GODDESS DRAUPADI AMMAN: Draupadi is the common wife of the five Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata. Her deification and worship is more of a Southern Indian phenomenon. Two dimensions of Draupadi cult are of pivotal importance. They are the centrality of the goddess and the determinativeness of the Mahabharata. In the Draupadi cult, Draupadi is raised to the platform of a Goddess. She is sometimes regarded as Goddess Durga, Slayer of the Buffalo demon and Goddess Kali. In addition, Draupadi’s milieu links her mythology with the goddess myths of the great south Indian temples, most notably those Minakshi of Madurai, Kamatchi of Kanchipuram and the buffalo slaing and androgyne myths of the Goddess of Tiruvannamalai. The classical epic of Mahabharata involves a central story. It is told through 18 Parvas of the Mahabharata, whereas the Tamil version of the epic or as it is said the Draupadi cult only consists of twelve parvas. Draupadi cult’s epic mythology cannot really be disentangled from its regional mythology. The Draupadi cult of South India has both its Gingee and Kuruskshetra variations. Gingee is a reference to Sengiri or the Red Hills of Tamilnadu. It is mentioned in the Ramayana as the hill that gives the life saving hern, the Sanjeevini Booti. Sanjeevi herb is central to Hindu mythology. ‘Sam’ means pleasure and ‘ji’ is life. The name is traced to Singavaram, a Vaishnavite shrine whose lord is the guardian deity. There are several shrines such as Senjiamman, Kamalakanniamman at the base of the mountains. Gingee was earlier known as Krishnapura. Lord Krishna was the tutelary deity of the ruling dynasty who were a shepherd class. Hence it is evident that in southern parts of India, Draupadi had a lot of prominence and a cult started in the region. In those regions, Draupadi was given a status of a goddess. In rural setting, Draupadi Amman is a village goddess with her own regional rituals and mythology. During festivals, the fire walking or theemithi ceremony is a popular ritual in which devotees honour the goddess Draupadi. Legend has it that she proved her fidelity and innocence to her husband by walking barefoot over burning coals, and Hindu priests and devotees demonstrate their faith, courage and endurance by walking across a considerable pit of glowing coals without showing any signs of pain. In this test of purity devotees believe that they will only be burnt if they are impure. Afterwards they wade through a pit of goats milk and then stain their feet with yellow turmeric. To those devotess who taking part in Singapore fire walking (theemithi) festival on 12th October 2014,may amma draupadi guide you along and have a blessed theemithi.. Om Sakti Om Sakti Om Sakti
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 10:02:02 +0000
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