Village deities of South India

Female figure, possibly fertility goddess, from the Indus Valley civilization.

Generally the traditions of village deity tradition or Grama Devta tradition predate the arrival of Indo-Aryans. The earliest evidence found in the Indus Valley Civilization were Mother Goddesses associated with fertility and motherhood there the mother goddess tradition survived as Grama Devta. This tradition in South India existed much before the arrival of Buddhism, Jainism and Historical Vedic religion. Whereas the male deities such as Ayyanar, Karuppasamy, Muniswara, Pothuraju are the deceased warriors who are worshipped as guardians of villages before the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the mother goddesses were represented as small terracotta figures and the male deities were represented as stones and horse totems.

There are two main types of deity propitiated in a village. Any of these deities can be considered a kuladevata.

Example of a fertility goddess, Chikkamma Doddamma, common in South Karnataka

Most villages tradionally have a fertility goddess. This goddess is believed to arise from the natural world itself, and to be intrinsically linked to the ground of the village. She is a representation of the village itself, rather than simply a guardian figure. Sometimes her head is represented in a carving at the center of the village, while the rest of the village is considered her body. She often has the additional responsibility of overseeing rain, since, in the areas of South India east of the Western Ghats, the monsoon rains are the primary source of water for agriculture. She is the main protector of the village, especially against common diseases like smallpox or plague. Other goddesses preside over specific household objects, or act as guardians of cattle or children.[2] Most of these deities are unique to their village and have their own origin stories, and many are worshipped only by members of a particular community. Mariamman is one of the most popular of this class of deity, worshipped throughout South India. She provides fertility and, in many places, protection against smallpox and other deadly diseases. Other popular goddesses include Pochamma in Telugu regions and Yellamma in northern Karnataka and western Telangana. Another common theme is the seven sisters, called saptamatrikas in Vedic traditions. This collection of goddesses does not have a specific function, but may be called upon if a disease is affecting the family. In the area around Tirumala, it is said that these deities can be seen as young girls wandering around at noon, dusk or night.[2] Village goddesses can have different personalities. Some are kindly, and will shower blessings on those who worship them. Others are vengeful and angry, and will unleash terror on the village unless they are propitiated. Many of these deities are especially worshipped by one particular community, for example Yellamma is worshipped especially by two Dalit communities: Malas and Madigas.[3] Some of these deities originated with tribal communities and became worshipped by wider society., such as Kondalamma in the hills of East Godavari district.[2]

Villages, especially in Tamil and Telugu regions, also have a guardian deity: a male deity who protects the village from harm like war or famine or other evils. Unlike the fertility goddess, this deity is worshipped throughout a wide region and has less variety. In northern Tamil Nadu, this deity is called Aiyyanar, while in southern Tamil Nadu, he is known as Shasta. His name in Telugu is Poturaju and is the brother of the presiding goddess in those villages. A common origin myth for Poturaju is that he drank the blood of demons slain by amma. In Tamil Nadu, there are a host of other male deities, such as Karuppusami, who are either attendants to Ayyanar or guardians for the main goddess. Most of these gods are kuladevatas for families in the village, especially for dominant castes who are patrilineal. In this context guardianship has two meanings: either as guardian of devotees or the guardian of a greater village deity, subservient to them.[2]

The mythology surrounding these deities varies considerably by region and deity. However several basic trends can be established. For instance, most village deities are rooted in the idea that some form of Shakti is the primordial force in the universe, sometimes called Adi Shakti or Adi Mahashakti. From her arose all other deities, including the Trimurti of Vedic traditions. The village goddesses are usually related as avatars of Adi Shakti.[2][4] Each deity will have an origin story of some kind to explain why they do not appear in the Puranas. An example of this is Ayyanar, whose origin story in the Arcot region is related to the story of Padmasuran (also known as Bhasmasura), who was given a boon by Shiva to turn anyone whose head he touched into ash. But Padmasuran attacked Shiva himself, who became frightened turned into an aivelangai fruit. However, Shiva's brother-in-law (In Tamil tradition, Vishnu is often considered Parvati's brother), Vishnu, heard his plea for help and appeared as Mohini. Entrancing the Asura, Mohini said he had to take a bath in order to be hers. The Asura could only find a small amount of water and put it on his head, after which he burst into ashes. Vishnu then told Shiva all was clear and after being told the tale, Shiva wished to see Vishnu as Mohini. When he obliged, Shiva became aroused and his semen came out. To prevent it from touching the ground Vishnu caught it in his hand, and Ayyanar was born. This invention of tradition is a way to explain why these deities do not appear in the Puranic stories and to give them a sense of "legitimacy" in the greater tradition. Another myth from that same region about the origin of another popular deity, Muneeshwarar, claims he was created by Shiva.[4]

Poturaju standing in front of statues of the Pandavas in a village of Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh

Occasionally, the fertility goddess or guardian deity can be the spirit of a historical figure. This practice has roots in ancient times: as early as the Sangam period, hero stones (natukal/viragal in Tamil, veeragalu in Kannada), stones erected to honour those men who laid down their lives for the village, were worshipped and propitiated. Similar to hero stones, sati stones honour women who sacrificed their life, especially for chastity and purity. The early Tamil poem Tolkappiyam gives a six-stage guide to the erection of such a stone, from selection of a suitable stone until the institution of formal worship. In time, many of these spirits have merged into or become the local guardian deity. Examples of deified heroes include Madurai Veeran (from Madurai) and Kathavarayan (from Thanjavur). Oftentimes, these heroes are found as attendants to Ayyanar or a village goddess, especially in Tamil Nadu. The Paanchamman temples in north Tamil Nadu were built to worship widows who underwent Sati. Often, the deities are spirits who suffered injustice in their lives or deaths and must be propitiated to prevent their spirit from affecting the village.[3] Several couples who have lost their lives due to caste animosity are worshipped as deities in several villages. Kannaki Amman is Kannagi from the Silappadikaram, whose husband was unjustly killed by the Pandyan king, is another widely-worshipped deity of this category. The Machani Amman temple at Pollachi was built to worship a young girl who was killed by a Kongu king for unknowingly eating a mango from his garden. Oftentimes female spirits are merged into the main fertility goddess, or are venerated as one of her attendants.

Some few deities are less-venerated characters in the epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. For example, there are many temples dedicated to Draupadiamman (Panchali) and Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) in northern Tamil Nadu, a tradition especially prominent among the Vanniyar community. Temples dedicated to Gandhari (mother of the Kauravas), Kunti (mother of Pandavas) and Aravan (the son of Arjuna and the serpent princess Ulupi) are also found in Tamil Nadu. For these deities, legimitizing mythologies exist in the forms of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.[3]

Man doing worship to Maaramma in Mandya district

There are a huge diversity of worship practices for these deities, oftentimes depending on the deity's nature and other local customs. However, some general characteristics of worship include local language and, most of the time, non-Brahmin priests.

The worship itself is not done in a language such as Sanskrit, but in the local language. This worship is usually done through oral tales, telling the origin of the goddess. In Tamil Nadu there are several genres of this form such as terukoothu, a form of street folk theatre, villu pattu (lit. "bow song"), extolling the deeds of great heroes who had been deified, and udukkai pattu, legends done to the sound of percussion. In northern Tamil Nadu these are all subsumed under the world of aideegam.

The Vedic and non-Vedic people assimilated from each other. Even though there are diversified characteristics between the Vedic and the folk tradition, various communities inducted these deities in their spectrum and created various sthalapuranas which emphasized the relation between these gods and goddesses from differing traditions. Often the Vedic deities were invoked to "legitimize" the lineage of the deity. In northern Tamil Nadu for instance, For example, a male deity called Kuttandavar is worshipped in many parts of Tamil Nadu, especially in the former South Arcot district. The image consists of a head like a big mask with a fierce face and lion's teeth projecting downwards outside the mouth. According to legend the creation of Kuttandavar, the god Indra, is for the crime of murdering a Brahmin, became incarnated in the form of Kuttandavar, and a curse was laid upon him that his body leaving only the head. Another story, from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, is about Gangamma, the daughter of a Brahmin who unknowingly married a Dalit. This Dalit had claimed Brahmin status in order to learn the Vedas from Gangamma's father, but was unknowingly exposed by his mother who had visited. Ganga, distraught at being "polluted," burned herself to death, and her angry spirit cursed her husband and his mother to be reborn as a goat and sheep respectively, and to be sacrificed to her for all eternity. A similar myth was recorded in Kurnool district in the early 20th century for a goddess there.[7] This myth, by vilifying the Dalits as nothing more than animals, and portraying the Brahmins as innocent victims, is meant to show the "disastrous consequences" of transgressing one's caste and to uphold caste boundaries.[2]

Vedic deities and local village deities exist on multiple spectra, one of which is the Vedic idea of purity and pollution. However the most important contrast is the spectrum ranging from "soft" to "fierce." The "softest" deities are the Vedic deities: Vishnu, Shiva, and others, who are worshipped via vegetarian offerings solely. The fiercest deities are worshipped only through offerings of meat and alcohol, both considered "polluting" in Vedic scriptures. These are also the deities most commonly worshipped by Dalit communities, who often offer buffalos in Telugu and Kannada regions.[5] Typically, the Vedic deities, although revered are seen as "big deities," concerned with the wider universe and not with the common man. The village deities, on the other hand, are accessible and are more concerned with the day-to-day woes of the villagers. Therefore, in times of need, it is the village deities that are turned to rather than the major Vedic deities.[3][4][5] Therefore, their temples are usually maintained by donations from the people of the village and are in good condition, while Vedic temples are either administered by the government or often neglected due to lack of worship.[5]

Many deities have made the transition from being independent folk deities worshipped with traditional rites to being assimilated as an avatara of one of the Vedic deities: it is believed that many of the most popular, such as Shiva, had non-Vedic origins. This often happens when a Vedic goddess (some form of Kali, Durga or Parvati usually) gains significant popularity and then all the gramadevatas are conflated with her. This process has resulted in many gramadevatas in the region around Hyderabad to be seen as avatars of Kali. Another way for the deities to make a transition is for a deity to gain significant popularity, thus ensuring they must be "legitimized." For instance, an army mason from Secunderabad became a devotee of Ujjain Mahankali and built a temporary temple for her. As the deity became more popular, she eventually got a permanent temple administered by his son and later a temple committee. During excavation they found an image of Manikyamba and installed it. They hired a Brahmin priest, and the Vedic chandi homam was done occasionally to ensure she became a Vedic deity who is largely peaceful. However she is also worshipped as a Neem tree in the temple courtyard and animal sacrifice is occasionally performed to her, showing her origin as a village deity. In addition, Yellamma is also worshipped here as a dasi (servant) of Mahankali, mirroring the relationship between Matangi and Yellamma. Yellamma, being a very popular goddess around Hyderabad, attracts many to the temple.[2]

These transitions are primarily driven by a desire to assimilate into the dominant culture due to increased affluence. Because the Vedic religion is the "high" culture, when many from non-Vedic castes gain in affluence and status, they start to distance themselves from the "fierce" origins of their deities and assimilate them into the "superior" culture. Furthermore, when villages become absorbed by a city, their deities lose their agricultural significance, and so Vedic forms of worship are adopted. The form of the deity is also dependent on the primary adherents: for instance Sri Durgalamma in Visakhapatnam has been Sanskritised: Brahmin priests preside, animal sacrifices are not done inside the temple, and she is depicted with Vedic iconography, and is regarded as a peaceful avatara of Lakshmi. This is partly because the majority of devotees are middle-class housewives, to whom the beautiful consort of Vishnu is more palatable to worship than fearsome-looking Durga.[2] The syncretism of the practices of mainstream Hinduism with the deities of the folk religions have the effect of lending them legitimacy in the eyes of most adherents of the faith, offering them greater influence, attracting more popularity, and also replacing them outright by a foreign deity. For instance, with the syncretism of Ayyappan with mainstream Vaishnavism and Shaivism elevated him as an extremely popular deity beyond his native Kerala.

The popular deities have evolved significantly over time. For example, Mariamman, another traditional folk deity, is highly influenced by the Vedic rituals. She is usually garlanded with skulls. But due to Vedic influence, the skull garland has been replaced by the lemon garland, and her malevolent appearance has been altered into a benevolent one. Sometimes, these processes of assimilation lead to the alteration of the deities. When the Brahmins stressed the holiness of the Vedic deities, they also denied the holiness of the deities of the folk tradition. They described the gods and goddesses of folk tradition either as subservient to Vedic deities, or they venerated these deities as capable of curing most potent contagious diseases.

However, the process of inclusivism can also be seen in popular temples dedicated to the deities of folk religion. For example, the Mariamman temples of Samayapuram, Punnainallur, Vazhangaiman in Tamil Nadu attract a large number of devotees. These larger temples for traditionally non-Vedic deities in fact have Brahmin priests, who perform rituals as per Vedic customs: including turning Mariamman into a suddhadevata (vegetarian deity) and performing kumbhabhishekam. With regard to the temples of folk tradition, Vinayakar, Murugan, Ayyappan and others, Vedic deities influence the deities of folk tradition such as Madurai Veeran and Karuppannasamy. The devotees of the folk tradition have begun to follow some customs and habits of higher castes in order to raise their social status, integrating them with the mainstream faith.

• Murugan
• Urumi - a Folk musical instrument used in festivals and as an instrument of getting into trance.
• Veeramanidasan - popular Tamil devotional singer.
• Village deities of Sri Lankan Tamils

• Religious traditions of the Tamils
• Village deities of Tamil Nadu
• Village deities and hero stones of Tamil Nadu
• Ayyanar to Ayyappan