Karur Sri Mariamman Temple

Karur Sri Mariamman Temple

The Karur Mariamman Temple is located in the city of Karur, Tamil Nadu. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Mariamman. The temple is one of the major temple in the city of Karur. It is also the second largest temple of Goddess Mariamman temple in the state of Tamil Nadu. The temple is believed to be 500 years old.

Mariamman’s worship originated in the traditions of Dravidian folk religion.She is the main Tamil mother goddess, predominantly venerated in the rural areas of South India. Mariamman has since been associated with Hindu goddesses like Parvati,Kali, Durga, Rukmini, Sita, Draupadi as well as with her northern Indian counterpart Shitala, her eastern Indian counterpart, Olai Chandi, and her western Indian counterpart of Mogal mata.

Legend

According to a regional Hindu legend, there was once a beautiful woman named Nagavalli, wife to a rishi named Piruhu. When the rishi was away, the Trimurti, the deities of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, visited her, seeking to decide for themselves if she was truly as beautiful and virtuous as she was supposed to be. Nagavalli, not recognising them, and resenting their intrusion, turned them into children with her powers. The deities were infuriated and cursed her, causing her face to become disfigured with smallpox. When Piruhu returned, he drove her away, informing her that she would be born on earth, causing her affliction to human beings as well.

According to the Vanniyar community, an agrarian class, Draupadi, the common wife of the Pandavas, is said to be an incarnation of the goddess Shakti. Draupadi, despite being Shakti, lived like a normal woman, suppressing her supernatural powers. While they were in exile, when the Pandavas were asleep at night, she would travel to the villages of Vanniyar in the form of a fierce looking Goddess. Vanniyars would offer her prayers and barley, which pleased her. In time, she would be called Mariamman (the mother of rain and curing diseases), and became popular in the Vanniyar villages.

According to the narrative of the higher varnas, there was once a pariah boy who impersonated a Brahmin suitor in order to marry a Brahmin girl. This lie is discovered by the girl when she discerns the jargon and non-vegetarian habits of her in-laws. In order to ritually purify herself from the pollution of being married to a low-born pariah, the girl self-immolates. This Brahmin girl is deified and named as Mariamman, and becomes the goddess of the pariahs.

Goddess of medicine

Mariamman cures all so-called “heat-based” diseases like pox and rashes. During the summer months in South India (March to June), people walk miles carrying pots of water mixed with turmeric and neem leaves to ward off illnesses like the measles and chicken pox.In this way the goddess Mariamman is very similar to the North Indian goddess Shitaladevi.