence and enemies.
2,Are the judge of the last resort to the villagers,
3.Are Gods that control rain fall.
4.Are Gods that cure the domestic animals of their diseases.

The faith of the villager in these Gods is more than 100%. Their devotion to these Gods is tinged with fear or love or both Another very interesting facts about these Gods is that their priests are not Brahmins .In spite of that   several Brahmin families of Tamil Nadu have adopted  many of these  Gods as their guardian deities.

Male deities
Some of the most important male deities are Ayyanar, Karuppu sami, Madurai veeran, Sudalai madan, Muneswaran, Periyandar, Munu Samu , Changili Karuppu  etc.
Out of them attempts have been made to link Ayyanar with God Shastha(ayyappan) who is the son of Shiva and Vishnu. He normally appears along with his wives Poorna and Pushkala. It is interesting to know  that There is a Karuppu statue in  Sri Rangam temple as well  as in the Sabari mala temple 

Female deities
The most important female deity is Mari. Other important female deities are Angala Parameshwari, Nalla Thangal, Katteri Amman, Mutharamman, Pechi Amman , Masani Amman, Chelli Amman etc.
Out of them attempt has been made to identify Mari with Durga or Kali and Pechiamman with Goddess Saraswathi.
Almost each and every village in Tamil Nadu have their own village Gods. Some times a single God is shared by several villages. Daily worship is rare but usually festivals are held with great fan fare. Persons belonging to that village come to these festivals wherever they are in the world. Each of these temples have their own stories. But examining them, we will find that the incidents narrated in the story are almost common. For examples, some village gods come to the village and appear in the dreams of the villagers, some others come floating in the river etc.

   I have been fascinated   by these  Gods    and the  role that they play  in lives of people  of Tamil Nadu .Reading very many books   and   several on line searches  I  have  collected information about   some of these Gods  and have  written about more than 100  of them. These are available  in  my blog 

http://villagegods.blogspot.in/

Yesterday I added the write up of six more  of these  Gods. They   are:-

1.Keerangudi Kudavarasi temple  http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/keerangudi-kudavarasi-amman.html

2.Nannilam Madathi  Amman temple  http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/nannilam-madathi-amman-temple.html

3.Erode  Kongalamman temple  http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/kongalamman-temple-erode.html

4.Musiri  Azhagu Nachiyamman  temple  http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/musiri-azhagu-nachiyamman-temple.html

5.Perambur Veeramakali  temple  http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/veeramakali-temple-of-perambur.html

6.Vellore  Chelliyamman temple http://villagegods.blogspot.in/2015/07/chelliamman-temple-of-thottapalayam.html

     I have a humblke request to all   those of my friends  who are interested  in this fascinating pantheon of Gods . Do contribute to this blog  by writing about the village  God of your village.I would post them in my blog  under your authorship   for the sake of our  curious   and interested   future generation.

   You can contact me  by writing to ramya475 at hotmail dot com

                                            Ramachander  aka Raja Thatha