Village deities of Tamils of Sri Lanka

Village deities are a common feature of the Hindu pantheon of deities. They are known as Gramadevatas. Each Hindu region and caste of India and South Asia has its share of village deities. Sri Lankan Tamils venerate their own group of village deities throughout Sri Lanka, specifically in the Tamil-dominated north and east of the island nation.

List of deities

Sanskritisation

Main article: Sanskritisation

The identities of some of above the lesser known deities had been lost and most of them are now identified as Vairavar and Kali. Both are worshipped in the form of Trisulam (tridents). Furthermore, the Saiva revivalism initiated by Arumuga Navalar has enabled many high status Tamils to subsume the village deities within the Agamic pantheon. Within the Jaffna Peninsula, a number of temples dedicated to Kannaki Amman has been converted to regular Mariamman temples.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics
  2. Hudson, Dennis (January 1992). Religious Controversy in British India: Dialogues in South Asian Languages. State University of New York. ISBN 0-7914-0827-2.

External links

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