Goddess Korravai, a form of the Hindu goddess Parvati and a revered deity in Tamil Hindu culture, is depicted in an awe-inspiring form atop the beheaded head and body of the killed fearsome buffalo-demon Mahishasura. This remarkable iconography, known as Korravai, originates from the remnants of a magnificent 10th-century CE Tamil Hindu temple. Today, this exquisite representation of the goddess Korravai can be found housed within the Nayakar Palace Art Museum, Madurai, serving as a testament to the rich artistic and Hindu religious heritage of the Tamil people.
Korravai at Brihadishvara Temple, Thanjavur
Korravai at Brihadishvara Temple, Thanjavur

Korravai (Koṟṟavai), is the goddess of war and victory in the Tamil tradition. She is also the mother goddess and the goddess of fertility, agriculture, and hunters. In the latter form, she is sometimes referred to by other names and epithets in the Tamil tradition of South India and Sri Lanka, such as Atha, Mari, Suli, and Neeli.[1][2] not as Parvati.[3]

She is among the earliest documented goddesses in the Tamil Sangam literature, and also found in later Tamil literature. She is mentioned in the many poems in Paripāṭal , though the dedicated poem to her in among those that are being discovered in history.[4][5] She is mentioned in the Pattuppattu anthology – the long Tamil poems dated between 300 BCE to 300 CE, including the Neṭunalvāṭai, Maturaikkanci, Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai, and Paṭṭiṉappālai.[6] In the Tamil epic Silappadikaram (c. 2nd-century), she is said to be the goddess of the Pālai region.

Her name is derived from the Tamil word korram, which means "victory, success, bravery".[7] The earliest references to Kotravai are found in the ancient Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam, considered to be the earliest work of the ancient Sangam literature.

She is also seen as a mother goddess, a symbol of fertility and success in agriculture.[8] Traditional rural communities offer the first harvest to her.[9] As war goddess who is blood thirsty, some texts such as the Silappadikaram and Agananuru mention that warrior devotees would, in a frenzy, offer their own head to the goddess.[9]

Standing Durga-Korravai in Varaha Mandapam.

In Tamil Nadu, the blackbuck (Kalaimaan) is considered to be the vehicle of the Tamil goddess Korravai [10][11] She is sometimes shown as riding a lion, as in the 7th-century mandapam of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. Both the lion and blackbuck is shown with a standing Korravai in a rock-relief panel at the Varaha Mandapam of Mahabalipuram.[12]

She is depicted as a deity with several arms holding different weapons. She is said to be the real mother of the Tamil Hindu god Murugan and her other children with Shiva as a form of Parvati. Sacrifices of animals and plants and dancing rituals are a part of the worship of this goddess.

Notes and references

  1. ^ Barbara Schuler (2009). Of Death and Birth: Icakkiyamman, a Tamil Goddess. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 28 with note 1.1. ISBN 978-3-447-05844-5.
  2. ^ Nicholapillai Maria Saveri (1993). A Catholic-Hindu Encounter: Relations Between Roman Catholics and Hindus in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 1900-1926. Centre for Performing Arts. p. 170.
  3. ^ Asian Folklore Studies. Nanzan University Institute of Anthropology. 1984. p. 140.
  4. ^ Elizabeth Rani Segran (2012). The River Speaks: The Vaiyai Poems from the Paripatal. Penguin Books. p. 47. ISBN 978-81-8475-694-4.
  5. ^ Ca. Vē Cuppiramaṇiyan̲; R. Vijayalakshmy (1983). Philosophical Heritage of the Tamils. International Institute of Tamil Studies. p. 138.
  6. ^ JV Chelliah (1946), Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation), Tamil University (1985 print), pp. xv–xxvi, 1–12
  7. ^ Zvelebil, Kamil (1992). Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. BRILL. pp. 21–22 with footnotes. ISBN 90-04-09365-6.
  8. ^ R. Mahalakshmi (2011). The Making of the Goddess: Kor̲r̲avai-Durgā in the Tamil Traditions. Penguin Books. pp. 1–7, Chapter 1 and 2. ISBN 978-0-14-341742-2.
  9. ^ a b Vijaya Ramaswamy (2017). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 195–196. ISBN 978-1-5381-0686-0.
  10. ^ van der Geer, A. (2008). Animals in Stone : Indian Mammals Sculptured through Time. Leiden, South Holland (Netherlands): Brill. pp. 57–58. ISBN 9789004168190.
  11. ^ Krishna, N. (2010). Sacred Animals of India. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143066194.
  12. ^ Harle, James (1963). "Durgā, Goddess of Victory". Artibus Asiae. 26 (3/4): 237–246. doi:10.2307/3248984. JSTOR 3248984.

Bibliography

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