Karuppasami

Karuppasami, the black god, is one of the principal kaval deivams, guardian deities, of Tamil folk religion, worshipped especially in the southern districts around Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram. He is a deity of the night watch: fierce, swift and exacting, invoked to guard villages, temples, families and fields, and to punish theft, perjury and betrayal. His weapon is the aruval, the long Tamil billhook, and at many shrines the weapon itself, oiled and garlanded, stands in place of an image.

The tradition

Karuppasami rarely stands alone. He serves most often as chief attendant to Ayyanar, his shrine placed at the entrance to the guardian's precinct, receiving on his master's behalf the offerings a vegetarian deity cannot. Local tradition knows many Karuppus, distinguished by place and function, and at the Kallalagar temple at Alagar Kovil near Madurai the deity known as Patinettampadi Karuppu keeps the eighteen sacred steps, an unusual case of a folk guardian embedded in a great Vaishnava temple.

Worship

His worship is direct and contractual. Devotees make vows and discharge them with offerings that may include animal sacrifice and libations of liquor at shrines where such offerings are customary, and festivals centre on possession: the samiyadi, the god-dancer, carries Karuppasami in his body, delivers oracles and arbitrates disputes brought before the deity. Oaths sworn at his shrine are held to be binding on pain of the god's swift displeasure.