We know that women as devotees, prepare and carry the bonam on their heads to be offered to the deities, but not many of us are aware that several of the small shrines emerged due to the initiative of the women and themselves take care of all activities concerning the pooja and other rituals.
Dr. Nirmala Biluka
It is a known fact that women and the festival of Bonalu are intertwined with each other .In most of ritualistic practices around the world, the female force and nature are related as symbols of growth and fertility. Bonalu being a festival of celebrating nature and appeasement of the mother goddesses are directly connected with women.
While we do know that women as devotees, prepare and carry the bonam on their heads to be offered to the deities, not many of us are aware that several of the small shrines on the roadsides and in the nooks and corners of the twin cities emerged due to the initiative of the women, usually the wife or the mother in the families. It is commonly the women who take care of all activities concerning the pooja (worship), cleansing of the idol, performing short rituals like giving aarti (a lamp offering) and breaking the coconut sans vedic chants, accepting offerings from the devotees etc. These practices may be considered as parallel acts of priesthood, displayed by the women to an otherwise male dominant sphere of worship, making their visibility more clear and defined. In many cases, the temple rights are often carried forward to next generation of female descendants.
women seem to be holding only rights to worship and not necessarily to the income or the privilege that male priests are usually entitled to. Except that typically, photos of deceased founder women are placed inside the shrines and remembered during the annual festivities.
This does not however mean that all shrines are in the control of female authority. Majority of them become male dominated spaces once temple committees are formed due to the growing income of the small shrines, after which women seem to be holding only rights to worship and not necessarily to the income or the privilege that male priests are usually entitled to. Except that typically, photos of deceased founder women are placed inside the shrines and remembered during the annual festivities.
Most of these shrines are built near the premises of their dwellings or in the surroundings.
Interestingly, these shrines sprang up in the trajectories of the annual Bonalu processions such as the Mahankali Temple in Secunderabad or the Akkana Madanna temple in the Old City and other significant Goddess Temples in other parts of Hyderabad.
On visiting some areas like Sitaphalmandi, Amberpet, Ramnagar etc, one encounters many shrines established by such ordinary women who on enquiring, share accounts of the goddess’s appearance in a dream
On visiting some areas like Sitaphalmandi, Amberpet, Ramnagar etc, one encounters many shrines established by such ordinary women who on enquiring, share accounts of the goddess’s appearance in a dream or at a significant spot, usually inside water bodies or in the form of a snake at a specific hillock or under a tree, thereby consecrating the deity and gradually building a shrine, which eventually becomes a popular temple in most cases.
Several goddess shrines have also come up especially around Tank bund area where the deity was consecrated to protect the lake from overflowing during floods which seems to be carried forward from earlier traditions followed at village boundaries or water bodies in an attempt to appease the goddess.The Katta maisamma temple is one such example. The founders of the shrines share their tragic life stories such as losing a loved one or coping with an abusive husband and finding solace and protection in the space created for the goddess. In many cases, the shrine becomes a source of income, though not very huge, helps them in sustaining their family; as the goddess’ presence gives them psychological strength.
In earlier days, the gramadevatas or the village deities were closely associated with different castes and communities based on family vocations or each goddess is worshiped for a specific purpose. For instance, Uppalamma is worshipped by Chakali or washermen caste and Muthyalamma is the goddesses who protects from diseases like small pox. However as the villagers get displaced due to migration into an urban milieu, they also bring along their customs and ritualistic beliefs and make adjustments with the new demands of the city. The worship of the village deities is one such trait that continuously negotiates within the available spaces and modes of devotion.
The makeover of the an iconic village deity into iconic urban/city goddess can be seen as another step in attaining acceptability into the urban culture.
The makeover of the an iconic village deity into iconic urban/city goddess can be seen as another step in attaining acceptability into the urban culture. As the village folk give up agriculture and other vocations such as toddy tapping, weaving, rearing cattle, sheep and so on in the city, they disassociate with the needs of worshipping their community deities for specific purposes. Now the deities do not remain purely as their caste identities but become acquired heredities and get new iconic avatars.
Moreover, with growing Hinduvization and assimilation of these once marginalised deities under the larger pantheon of Hindu Goddesses, such as Durga and Mahankali, names like Pochamma and Gandi Maisamma are fast disappearing from the names of the temples.
Similarly, as access to medical facilities improved, the goddesses of diseases like Muthyalamma or Mariamma cease to exist for the specific purpose for which they were created and therefore transform into localised versions of Hindu goddesses. In this process, the role of women who are closely associated with the goddess worship either as an inti devata (family deity) or as an agricultural deity earlier gradually gets diminished.
Moreover, with growing Hinduvization and assimilation of these once marginalised deities under the larger pantheon of Hindu Goddesses, such as Durga and Mahankali, names like Pochamma and Gandi Maisamma are fast disappearing from the names of the temples. Even the natural an iconic forms such as a mound of mud, a clay pot or a log of wood is replaced with iconic imageries of the multiple armed goddess Durga riding her vehicle, Tiger or the fierce image of goddess Kali.
The author is an Artist and Assistant Professor at College of Fine Arts, JNAFA University,Hyderabad. The article is based on her Ph.D Research on Visual Culture of Local Deities in Hyderabad.
e-mail : bilukanirmala@gmail.com. Click here to view her works
This is too good a write up.In fact it educates the reader and many unknown facts have been brought up…..