Divine guardians of the South Indian countryside

They are compassionate yet terrifying, pleasing yet wrathful, divine yet unforgiving. They are both the protectors and the punishers and can be assuaged only by sacrifice and submission. They are the divine guardians of the villages of South India.

The worship of the village gods is the most ancient form of Indian religion and is said to have originated around 3000 or 4000 BC (~ 5000 to 6000 years ago). The oldest inhabitants of India believed the world to be peopled by a multitude of spirits, good and bad who were the cause of all unusual events, and especially of diseases and disasters.

Therefore the object of their religion was to propitiate these innumerable spirits.

In ancient India, the population seemed to have been split up into small agricultural communities. There were no nations and no conquering empires. There was no philosophic thought about the world as a whole. The problem of the universe did not interest the simple Dravidian folk. They only looked for an explanation of the facts and troubles of village life.

6000 years hence, the worship of the village gods is far from forgotten. The god-human intimacy is as strong and humane as ever. Typical of folk religion, the gods continue to be revered and at times, even challenged.

With a very few exceptions, the village deities are exclusively female. Largely worshipped by agricultural people, the idea of fertility is naturally connected to female.

Most of the female deities have male attendants, who are supposed to guard the shrines and carry out the commands of the goddesses. However one of these male deities called Ayyanar, has an independent position and has a shrine to himself. Ayyanar shrines are usually located at the peripheries or boundaries of rural villages and are generally crowded with clay figures of horses, great and small. The deity is seen with a sword riding a white horse. He and the fierce-looking Karuppusami, his most important companion with a moustache, a large sickle and a scary demon by his side, are eternally vigilant, fighting against demons and evil spirits that are threatening the village.

The best place to have your fill of village gods, is Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India), one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world with a recorded history that goes back to the 3rd century BC.

All over the outskirts of Madurai, one cannot miss the sight of terracotta horses, fiery demons and angry warriors riding on white horses flashing their swords.

the object of their religion was to propitiate these innumerable spirits.

 

The perfect assembly of the village guardians of South India, along with their warriors, vehicles and paraphernalia can be seen in the Sri Villayuthamudaiya Ayyanar temple in Kochadai (on the Madurai- Melakkal Main Road). The huge (sometimes taller than 20 feet) and terrifying images are accompanied by larger than life figures of attendants and animals.

Ayyanar – the presiding deity of the SriVillayuthamudaiya Ayyanar temple in Kochadai. As Ayyanar is very powerful, as a courtesy, no horse or carts drawn by horses would cross this area.

The Muthiahsamy temple has 21 deities ---- Villayuthamudaiya Ayyanar (presiding deity), Muthiah Swamy, Karrppasamy, Agni Veera Badrar, Karuppayee Amman, Sangili Karuppu, Kazhuvadi Karuppu, Meyyandi Amman, Nagappasamy, Sannasi, Adipoojari, Pechiamman, Muthu Karuppasamy, Irulappasamy, Veeranasami, Rakkayee Amman, Irulayee Amman, Sappani, Sonai, Muniyandi, and Badrakali ---- and 61senaigal (servants or agents). The presence of all 21 deities along with Karuppaswamy is the unique feature of this temple.

Although there are many facts to substantiate that the temple is more than 2000 years old, nobody has ever been able to know the exact date of its foundation. It is also believed that Sage Pathanjali, father of yoga, practised meditation under this very tamarind tree of the temple. The tamarind tree is described in Tamil as Puli Aayiram, Pondu Aayiram meaning that there are thousands of holes in the tree. It is surprising that even when some long and strong branches of the tree fell down due to ageing, no damage was caused to the temple.

For removal of Naga Dosha (adverse snake aspects), devotees pour milk to Nagamma under the tamarind tree. Those seeking wedding boon tie Mangal Sutras (the yellow thread that seals a hindu wedding) and those seeking child boon tie cradles with saris in the tree.

The village shrines are far less imposing than the temples in the neighbourhood and often there is no shrine at all; but still, when calamity overtakes the village, when famine or cattle disease makes its appearance, it is to the village deities that all villagers turn for protection. The village deities are regarded as a more present help in trouble, and are more intimately concerned with the happiness and prosperity of the villagers.

Smaller terra cotta horses and iron tridents and spears offered by devotees in fulfillment of their vows, usually crowd the front yard of these shrines.

Here are some of the terracato figures in the making.

Today’s Hinduism is a medley of the most diverse forms of worship, ranging from subtle forms of philosophy upto primitive forms of animism. Therefore the worship of the village deities and the worship of Siva and Vishnu go on side by side.

I sure knew that I was stepping into the realm of the unknown, when I came up with this topic for my first blog post. However a number of events unfolded ever since and I felt I was being led to places (starting from the outskirts of Bangalore to Kochadai and Kodaikanal and thereon to Singapore) which I would not commonly visit. It is indeed true that, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

This whole encounter with the village gods would not have been possible without the support of my extended family in Madurai, who have always put up with my eccentricities and showed me around this surreal world of the divine guardians.

References:
1)      The Village Gods of South India by RIGHT REVEREND HENRY WHITEHEAD, D.D.,