From the beginning of my Indological studies, I have been quite convinced that Hindu society was much less divided ideologically, that the top and the bottom were not so utterly alien to each other, than was usually contended, particularly among anthropologists. Being myself of classical philosophical training, I could not imagine how to convince others, including anthropologists, of this belief, and I was prepared to say that, after all, it was a philosophical matter that should not be debated in scholarly circles, because everyone had his own opinion beforehand. I now think, however, the Hindu gods have been with me, and even more so the Hindu goddess.
It was years ago, when I started studying the goddess both through texts and through fieldwork in South India, that my attention was drawn to a series of minor carnivorous gods who were all guardians and devotees of the goddess. Actually, although the texts taught me one side of the situation, fieldwork brought me another type of data which by and by started to make sense through my classical background. The more or less poor and local goddess temples I visited contained some lesser known deities who had the common property of being subordinate to the goddess. Quite by chance, I started in coastal Andhra and noticed in front of the so-called gramadevata,or village goddess temples one of these minor gods called Potu Raju. By now I have published a few small articles about him, and especially about his usual shape as a wooden stake and its similarity to the Vedic sacrificial stake, the yupa. I have since been interested in following this plastic motif of the post under different versions in different parts of South India, and I am preparing a book on the whole subject.
For the present I want to select two of these versions, but not mainly from the viewpoint of the post, which in our present cases can no longer be so easily compared to the yupa, but from the angle of myth and ritual, which also introduces a number of classical references. The two versions are found in Mariyamman temples, one in the lower Kaveri basin mainly among temples on the north bank of the delta area, and the other in Kongunad. It is mainly the posts and rituals that differentiate the two, but these elements are both connected with mythic differences as well. Everywhere my visits to the temples were quite brief, and I never attended the festivals personally.
I shall discuss only two examples of the first category, which have in common at first sight an impalement stake in front of the temple. Mariyamman's shrine is always considered to be in the center of the village. Usually the local landlord caste is that of the Vanniyar, or exceptionally the Kallar.
The Valattur temple (Papanasam Taluk, Thanjavur District) is a Mariyamman temple, as usual facing east. It is trying to revive its traditions. The Kallar are the dominant caste. The festival takes place in the month of Cittirai (April-May). The Kallar informants, including the headman of the village, explain that Vaisnava and Smarta Brahmans live on the northern side of the temple, as do the Acari; all the Kallar live on the southern side. One Velalar family provides Mariyamman with a priest. In front of the temple are a balipitham 3and an impalement stake that served originally to impale Kattavarayan, that demon king who stole a Brahman woman. But Kattavarayan's friend, Cinnan, helped him out of the difficulty. A Cettithat is, one of those rich merchants who used formerly to be attacked and robbed of their goods by the Kallarpassed by the kalumaram (a high hook-swinging post and not the low one now there) and asked what it was. Cinnan advised him to climb it and see for himself. So the Cetti did, and Cinnan quickly impaled him. Soon after, some eagleskalakucameand plucked out his eyes. Since then the Cetti has been worshipped on the kalumaram as Kaluvutaiyan: the Master of the impalement stake.
We can bypass most of the ritual, but must note some characteristic details. Inside the temple mandapam are several painted wooden statues of Kattavarayan with his two wives, Kaluvutaiyan, Cinnan, and Karuppucami. There is a festival to the god Aiyanar that is celebrated at the same time as Mariyamman's in Cittirai. Some he-goats are offered both on Mariyamman's side and on Aiyanar's side, but in each case they are offered to the subordinate demon guardians, so that the distinction between the vegetarian Mariyamman and Aiyanar and the meat-eating demons is well marked. One or two days after the conclusion of the seventeen-day festival, there comes the day of "human sacrifice." This takes the form of kavati offerings, which are of three types: alaku-kavati,in which long needles (alaku)are stuck under the skin of those who stand under the vow; pal-kavati,in which a stick is carried on the shoulder with a pot of milk at each end; and ter-kavati,in which a tiny ter or rath (a war chariot) is drawn by a rope and a hook fixed under the skin of the offerer's back. These offerings are brought to the goddess at the end of a rather long walk. Kallar are non-vegetarian people. But they show all respect to the vegetarian diet of Mariyamman and Aiyanar, who are the protectors of their village. The "tortures" for which they take vows are of a rather mild type and do not seem to upset the goddess, though the needles and hooks are removed as soon as the votary arrives at the temple.
One more thing: Kattavarayan seems to have some special link with the Kallar, because the latter spare him even though usually the impalement stake is meant for him as the one who stole a Brahman woman. The Kallar, although formerly a "criminal caste," regard themselves as Ksatriyas, because there are Kallar kings. Kattavarayan is also a Ksatriya, if we remember that he is the same as Arjuna Kartavirya, the oppressive king who stole the cow of the Brahman Jamadagni, whose wife Renuka is herself identical with Mariyamman. But this is not the only place where Kattavarayan is spared: it would be difficult to assume that he is forever sitting on the impalement stake and at the same time permanently staying with the goddess as her guardian and devotee. But the Tamil stories about Kattavarayan are very far from the epic and Puranic ones. One feature remains, though: he is still a warrior, and the cow turns into a Brahman woman in order to retain the classical pattern of distorted relations between Brahmans and Ksatriyas.
~~Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees -ed- Alf Hiltebeitel
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