Mother Goddesses Worship in India Special Reference to Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The origin of this concept can be traced by inferring that the mystery of beginning of life in the universe was associated with the act of a woman giving birth to a child. Our prehistoric ancestors observed and realized that the body of the females, which changed during pregnancy. They also observed that from the same womb, babies of both the sexes were born; the woman therefore, was not only able to give birth to a baby of her own gender. Other important observation was that all the main events in the biological life of the women were always accompanied by the discharge of fluids, blood during menses and child, birth and milk during lactation. Those vital fluids become the symbols of life giving agents which were to be necessary for the survival of the human species. They also noticed that men cannot produce milk and the loss of blood, in most cases, meant for them severe pain and possible death, whereas the women were periodically bleeding without losing their strength and energy. All these function in the female body gave rise to the beliefs of special inexplicable powers associated with the woman. The phenomena of generation and growth of the seed in the depth of the soil and the generation and growth of the emerge in the darkness of the women's womb, originated the ancient beliefs of the earth as a primeval mother goddess with whom the women were sharing her sacred generative power. In the Tamil Sangam literature the goddess porungattukorri is mentioned as the presiding deity of the battlefields. The Vahai trees, the mountains, the forests and the cemeteries. In the Tamil epic Manimekalai the Chakravalakettam (Temple of heaven) situated close to the sudukattu, kottam (city of the dead) the cemetery was dedicated to Kadamarselvi, the virgin goddess of the forests who resides upon graves.Another goddess widely worshipped in Tamil Nadu in the past that shows all the characters and attributes of an archaic mother goddess. Iconographically she has been portrayed with huge beasts, abdomen and hips suggesting abundance and fertility. Wrongly this deity had been considered inauspicious,'most probably, like many archaic all powerfully goddess she has been demonized and purposely "transfigured” by new patriarchal religious creeds. In the kailasanatha Temple in Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, other image of her were worshipped several temples and cave temple in Tamil Nadu.