Mariammanமாரியம்மன்

Mariamman (மாரியம்மன்) is the preeminent amman, or mother goddess, of the Tamil country, and among the most widely worshipped deities of south India. Her name is popularly connected with mari, rain, and her domains are the fundamental anxieties of agrarian life: rainfall, fertility and epidemic disease. She was above all the goddess of smallpox and the poxes, at once the affliction and its cure, and since the eradication of smallpox her care has been extended in practice to fevers, skin diseases and protection generally. Nearly every Tamil village has its Mariamman, and she is commonly understood to be that village's own mother and guardian.

The tradition

Mariamman belongs to the world of village religion, worshipped for centuries in shrines served largely by non-Brahmin priests, though many of her temples have grown into large agamic institutions. Legends of her origin vary by region; several strands associate her with Renuka, the wronged wife whose fury transformed her into a goddess, a story she shares with Yellamma of the Deccan. Heat is her element: she embodies the burning of fever and summer, and her worship is much concerned with cooling her, with neem leaves, water and milk.

Worship

Her festivals cluster in the hot months, above all in the Tamil month of Aadi (July–August). Devotees carry karagam, decorated water pots borne on the head in dance, and pal kudam, milk pots, in procession to her temples; vows are discharged through body piercing, fire-walking at some temples, and the offering of koozh, millet porridge, to the goddess and the community. The neem tree is sacred to her, its leaves hung at doorways during epidemics and draped on those suffering from poxes. Among her major temples are Samayapuram near Tiruchirappalli, one of the most visited shrines in Tamil Nadu, and Punnainallur near Thanjavur.

The diaspora

Tamil labour migration in the colonial era carried Mariamman across the seas, and she became the anchor of Hindu life in the plantations and ports. The oldest Hindu temple in Singapore is a Mariamman temple, as are historic temples in Malaysia, South Africa, Fiji, Réunion and the Caribbean, where her worship continues among communities several generations removed from India.