Village deities of Tamils of Sri Lanka
- Village deities of Tamils of Sri Lanka
Village deities are a common feature of Hindu pantheon of deities. They are known as Gramadevatas. Each region and caste of India and Hindu dominated parts of rest of South Asia has its share of village deities. Sri Lankan Tamils have their own specific list of village deities throughout Sri Lanka specifically in the Tamil dominated North and East of the Island nation.
List of deities
"Annamar" is a caste deity of the Nalavar and Pallar caste. "Mutalikal" is possibly a caste deity, used by Karaiyar. "Periyatampiran" or the great master, a caste god of the washer men. Ayyanar now equated sometimes with Sasta is a popular deity in almost all villages. "Virumar" is possibly a caste god of the smiths. "Kattavarayan" or the Saviour hero. "Naccimar" or the ladies - now quite often given in the form Amman or Ampal, the mother Goddess. "Sapta Kanniyar" or seven virgins. Naka tampiran or snake master is also common deity in most villages. Vairavar another popular village deity and. Kali or black goddess and Kannaki Amman a popular goddess of the east of the country are female deities.
anskritisation
The identities of some of above the lesser known deities are getting lost and most of them are now identified as Vairavar and Kali. Both are worshipped in the form of "Trisulam" ( tridents). Further the Saiva revivalism initiated by Arumuga Navalar has enabled many high status Tamils to subsume the village deities with the Agamic pantheon thus within the Jaffna Peninsula the number temples dedicated to Kannaki Amman has been converted to regular Mariamman temples. [ [http://tamilnation.org/heritage/sivathamby.pdf Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics ] ] [cite book
last = Hudson
first = Dennis
title = Religious Controversy in British India: Dialogues in South Asian Languages
publisher = State University of New York
date = January 1992
isbn = 0791408272 ]
References
ee also
*Kaval deivam
External links
* [http://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/SHUBUNKEN/publications/galleys/AFS_galleys/66-Valk.pdf Village deities of Tamil Nadu]
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Sri Lankan Tamil people — Sri Lankan Tamils ஈழத் தமிழர் … Wikipedia
Hinduism in Sri Lanka — Hindus currently make up approximately 15% of the Sri Lankan population, and are almost exclusively Tamils apart from immigrants from India and Pakistan such as the Sindhis, Telugus and Malayalees. In the 1915 census they made up almost 25% of… … Wikipedia
Sri Lankan place name etymology — is characterized by the linguistic and ethnic diversity of the island of Sri Lanka through the ages and the position of the country in the centre of ancient and medieval sea trade routes. While typical Sri Lankan placenames of Sinhalese origin… … Wikipedia
Negombo Tamils — For other uses, see Negombo Tamil (disambiguation). Negombo Tamils or Puttalam Tamils is a term usually used for native Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the western Gampaha and Puttalam districts of Sri Lanka. It does not apply to Tamil immigrants… … Wikipedia
Ланкийские тамилы — இலங்கை தமிழர் также ஈழத் தமிழர் … Википедия
Tamil people — at pp. 4 5] and a seventh century Pallava inscription at Kudimiyamalai contains one of the earliest surviving examples of Indian music in notation. [citation | last=Widdess | first=D. R. | contribution=The Kudumiyamalai inscription: a source of… … Wikipedia
Jaffna kingdom — For other uses, see Jaffna (dissambiguation). Kingdom of Aryacakravarti ஆரியச்சக்கரவர்த்தி அரசு ← … Wikipedia
Iyer — Infobox Ethnic group group = Iyer அய்யர் poptime = 1901:415,931 2004: 2,400,000 (Estimated) [Accurate statistics on the population of Iyers are unavailable. This is due to the fact that the practice of conducting caste based population census… … Wikipedia
India — /in dee euh/, n. 1. Hindi, Bharat. a republic in S Asia: a union comprising 25 states and 7 union territories; formerly a British colony; gained independence Aug. 15, 1947; became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations Jan. 26, 1950.… … Universalium
Coast Veddas — Coast Vedda Team of Vedars prepairing for the Sadangu ceremony in Vaharai in 1900 s Total population ca. 8,000 (1983)[1] … Wikipedia
