CHENNAI: Mylapore is home to several temples in the city. While Kapaleeswarar temple is one of the most popular ones, there are a few shrines dedicated to goddesses. At the ongoing Mylapore Festival, on an overcast Sunday morning, author and history-lover Padmapriya Baskaran, presented a walk on the Goddesses of Mylapore.
“The idea behind this walk is to highlight the significance of lesser-known female deities. Each one has a powerful story, characteristics and ways of being worshipped. With time, they’ve taken a particular form, size and colour in temples as per our convenience and discipline. We, heritage enthusiasts, want to collaborate with like-minded people to spread awareness about these hidden treasures before they become long gone,” said Padmapriya.
Kolavizhi Amman temple
True to the name, Kolavizhi Amman, is admired for her big, beautiful eyes. The body is made of lime paste that takes 48 days to attain consistency. The presiding deity, otherwise called Bhadrakali Amman, sits facing the north in her fiery form with weapons in both hands. “All important functions including Brahmotsavam begin by seeking permission from this village deity. The legend goes that Kolavizhi Amman was the protecting God when Mylapore was a village. Local deities hold rich importance in villages. People from all socio-economic status visit and She accepts all kinds of offerings. Village deities also live in the open in harmony with nature,” said Padmapriya.
Abayambigai Amman
Veerabhadra Swami Temple is a relatively lesser-known temple in Mylapore. Lord Veerabhadra, the presiding deity, is said to be born out of Lord Shiva’s wrath towards Daksha. The Goddess here is Abayambigai. She wields a bow, arrow, knife and sword, like her male counterpart. The Goddess is in a calm and composed state. “It’s said that soorasamharam (where Lord Muruga kills the demon Soora) happens here where Lord Muruga gets his vel from the goddess,” she said.
Amrithavalli Thayar
The presiding deity of Sri Madhava Perumal temple, Kalyana Madhava Perumal, is said to have married Amrithavalli Thayar, daughter of sage Bhrigu. She is named so because she rose when gods and demons churned the ocean. Patrons offer sugar lumps and saffron in milk to the goddess. “The goddess is said to have appeared in the pushkarini here in the Tamil month of Maasi under the magam star. Women who wish to have babies worship this goddess. Another important deity here is princess Bibi Nachiar, a staunch devotee of Lord Narayana also called Sampthkumarar. He resides as the Utsavar here, and is also fondly called Selva Pillai. Bibi is kept near his feet at the temple,” she said.
Village deities
We concluded the walk with temples of four village deities located one after another, a few metres apart, in the narrow lanes of Mundakanni Amman Koil Street. The first temple is for Nagathamman. “Worship of snakes has significance in other religions as well. The goddess here is in snake form and is a protector of snakes. Earlier, it was a natural tendency to worship snakes and their abodes,” she tells us.
The next one is the Mundakakanni Amman temple. The deity is supposed to be in a nine-inch conical stone. A face is made with sandal paste, placed over the conical form, and worshipped every day.
A few metres away is Draupadi Amman temple — one of the very few temples to remain in its rustic and village-like form. The angry deity is said to have brought the victory of good over evil, and was progressive in her thoughts for her time. She’s a symbol of empowerment and a guardian deity. “The ten-day ceremony of Padukalam is dedicated to the goddess. Some places the koothu is performed for 10 days and some for 48 days. Men don the avatar of characters from Mahabharata. The scenes from the epic are depicted in the cultural programme usually performed around May. Duryodhana dies in the end, vermilion water is poured over him, Draupadi applies the paste on her hair and ties it. It is believed to rain at the end of the event, marking prosperity,” said Padmapriya. The last one was Angala Parameswari temple. “Mayanakollai is a thanksgiving festival to honour the goddess during Maasi masam. The idol of the goddess is made with crematorium ash and stuffed with dead livestock.
Devotees don the avatars of the goddess and go to the crematorium at night. The priest breaks the idol and people start looting the stuff inside.
Livestock is sacrificed as a form of prayer. People take the ash from the deity and bury it in there farms for a good harvest or house to ward off the evil,” she said.
The 90-minute walk was soaked in fascinating tidbits of lesser-known goddesses who nurtured and protected their devotees.