{"id":6626,"date":"2021-11-27T08:13:56","date_gmt":"2021-11-27T08:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/indias-goddesses-of-contagion-provide-protection-in-the-pandemic-just-dont-make-them-angry"},"modified":"2021-11-27T10:44:50","modified_gmt":"2021-11-27T10:44:50","slug":"indias-goddesses-of-contagion-provide-protection-in-the-pandemic-just-dont-make-them-angry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/indias-goddesses-of-contagion-provide-protection-in-the-pandemic-just-dont-make-them-angry","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s goddesses of contagion provide protection in the pandemic \u2013 just don\u2019t make them angry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Hindus in India have had a helping hand \u2013 several in fact \u2013 when it comes to fighting deadly contagions like COVID-19: multi-armed goddesses co-opted to help contain and kill pestilence.<\/p>\n

Collectively known as \u201cAmman,\u201d or the Divine Mother, the goddesses of contagion \u2013 and it always goddesses, not gods \u2013 have been called on for their services before. They have been deployed in many of the deadly pandemics India has experienced from ancient times until the the modern age.<\/p>\n

In conducting my fieldwork as a cultural anthropologist who studies religion, I have seen small shrines all over India dedicated to these goddesses of contagion, often in rural, forested areas outside village and town limits.<\/p>\n

The goddesses act as \u201ccelestial epidemiologists\u201d curing illness. But if angered they can also inflict disease such as poxes, plagues, sores, fevers, tuberculosis and malaria. They are both poison and cure.<\/p>\n

Blowing hot and cold<\/p>\n

One of the first images of a contagion goddess recorded is of the demon-turned-goddess Hariti, carved and worshipped during the deadly Justinian plague of Rome that came to India via trade routes, killing between 25 to 100 million people globally.<\/p>\n

In the late 19th century, my hometown of Bangalore suffered an epidemic of bubonic plague, which required the services of a contagion goddess. British colonial documents record the repeated waves of illness that stalked the city, and the desperate pleas to a goddess named \u201cPlague Amma.<\/p>\n

\u201d In south India, the premier contagion goddess is Mariamman \u2013 from the word \u201cMari\u201d meaning both pox and transformation.<\/p>\n

In the north of India, she is known as the goddess Sheetala, meaning \u201cthe cold one\u201d \u2013 a nod to her ability to cool fevers. The goddesses\u2019 iconography emphasizes their therapeutic healing powers.<\/p>\n

Sheetala carries a pot of healing water, a broom to sweep away dirt, a branch of the indigenous Neem tree \u2013 said to cure skin and breathing disorders \u2013 and a jar of ambrosia for eternal life.<\/p>\n

Mariamman, on the other hand, carries a scimitar with which to smite and decapitate the demons of virulence and illness. Contagion goddesses are not angelic and gentle, as one might expect caregivers to be.<\/p>\n

They are hot-tempered, demanding and fiery. They are deemed wilderness goddesses \u2013 highly local and traditionally worshiped primarily by lower caste, Dalit, tribal and rural folk. Some are associated with tantric practices and dark magic.<\/p>\n

Ritual readiness<\/p>\n

Placating the goddesses through blood sacrifice, decorative offerings and self mortification, was \u2013 and in some places, still is \u2013 a way of preparing for a pandemic in parts of India.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, painful piercings, hook swinging and self-flagellation were offered when patients recovered from illnesses, both mental and physical. Or in a sanitized version of blood sacrifice, small silver images of the patient were offered as a prophylactic against illness.<\/p>\n

Rituals have often involved variolation. A devotee would be inoculated with infected pus and the goddess invoked through possession to save them. The aim was to trigger a milder form of the illness and gain immunity.<\/p>\n

High caste Hindus and those who mirror high-caste practices often ignored and shunned the contagion goddesses, fearful of the blood rites, possession and the tantric rituals, which they associated with low caste worship.<\/p>\n

But these local contagion goddesses merged over time with the Divine Mother Shakti, the feminine personification of the energy behind creation. This domesticated the goddesses, making them more acceptable to bourgeois Hindus.<\/p>\n

The goddesses\u2019 post-pox lives<\/p>\n

With the widespread use of modern antibiotics, retrovirals and vaccines in the mid 20th century, traditional Hindu healing rituals became less relevant.<\/p>\n

Contagion goddesses were beginning to be forgotten and ignored. But a handful of them developed rich post-pox lives, reinventing themselves for modern afflictions.<\/p>\n

Some goddesses moved on from focusing on disease alone. In Bangalore, a city plagued by traffic fatalities, the goddess Mariamman transformed from a cholera goddess into the protector of drivers.<\/p>\n

Now known as \u201cTraffic Circle Amman,\u201d the goddess\u2019s temple sees cars and trucks line up everyday for blessings, before drivers face the deadly maelstrom of city traffic.<\/p>\n

Other goddesses came into being to fight new illnesses. On Dec. 1, 1997, World AIDS day, a new goddess named AIDSAmma was created by a science schoolteacher, H. N. Girish, not to cure AIDS but to teach worshipers the prophylactic measures necessary to prevent the disease.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 conscripts<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 crisis all the contagion goddesses have been re-conscripted. The Indian government\u2019s quick action in instituting a stay-at-home lockdown that lasted two months prevented widespread contagion, but it also meant that people weren\u2019t allowed to go to temples to worship the goddesses and ask for intervention.<\/p>\n

So priests offered special decorations, including garlands of acidic lemons believed to placate the goddesses. The goddesses have also been recalled in posters by Indian artists that circulate through Facebook.<\/p>\n

Artist Sandhya Kumari\u2019s rendering of \u201cCoronavirus Mardini\u201d \u2013 a hygienically masked Mother India attacking the coronavirus with a trident \u2013 recalled Shakti\u2019s killing of evil, a familiar image to all Hindus.<\/p>\n

A nationalistic caption was added during reposting \u2013 \u201cMother India will end the Coronavirus, but it is every Indians duty to stay at home and take care of loved ones.<\/p>\n

Jai India!\u201d In Kumari\u2019s rendering, the goddess\u2019s iconography is updated for the pandemic. The goddesses\u2019 many gloved hands grasp sanitizer, masks, vaccination needles and other medical equipment.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus is held in chains, immovable and shorn of its virulence. While controversies over temples reopening dominates the news, a new deity, crafted from polystyrene and called \u201cCorona Devi\u201d has been installed in a temple dedicated to the pox goddess.<\/p>\n

Mr. Anilan, the priest and single devotee, says he will offer worship for \u201cCorona Warriors\u201d \u2013 health care workers, firefighters, and other front line personnel.<\/p>\n

Here science and faith are not seen as inimical to one another, but as working together, hand-in-glove. COVID-19 has undoubtedly increased the goddesses\u2019 workload.<\/p>\n

And with no known cure and no viable vaccine, the contagion goddesses may well have their hands full for some time. Tulasi Srinivas Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Hindus in India have had a helping hand \u2013 several in fact \u2013 when it comes to fighting deadly contagions like COVID-19: multi-armed goddesses co-opted to help contain and kill pestilence. Collectively known as \u201cAmman,\u201d or the Divine Mother, the goddesses of contagion \u2013 and it always goddesses, not gods \u2013 have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,16],"tags":[233,245,252,241],"class_list":["post-6626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-covid-19","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nIndia\u2019s goddesses of contagion provide protection in the pandemic \u2013 just don\u2019t make them angry - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hindus in India have had a helping hand \u2013 several in fact \u2013 when it comes to fighting deadly contagions like COVID-19: m ...\" \/>\n<meta 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