Angalamman

Angalamman, also worshipped as Angala Parameswari, is a fierce guardian form of the mother goddess, prominent in northern Tamil Nadu and in adjoining parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Local tradition identifies her with the Goddess in her terrifying aspect, a protectress whose power is rooted in the cremation ground and who shields her devotees precisely because she commands the forces of death and disorder.

The tradition

Her mythology, which varies by locality, associates her with Parvati and with the goddess's fierce interventions at the burning ground; devotees hold that she subdued the dangers gathered there and took the place as her own. She is thus a goddess of the margins in the same family as the male cremation-ground guardians of the south, but worshipped as a mother, at once dangerous and protective.

The Mayana Kollai

Her great festival is the Mayana Kollai, the raid or plunder of the cremation ground, observed in many towns on the day after Maha Shivaratri; the celebration at Kaveripattinam in Krishnagiri district is particularly renowned, drawing very large crowds. Devotees discharge vows in the goddess's guise, their bodies painted and costumed, and processions move to the burning ground itself, where rites are performed that dramatise the goddess's mastery over death. Possession, piercing and fierce offerings mark the day, after which the goddess returns, satisfied, to her shrine.