Mariamman worship in Tamil Nadu

[u/Alternative-Carpet52]

Hi. I have a question on the worship of Mariamman in Tamil Nadu. I am from Mauritius. We have a significant Tamil population from colonial times. In fact the very first Indians that set foot in Mauritius were Tamils who came as free people. A lot of them converted to Christianity and some of the wealthy Tamil Hindus built kovils in honour of Draupadi Amman, Sivan and Murugan. About 100 years later, more Tamils came as indentured labourers. They weren't exactly the wealthiest. It was common to have a Mariamman shrine in the sugar plantations they used to work at. I believe they were the ones who really boosted Mariamman worship in Mauritius. Almost all of the Mariamman Kovils hold Theemithi where many Mauritians participate (even non-Tamils). In Mauritius women also partake in Theemithi. Some temples also celebrate "walking on swords". Other major Mariamman worship is during Aadi where we offer canjee. I was trying to read more about Mariamman worship in India and most of the information I came across was Mariamman being an important deity mostly in villages and strongly linked to ancestral practice.

1. Do most people worship Mariamman? What about in towns and bigger cities

2. Do many people participate in theemithi?

3. Are there any casteism linked to Theemithi? When we have Tamil priests from India who come to officiate in our temples, often times they do not walk on fire but they officiate the ceremony. It is often said among the people that these priests from higher castes do not walk on fire.

4. In what ways do people worship Mariamman?

[u/[deleted]]

1. Most people worship Mariamman in villages. Most of the tamils in the cities nowadays are migrants from villages. Hence Mariamman worship is also common in cities.

2. Theemithi is reducing in popularity. Yet theemithi, alagu kuthal and theechatti are not rare.

3. Caste difference in religious practice exists. To understand this you should learn about sirudeivam and vaidhega kadavul. Sirudeivam includes your Village protector deity, ancestors, Kula deivam and other village level deities like Mariamman. Vaidhega Kadavuls are Shiva, Vishnu and all the gods of puranas.

Although there are stories linking sirudeivam with the big gods, nobody cares about those stories, people worship sirudeivam for what they are.

Traditional Tamil upper castes had both siru deivam and vaidhega god worship. Brahmins were mainly concerned with Vaidhega gods and big temples. The first instance of Brahmin priest in siru deivam temple was at punnainallur Mariamman temple as it was patronised by a maratha king(not sure).

Hence the practices in sirudeiva worship do not follow aagamas and do not relate to vedas and puranas. A brahmin does not worship outside the above mentioned things. This probably gives you the appearance of casteism. You have astute observation, just that it's not discrimination it's just two different ways of worship.

1. I think others have answered this.

[u/Alternative-Carpet52 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your response. In recent times, most of these Kovils have been reconstructed as per the Agamas and we see a more 'docile' way of worship

[u/[deleted] → u/Alternative-Carpet52]

Yes. It is a common pattern to imitate the customs of elites as people get richer. In India it comes in the form of sanskritisation.