Mallebrein goddesses

The Goddesses of Orissa Cor nel i a M a l l ebr ei n

1 Tarini at GhatgaonTarini

Introduction

1 Tarini at GhatgaonTarini The image of Tarini, a small stone with two prominent silver eyes, the lower part being covered by a cloth. She also wears a silver crown. Before the first renovation, she was surrounded by numerous clay horses and elephants. Formerly she only received uncooked food. These very rare photographs were taken in 1971, before the first enlargement of the temple by Herman Kulke. Ghatgaon 1971, Š C. Mallebrein.

Every day, hundreds of visitors gather in front of the decorated stone image of the goddess Tarini. They concentrate on her two prominent silver eyes to have her darshan.

She is one of the best-known goddesses throughout Orissa, and every day somewhere in the state a new shrine in her name is established. Her image is laden with flowers, and the priests cracks one coconut after another, given as gifts by the devotees. The devotees [who, priests, devotees, both?] seek to make eye contact with the goddess, and they enter into short but intense communications with her to ask her help and advice, the goal of their long and often tiring journeys. The small village of Ghatgaon is about 48 km away from Keonjhar. It is hard to believe that only forty years ago Tarini was worshipped in the middle of a dense jungle and attracted only a few devotees. Although today the visitor enters a huge temple complex, newly constructed in 1995, Tarini is still worshipped at the foot of a tree under the open sky. As a goddess of the jungle, she demands to be worshipped in the open. Her main priests (dehuri) belong to the Kandh tribe. Tarini is fond of coconuts, which are donated to her every day in their thousands and are a major source of income for the temple. Besides Tarini, the goddess Dvarsuni, her watchmen and also protector has a nearby shrine [not clear: are these different people, or is Dvarsuni the watchperson and protector? If the former make the verb plural]. In 1990 a temple was constructed for Ghatesvar Siva. There are also a VIP guesthouse and various wedding halls. Tarini’s website (www.maatarini.com) promotes her fame all over the world.

2 Tarini at Svakati Like Tarini from Ghatgaon, the Svakati Tarini wears a silver crown and has two prominent eyes, eyebrows, a tilaka and a nose made out of silver. Her image is covered with red vermillion. Svakati, Keonjhar District, Photo 23.1.2001, © C. Mallebrein.

The goddess Tarini is only one of the many goddesses who have acquired supraregional significance in recent decades Many have their origin deep in the forest, their hidden power often being discovered by a tribe seeking food or by a hunter, often a king.

In course of time, the deity acquires greater and greater significance for the local ruler, who adopts her as his family deity (istadevi) and thus promotes her cult.

The great diversity The goddesses who populate Orissa are literally innumerable. Some are worshipped all over India, whereas others are of only regional or even sub-regional importance. Their worship is typically restricted to a specific area or village, but even on the village level there are goddesses who are worshipped only by a specific village group or caste.

In Orissa we have 62 different tribal communities (‘Scheduled Tribes’). Each tribal community has its own pantheon and set of indigenous religious beliefs and concepts, which have had a deep influence on Orissa’s religious landscape, but their contribution to the development of Hinduism and thus goddess worship has thus far not been fully appreciated.

Due to the diversity of religious belief and traditions and the often quite heterogeneous character of gods, goddesses, spirits and ancestors, the phrase ‘Hinduism’ refers to a number of religions which have developed on the Indian subcontinent over thousands of years and have often existed peacefully side by side. Given the vastness of Orissa, the ethnic differences of its inhabitants and the wide range of its religious traditions, the present contribution on the goddesses of Orissa can only provide a glimpse of the situation.

The self-created stone: the origin of the goddess Orissa is rich in legends that tell of the origin of a particular goddess, illustrating how, in a remote past, divine energy manifested itself in the human environment. Even today these self-created goddesses (svayambhū) can appear at any place and any time. Most prominent are legends about a cow that suddenly refuses to give any milk. The shepherd, irritated by its behaviour, secretly follows the cow to the pasture. To his astonishment he sees the cow squirting her milk over a certain spot. Curious to know why, he starts to dig and to his surprise discovers a bleeding stone. Often a tribal couple finds the god or goddess while digging for roots, or else the goddess is hidden in a wooden log and found by a fisherman or washerman. When the log is cut, blood comes out. After such incidents, the hidden deity appears to the person in a dream, demanding to be worshipped. Often a newly discovered goddess also possesses a villager, who, in a state of trance, acts as her medium to communicate with the world as the spokesperson for the divine. Through him the deity gives instructions about the form her worship should take. In return the villagers can address the goddess directly, asking for advice and help. As a result, miracles are reported, a childless woman becomes pregnant, the sick are healed, a jobless man finds employment. Thus the number of devotees increases, with the result that the cult and its worship develop. In the case of a forest goddess, a boundary is set up around her place of origin. A priest takes care of her well-being on behalf of the villagers, and she regularly receives offerings such as rice and flowers, and can also be offered blood and alcohol. Many goddesses also have special likings such as small bells like Ghantesvari, coconuts like Tarini and flags like Vanadurga. Often a tribal priest performs her daily worship, a distinctive mark of many goddesses of forest and tribal origins. For the devotees, it is the goddess who chooses her own priest; if he neglects her worship, she can demand another priest. She shows her anger by causing infertility, drought and various diseases of men and animals.

Of the Goddess Markama in the town of Bissamcuttack in Orissa, it is reported that a Brahman once wanted to take over her worship. Angry at this intruder, Markama gave him a strong kick, and the Brahman fell out of the temple. Since that time, no Brahman has tried to take over her rituals.

The tamed wild goddess and the village Over time, and hand in hand with the growth of worship, numerous forest and village goddesses were linked with one of the great deities of the Hindu pantheon like Durga, Camunda or Kali. One of the most frequent depictions of the Goddess is therefore the form she assumes in killing the buffalo demon Mahisa. These forest and village deities are associated with the goddess or identified as one of her manifestations. Similarly, male deities are linked with the god Siva.

Parallel to their assimilation and integration into the Hindu pantheon, the wild goddess is brought under male protection, which tames her. The construction of a temple for the god Siva at a Devi centre is common in Orissa. However, the goddess is not always willing to enter into holy matrimony but wants to remain free, rather than be subjected to the dominance of a husband. It is this independence that bestows the goddesses with their tremendous power. Being female, they appreciate the company of males, but only as friends.

Disease deities, like Sitala or Manasa, have their shrines inside or at the entrance to villages. They protect villagers from various skin diseases, but they can also bring diseases.

In this case, the villagers construct a small wooden miniature chariot to carry the deities out of the village, asking them to search for other clients and never return to the village.

Held in high esteem among the village goddesses is Laksmi, who is responsible for wealth and fortune. To please her, villagers decorate the mud walls of their houses with specific

3 Worhsip of a forest goddess Worship of a forest goddess in a holy grove near the Koya village of Matapaka during the new harvest festival. Her priest offers her rice and eggs to replenish her power of fertility. Then her divine energy is communicated to him, and he enters a trance and becomes the ‘living goddess’ on earth. Matapaka, Malkangiri District. Photo 17.10.1999, Š C. Mallebrein.

symbols she likes. Especially rich in detail are the wall paintings made of rice powder in the coastal villages of Orissa, depicting sheaves of rice, rice grains and granaries. These paintings are supposed to please Laksmi and encourage her to stay in the village. In Orissa, the tradition of painting murals for gods and goddesses is still very much alive.

Blood offerings: invigorating and reviving the divine

4 Worship of a villages goddess Outside the village, the deity Sunamuhi, who has manifested herself under a sacred tree in the form of a stone. For the villagers, the welfare of both humans and animals lies in her hands. After the harvest, as a thanksgiving, they offer her blood sacrifices in order to strengthen her divine force.

Blood is the principle symbol of life. The dehuri touches the stone, at which moment the divine energy is communicated to him and he becomes the living goddess on earth. Tandigaon, Bolangir District. Photo 22.10.1999, © C. Mallebrein.

Even today, animal sacrifice plays an important role in the cults and rituals of many goddesses in Orissa. In the eyes of the devotees, the blood contains a life-giving energy that strengthens and empowers the deity. This ancient sacrificial practice has been opposed in recent years by a growing number of organized activists for animal protection and by environmentalists. As a result, the goddesses have become subject to change. In the main, the activists oppose buffalo and goat sacrifices, demanding that the temple authority change the diet of the deity from non-vegetarian to vegetarian. For the followers of the old tradition this is an affront to the goddess, but for the activists it is the only way to abolish what they regard as a primitive and backward tradition. In many parts of India extensive blood sacrifices have been stopped, and the goddess increasingly shows more peaceful traits. However, due to the withdrawal of blood, her powerful and dangerous energy has become weakened. Now she is prepared for the entry of Brahman priests and has changed from a tantric into a mantric goddess. As such she receives cooked food, which keeps her calm. Perhaps she will now agree to be joined with Siva, who has suddenly appeared by himself (svayambhū), close to her shrine, in the form of a linga. This is the case because, as her priest argues, “Where there is a goddess, there has to be a male”.

Development of goddess worship The history and thus the worship of gods, goddesses and spirits starts with the Mauryan monarch Asoka (3rd century BC), who turned to Buddhism after the disastrous Kalinga war. Among the earliest evidence of worship is several tall images of Naga-Nagini and Yaksa-Yaksi images of the post-Asokan period, testimonies of an important political region and culture. Kharavela (ruled end of 1st c. BC) fostered Jainism and made it the state

religion of Kalinga. He patronized the then prevailing various religious cults. After him there is a cultural gap of about four hundred years. From the 4th c. onwards, inscriptions provide evidence of new development along the eastern sea shore under the Matharas (4th-6th c.). They were followed by the first important medieval dynasty, the Sailodbhavas (6th-7th c.), strong devotees of Siva, who ruled in the region of Kongoda, their state capital, in Khorda District. Under her rule, the earliest known Saivite monuments in Orissa at Bhubaneswar and Konkoda were erected depicting the earliest Sakta icons. Evidence for this includes the famous temples at Banpur of the goddess Bhagavati and of the goddess Chamunda at Bankada.

The Bhauma-Kara dynasty (8th-early 10th c.) succeeded the Sailodbhavas, who promoted Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism. Famous centres are today Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri and Udaigiri in Cuttack District. Goddesses like Hariti, protector of children, and Tara, the female Bodhisattva, as well as snake goddesses acquired a prominent place there. They also promoted Saivism and Saktism and introduced the esoteric Tantric mode of worship at Sakta centres.

The goddess Viraja at Jajpur on the bank of the river Vaitarani is the earliest known Saktapitha in ancient Indian literature. A visit to this (pitha) destroys all sins. Debhogaka near Madanpur-Rampur in Kalahandi District is another very old Saktapitha. Copperplate inscriptions dated to the end of the 5th 6th c. mention a goddess named Stambesvari, ‘goddess of the post’. The goddesses Stambesvari and Khambesvari were patronised by a number of early royal dynasties of Orissa like the Sulki (8th c.) and the Bhanjas of Khinjali-Mandala from the 9th c. onwards, mainly in the Baudh, Athamallik, Bolangir and Kalahandi areas. Goddesses are still worshipped today in form of a post, pillar of a log of wood. One characteristic feature is the ritual replacement of these objects after a certain period of time. Most prominent are the wooden poles of the manifestation of the Kandh earth goddess Dharnidevata or Kandhenburhi. Close to this tradition are the long wooden poles (kāthi) wrapped in saris like a huge umbrella and representing a goddess (calantī pratimā) called Kathithakurani of Bhagavati, Birajai, Dokri, Manikesvari, Khilamunda in Ranpur and Mandasa (Andhra Pradesh) and other goddesses of tribal origin. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the tantric Yogini cult reached the peak of its development in Orissa (see Stietencron).

The tenth and eleventh centuries in Orissa were dominated by the dynasty of the Somavamsis, whose early base of power had been in Chhattisgarh. They unified western and coastal Orissa into a vast kingdom and revived the old political and religious centre of Bhubaneswar, where they created jewels of architecture like the Muktesvar temple, the Rajarani temple and the famous temple of Siva Tribhubaneswara, the ‘Lord of the three worlds’, known as the Lingaraja temple. They were orthodox Saivas who purified the rituals of their tantric ‘excesses’ and revived the Brahmanical religion. The depiction of the goddesses show them as benign, elegant manifestations with a celestial smile. Dancing and singing became an important part of the temple rituals. All over Orissa shrines were installed, which started the popularisation of the existing religious centres.

The Gangas and Suryavamsis (ruled about five centuries from early 12th c. till middle 16th c.) were tolerant and eclectic in their religious outlook. Focusing on the national deity Sri Jagannath of Puri, they incorporated existing religious trends into a bhakti-based form of Vaisnavism. The Sakti in her various manifestations gained importance as consort of a great god. With the downfall of the Orissan empire at the end of the 16th c. and the establishment of the Muslim domination of the coastal belt of the state, the numerous Garjhat rulers of coastal and central Orissa maintained the legacy of the age-old Sakta centres and promoted their cult.

The goddess and the king: divine legitimation of rule The former rulers of small principalities, feudatories of the king of Orissa, played an important role in the growth and development of the worship of goddesses. In order to establish and strengthen their power as local rulers, they depended on the assistance and

5 Goddess at the mountain road At the end of a steep mountain road in the Kalinga Ghat, a local priest has recently started a small shrine for goddess Vanadurga, whom he takes care of. Her aniconial image, a huge stone boulder, is dressed in a black sari. Black and red flags mark the place as a sacred spot. The two smaller stones are her sisters.

Near Kalingia village, Kandhmal District. Photo 20.2.2006, © C. Mallebrein.

7 Goddess Patkhanda The origin of the tribal goddess Patkhanda (‘topmost sword’) lies in the dense forest of the high Kondhmal Hills. Every year she visits her people to enjoy a great feast. Possessed by the goddess, the priest comes out of the forest dancing, his hair loose, and with red vermillion (sindūr) marking his forehead.

Two assistants guide the ‘goddess on earth’. Jarasingha, Bolangir District. Photo 19.10.1999, © C. Mallebrein.

6 Goddess Markama The tribal goddess Markama, the tutelary deity of the local rulers at Bissamcuttack.

She is considered one of the most powerful goddesses in this region. Her priests (pāīks) change her appearance from time to time.

In 2003 numerous silver ornaments oval in shape decorated her face. She owns several swords kept in her small shrine. Bissamcuttack, Rayagada District. Photo 4.2.2003, © C. Mallebrein.

protection of the main local goddess. The sub-regional king was the prime donor in her rituals. It was he who offered the animal sacrifices that nourished her procreative forces and who had privileged access to the goddess and her female energy (śakti). Not to worship her would mean losing her divine support and eventually his territory. Without the ruler’s presence, no major ritual of the goddess could be performed. Due to a strong belief in her tantric power, she received the status of a tutelary deity (istadevī) of the royal family, and as such she was also considered to be the protector of the territory. Since it was the rulers who promoted her cult and worship, she often acquired supra-regional recognition.

These tutelary deities of the former royal families in Orissa form a specific group of goddesses. Among the most prominent goddesses are Kicakesvari, family deity of the Bhanjas from Mayurbhanj, Tarini of Ghatgaon, Hingula at Gopalprasad, Maninaga Devi of the royal family of Ranpur, Vyaghra Devi at Kuladha of the former Bhanja dynasty of Ghumsar, Bhairavi at Baudh, Patanesvari at Patnagarh, Samlesvari of the Chauhan family at Sambalpur, Manikesvari, the family goddess of the royal family of Kalahandi and Parlakhemundi, Kanaka Durga at Jaypur and Baruni and Anrunei at Khurda.

The rise of the tutelary deity The rise of local deities to the status of royal istadevatās began very early and was directly linked with the process of state formation, which stretched from the sixth to the nineteenth centuries. In their family histories, most rulers in Orissa trace their origin back to the distant past or else claim to be descendants of former famous dynasties. The rulers of the Ganga and Suryavamsi dynasties were the sovereigns of a coalition of feudatories in the Garhjat Mahals, which covers parts of the coastal region and major parts of the hinterland.

But most of the ruling families who ruled until independence in 1947 came to be known only in the late sixteenth century, when Akbar’s famous general Man¬singh reorganized Orissa after its conquest. It was during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that, under Muslim rule, the chiefs of the Garhjat states acquired a considerable amount of autonomy for promising to perform military service to the Muslim rulers. During this period they started to develop principalities of their own, which they had to defend constantly against their neighbours. Under the rulers of the Bhoi dynasty of Khorda, who started ruling at the end of the sixteenth century, the small principalities were able to enjoy semi-independent political status.

Along with the expansion of their territories from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, the local goddess and her cult rose to eminence and entered the royal courts.

From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the independence of India in 1947, the cult and the ritual worship of the tutelary goddess gradually increased in complexity.

During her yearly festival, which often has the character of a ritual drama re-enacting her history and myth, she legitimizes the authority of royalty and the related social order. The female principle represented by the goddess and the male principle represented by the king revitalised the community and confirmed the socio-political order dominated by royalty.

After independence, and especially after 1971, when the royal families lost their privileges and compensations (privy purses) and thus had to reduce their financial support of the festivals, there was a shift from the focus on the royal family towards the ‘privatisation’ of the goddess’s power. Individual welfare and direct ties and contacts with the deity became dominant factors.

Important shakta centres of Orissa Among the numerous goddesses of Orissa are eight famous centres of Devi worship with a large number of followers; these centres are called candi pithas (the Seats-of-theWrathful-One). Their religious activities go back to ancient times. They represent various aspects of the Mahadevi: 1.

2.

8 Goddess Birajai at Bankada Fort The stone figure depicting the goddess Birajai is one of the finest examples of early Orissan stone sculpture, dated to the 7th to 8th c. This form is called Carccika, a manifestation of the goddess Durga.

During the ritual, the goddess Birajai is beautifully dressed and decorated with red hibiscus flowers. She was the tutelary deity of the now extinct royal family of Bankada Fort. Birajai Mala, Khurda District. Photo 12.2.2001, © C. Mallebrein.

3.

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9 River Goddess The river goddess Yamuna standing on a turtle (kūrma) and holding a blue lotus (nīlotpala). Two maidens accompany her.

Besides Ganga, Yamuna is the most famous river goddess. Her image is part of the outer wall of Monastery 1 at Ratnagiri, dated to the 8th c. Photo 16.12.2007, © C. Mallebrein.

5.

Jajpur, the goddess Viraja, the oldest and most celebrated Saktapitha of Orissa; Viraja is conceived as a form of Kali primarily connected with ancestor-worship. For centuries she was venerated by the Bhauma and Somavamsi kings as their tutelary deity. Also during the Ganga and Suryavamsi kings she was worshipped as one of the major Shakta goddesses of the State. Till today the Viraja temple is one of the holiest and most celebrated Sakta pitha of Orissa.

Puri or Purusottama: the goddess Vimala is the most important goddess in the Jagannath temple complex and is considered the real presiding deity of Puri. The Shaktas worship Vimala as Tripura Bhairavi (the Terror-of-the-Universe), in which form she is the consort of Siva in his most destructive aspect as Kala Bhairava. In Tantric works, Bhairava is also known as Jagannath (Lord of the Universe). Vimala’s great importance is reflected in the present tradition of offering the vegetarian food offering (bhoga) first to her, after which it turns into consecrated food (mahāprasād), the holy food blessed by Jagannath, which frees one from all sins. The numerous goddess shrines within and outside the temple compound reflect the great importance of Puri as a famous Shaktapitha.

Kakatpur, Puri District: the goddess Mangala, ‘the auspicious one’ and the presiding deity, is represented by an image of the female Bodhisattva Tara, dated to ca. 10th c. At that time, Buddhism was on the decline and Buddhist images started to be venerated as Brahmanical divinities. As a goddess of prosperity and happiness and as the bestower of all desires she is mainly worshipped by women, but she is also the patron of sea traders. The worship of Mangala is also very common on the village level. At Kakatpur the influence of the nearby Jagannath temple is reflected in her worship as Parama-Vaisnavi, who receives only vegetarian offerings. The Vaisnavisation of Mangala probably started under the Somavamsi kings. Mangala also plays an important role during the Navakalevara festival, which is held in every twelve to nineteen years in the month of Asadha (June-July). In a dream, she gives the Daita priest of Sri Jagannath an indication of where to look for the holy nim trees.

Jhankad, Cuttack District: the goddess Sarala is worshipped in the village of Jhankad, near Jagatsinghpur. She is considered a synthesis of the divine figure of Durga and Sarasvati, the patroness of learning. Her cult image is an eight-armed Mahisamardini Durga holding in her hands the lute (vīnā) and the manuscript. The famous Oriya poet of the 15th c., Sarala Dasa, extolled her religious significance in his works. The goddess Sarala is conceived by her devotees as a manifestation of the supreme Candi.

Banki, Cuttack District: the goddess Carcika at Banki, close to the Mahanadi river in

6.

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Cuttack District, is one of the most celebrated Sakti temples of Orissa, famous far and wide. The sanctity of this place possibly dates back to the Bhauma-Kara period. A holy rock in the temple courtyard is venerated as Carcika’s ‘birth place’. Carcika is represented by an eight-armed Camunda image dated to ca.

9th c. The cult of Carcika is widespread in the Prachi valley area, and village goddesses represented by an old image of Camunda are still worshipped today under the name Carcika.

Gopalprasad, Dhenkanal District: the goddess Hingula, worshipped in Gopalprasad in the heart of the open coal-mine area, is the family goddess of the royal family of Talcher. Hingula manifests herself in the natural gas flames of the coal fields. For her devotees the earth represents her body. Inside the sanctum of her temple, the sacrificial place is marked by a clay horse richly decorated. To the right is a small ditch where the sacred stones of Hingula and other goddesses are kept.

In many legends Hingula’s role as fire in the kitchen is stressed. According to this she provides the fire to prepare the mahāprasād in the great kitchen of the Jagannath temple in Puri. On only one day a year can she leave Puri, a day on which Jagannath takes only dry, non-cooked food. That day, in the month of caitra, the famous Hingula jatra is celebrated at Gopalprasad.

Banpur, Khorda District: the goddess Bhagavati is the most important Shaktapitha of southern Orissa. She is considered the first among seven goddesses, seen as sisters, of that region. They mark the territory of a group of former closely related Rajas. The second is Siddhesvari at Bhatapada Garh, protecting the North, the third Kalijai, (East), fourth Birajai (West), fifth Narayani (South), sixth Phulkasuni and seventh Kanakdurga. The legend tells how Bhagavati appeared in Banpur to the ruler of the now defunct Bankada fort to be worshipped by him. Most probably her cult was established by the Sailodbhava kings of Kongoda (6th-7th c.). The presently worshipped image of Bhagavati is an eight-armed goddess in a standing pose. The most important festivals celebrated in honor of the goddess Bhagavati is the Durga puja. In former times, the goddess Bhagavati of Banpur was feared for her demand for ‘human sacrifices’, mainly in the ninth night (navamī) of Dasahara, the night Durga killed the buffalo demon Mahisa. Still today a man called Balijena is symbolically offered in that night: the moment a special goat is beheaded as an offering to Bhagvati, the Balijena enters a death-like state, the head of the goat being placed in his hand. Then the main priests carry this ‘corpse’ in a procession to the Bhagavati temple to present him as an offering. The Balijena belongs to a family which traditionally gave one male family member every year as a human sacrifice to the temple. The real human sacrifice was stopped long ago. Another famous festival is the Dolamelana festival, which takes place in the month of Phalguna (February/March).

Bhubaneswar or Ekamra: the goddess Gopalini or Kirttimati (more popular as Bhubanesvari) is worshipped at Ekamra (One-Mango-Tree). From very ancient times this was a famous Saiva-Sakta centre, dating back to the 6th c., when the Sailodbhava kings of Kongoda were ruling over the southern tracts of Orissa.

Among the earliest known Saivite monuments is the Parasuramesvara temple.

The early temple of Lingaraja was constructed in the name of Tribhubanesvara, who was associated with a consort goddess named Gopalini or Kirttimati. In the guise of Gopalini, ‘the cowherdess’ Parvati killed the two demon brothers Kirtti and Vasa. To stop the thirst of the exhausted goddess after her struggle, Siva pierced the ground with an arrow and made water gush forth from it, which explains the origin of the vast Bindusagara tank at Bhubaneswar. Later the goddess Gopalini was assimilated to the cult to the Sakta-Tantric goddess Bhuvanesvari. During the Bhauma-Kara period, several independent Shakta shrines were founded in the city of Bhubaneswar. The Somavamsi period converted the Ekamra ksetra to a great centre of Saivism, with a series of temples dedicated to the Goddess.

10 Bhagavati Pillar in Bhatagarh Once a year the goddess Bhagavati from Banpur, considered one of the seven sisters of Siddhesvari, visits Bhatapada Garh. The priests of Bhagavatī (mālī) carry her movable image, a large wooden stick (kāṭhi), wrapped up in numerous saris in the shape of an umbrella (chattra). The group from Banpur arrives early in the evening to spend the night in Siddhesvari’s temple. At daybreak Bhagavati and her priests return, and in front of the royal house the goddess is given a farewell with a huge amount of food, indicated by the large balls made out of pop rice with molasses. Bhatapada Garh. Photo 13.4.2003, © C. Mallebrein.

11 Worship of the family goddess Shri Manabendra Moharatha Dulal, Rajasaheb of Bhatapada Garh, in his royal dress. He believes deeply in the power of his family deities, Siddhesvari and Lord Jagannath, and therefore celebrates their annual festivals in a traditional and very festive manner. Bhatapada Garh, Khurda District. Photo 24.3.2004, © C. Mallebrein.

The seven or eight mothers Another important aspect of Saktism in Orissa is the cult of Saptamatrkas or Astamatrkas. The worship of the seven mothers is already known from ancient terracotta images of the 1st c. CE. They are represented in early temples of the 7th-9th c., and today villagers in Orissa still worship the seven sisters, the Saptabhaunis. Their names are mostly derived from regional or local deities. A striking example are the ‘six sisters’ surrounding the goddess Bhagavati of Banpur.

The concept of the mothers became popular during the epoch of the Bhauma-Karas. In the classical Sanskrit literature, the seven mothers are considered to be the consorts of the major gods. Brahmani, Mahesvari, Kaumari, Vaisnavi, Indrani, Varahi and Camunda, the latter being the only one with no male partner. They are represented and worshipped in a group headed by Virabhadra, a destructive manifestation of Siva, and protected ultimately by Ganesa. In the case of the eight mothers, it is Mahamaya, also called Yogesvari, the mistress of Tantra Yoga (in another version Shivadutti or Yami), who accompanies the group. One of the earliest panels is found at the Parasuramesvar temple in Bhubaneswar (8th c.) and at the Vaital Deul temple, also dated to the Bhauma-Kara period. During the Somavamsi dynasty too, the Saptamatrkas were depicted on the temple walls. The mothers, mainly Camunda, also became the presiding deities of a Sakta shrine. The most important Matrka who is worshipped independently is Varahi.

12 The festival for goddess Hingula During the Hingulā jātrā, several dancing and musical groups entertain the participants. This group of villagers is performing a stick dance in honour of the cowherd god Krisna and his beloved Radha, represented by two children. Gopalprasad.

Photo 4.4.2004, © C. Mallebrein.

13 Dashahara at Banpur In former times, the goddess Bhagavati from Banpur was feared for her demand for ‘human sacrifices’, mainly in the ninth night (navami) of daśaharā, the night Durga killed the buffalo demon Mahisa. Still today a man called balijenā is symbolically offered in that night: the moment a special goat is beheaded as offering for Bhagavati, the balijenā enters a death-like state. The head of the goat is placed in his hand. Then the main priests carry this ‘corpse’ in a procession to the Bhagavati temple to present him as an offering. Banpur, Khurda District. Photo 15.10.2001, © C. Mallebrein.

15 Goddess Camunda at Palur Every morning the priest of the goddess Camunda at Palur carries out the worship by applying red vermillion to her face. He states that the mud figure (mūrti) of the goddess suddenly collapsed, a sign that the goddess was demanding a new, more modern and figural image.

Now she presents herself in the classical style of Durgā images with wide open eyes and a protruding tongue, in which form she grants darśan to her devotees. Palur, Ganjam District. Photo 20.11.2001, © C. Mallebrein.

Depicting the divine The goddesses of Orissa present themselves in many forms, and no codified form exists. The goddess of the forest appears as a simple stone smeared with red sindūr powder. Impressive silver eyes indicate her presence, as she is considered to be ever awake and ready to listen to the wishes of her devotees. The long protruding silver tongue points to her lust for blood. This is a characteristic feature of many goddesses, but especially of forest goddesses with a tribal background. Goddesses can also demand from their priest a new, more Durga-like image, as in the case of the goddess Camunda at Palur. One day the mud figure (mūrti) of the goddess suddenly collapsed.

She appeared in dream demanding a new, more modern and figural image.

In the rural areas, the deities are often not depicted in an iconic form, but rather as a simple wooden pole or stone. Small pebbles, an axe, a trident, a bamboo stick or an umbrella can also represent a deity. Often the goddess is represented by a sword, which contains the energy (śakti) of the deity and represents her power. Deities also speak to their devotees through the sword.

Musical instruments can also represent a goddess. The sound of the instruments and the specific rhythm of the traditional ritual music represent the respective language of local goddesses. Together with the voices of the priest-musicians, they are an

14 The charming Nagini The charming Nagini, a ‘mermaid’ with a human body and the tail of a serpent, protected by five snake hoods. Her body is carved winding around a pillar. She is part of the outer wall decoration of the Muktesvar temple, the ‘germ of Orissan architecture’, build by the Somavamsi dynasty. In her left hand she holds a conch, and in her right a bunch of flowers. Muktesvar temple (dated mid-10th c.), Bhubaneshwar. Photo 29.11.2007, © C. Mallebrein.

16 Goddess Camunda at Palur The goddess Camunda in Palur, the tutelary family of Palur. Her old Brahman priest takes great care in the daily pūjā and the decoration with various flowers. Palur, Ganjam District. Photo 15.10. 2000, © C. Mallebrein.

17 Medium of goddess Candi The medium of the goddess Candi in a state of trance and charged with healing power touching the heads of devotees laying on the ground and suffering from various diseases with his left foot.

Belkhandi Candi jātrā, Kalahandi District. Photo 14.3.2002, © C. Mallebrein.

expression of the communication between the worlds of the living, the gods and the dead.

The Devgunya, a local community in western Orissa, play a lyre-like chordophone (vīṇā) which represents the goddess Laksmi herself, as well as the goddess Mangala, their clan goddess. In being played, the instrument invokes the goddess. Today there is a tendency to add a figure in the style of a Hindu deity, with several arms and weapons and dressed up, to the non-figural representation of a deity, as in the case of Mohuri Kalua. Animal goddesses are depicted in their animal form, for example, as a tiger or a snake.

For devotees, mainly of village goddesses, the iconographic depiction is less necessary because the goddess can appear to her devotees in the form of a human being. It is the medium in trance that embodies the deity during his divine play.

The duties of the goddesses towards their devotees, who expect their presence and attendance, are many. As a form of thanks, the devotees honour and worship them.

Although the divine characters may vary from place to place, as well as in their figural depictions, the strong belief of the devotees in the divine power of their goddesses is universal, which gives them a feeling of security. They are convinced that their lives and surroundings, as well as the animal world, all form part of a sacred space that is controlled and protected by the goddesses.

Thise paper is based on research conducted in Orissa as part of the second Orissa Research Project (ORP II) from 1999-2005. I am grateful to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in Bonn for giving me an opportunity to study the history and culture of Orissa in greater depth.

For a detailed discussion of the goddess Tarini, see Mallebrein, Stietencron 2008, 172-179; Mallebrein 2004 (a); further Das, H.C. 1999, 155-164, Brighenti 2001, 156-158.

On the various Hindu deities, demi-gods, godlings, demons and heroes worshipped in India, see Brunce 2000; on the folklore of Orissa, see Das, K. B. 1991 and Das, Mahapatra 1979, Mishra 2002.

Skoda 2005, 239-250, discusses the worship of the village goddess by the Gauntia of the Aghria community in Orissa. For the worship of Manikesvari and Dokri, widely worshipped in villages of Western India, see Mallebrein 2007 (b), 203-234., For Patkhanda, see Mallebrein 2004 (b).

On the tribal community in India, see Singh 1994. With more than 8.1 million people, the ādivāsi in Orissa constitute 22.2% of the total population of the State (Census 2001). A short description of the tribes of Orissa is given in Senapati 1990.

See on this topic v. Stietencron 2005 (b).

Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi 1987.

For Khambesvari, see Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, p. 45.

See Schnepel 2002.

See Eschmann 1978 (a); on Durga and Camunda, see Brighenti 2001, 214-251, Mallebrein 1999, 2004 (c).

See Stietencron 2005 (a).

On village gods, see Brubaker 1978, Elmore 1925, Feldhaus 1995, Fuller 1992, Kinsley 1986, Whitehead 1921.

See Kapp 1983. On Manasa, see Brighenti 2001, 307-313, on Laksmi, ibid., 327-334, 389; Thierry 1965; Donaldson 1982.

See Skoda 2005, 377-392; Skoda 2003, 25-44; Tandon 1966, Tripathi 1972.

See Fischer and Pathy 1996.

See Mallebrein 2007 (a), Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 106-107.

For an introduction to Orissan history and culture, see v. Stietencron 2009. Whether Buddhism was able to gain prominence in this coastal part of Orissa after the disastrous Kalinga war is debated. On the Asoka inscriptions, see more recently Falk 2006. For more information about the archaeology of Orissa, see Basa (et al.) 2000, Brandt¬ner 2001, Brandtner (et al.) 2007, Pradhan, 2000.

For more information about the Udayagiri and Khandagiri constructed during Kharavelas time , see Mohapatra 1981. [what’s the link with the text? Not clear.]

For an overview on the history and culture of Orissa, see Samal, Mishra (et al.) 2008. For an overview of the cultural centres of Orissa, see Rath 2004, see also Dash 1981 for a bibliography of Orissa till 1980 Donaldson, 1985-87; 2002, Behera, Donaldson 1998.

On the Sakti cult in Orissa in the historical period, see Brighenti 2001, 67-169, Donaldson 2001 (a), 64-77; Donaldson 2002.

Buddhism in Orissa is discussed by Bandyopadhyay 2004, Mitra 2001, Patnaik 2000, Sahu, N.K. 1958.

For more information about the goddess Virajā, see Arp 2006, Mishra, S. P. 2007, Donaldson 2001.

See Pradhan, B.C. 1997(Date) See Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 185; Eschmann 1978, 214; Kulke 1992, 56-78; Jena (et al.) 2002, 204; Biardeau (et al.) 2004; Brighenti 2001, 58-64.

Under the Bhauma-Karas the image of Parvati, wife of Siva, was replaced by her terrifying aspect

as Durga-Mahisasuramardini as a result of their tantric leanings. The orthodox Somavamsis returned Parvati, the peaceful aspect of the goddess, back to her original place; see Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 220 (fn. 16). On the early Orissan temples, see Parida 1999; on the Lingaraja temple, see Behera, K.S. 2008.

On this topic, see Berkemer 1993, Kulke 1992, 1993, Schnepel 2002.

On this topic, see Falk 1973, 4. As Marglin (1989, 300) noted in relation to the Gajapati, royal power is śakti power, and each Gajapati is ‘symbolically infused with the female procreative powers’.

For the most important royal goddesses, see Brighenti 2001, 155-167; Kulke 1992; Mallebrein 2010 (a); 2008, 39-62; Das, H.C. 1999.

Kulke 1978.

According to Kulke 1992, 58-59, ‘the system of encircling the coastal and particularly the central court region in the Mahanadi delta with a protective semi-circle of small semi-autonomous principalities must have gone back to the period of the imperial Gajapati kings who had ruled eastern India from the Ganges to the Godavari till 1568.’

On the ex-Khorda kingdom, see Tanabe 1998, 1999 (b), 2003; on Ranpur, see Gutschow, 2003, 2004.

Tanabe 1999 (a) analyses in detail the yearly worship of the goddess Ramacandi at Garh Manitri in the ex-Khorda kingdom, and he shows the close relationship between the king and the goddess. He also notes the privatisation of the goddess’s power for individual welfare after 1971. On the Durga festival, see Schnepel 2002, Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 44-45. On the coronation rituals, see Mallebrein 2010 (b).

For a detailed overview, see Brighenti 2001, 171-207, Das H.C. 1999. For a classification of goddesses in southern Orissa, see Hauser 2007.

See Brighenti 2001, 172-179, Donaldson 2001, Arp 2006, Behera 1967, Mishra 2007.

On the goddess Mangala in Orissa, see Hauser 2004.

On Hingula, see Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 62-67.

See Mallebrein, von Stietencron ibid., 49-57.

See Donaldson 2001.

Among the other famous Shaktapitha are, for example,e Kiching - Kichakesvari; Sambalpur - Samleshvari; Cuttack - Chandi; Badamba - Bhattarika; Sonepur - Lankeshvari; Purusottampur Tara-Tarini; Bhadrak - Bhadrakali; Kantilo - Narayani; Aska - Stambeshvari; Kuladha - Vyaghra Devi; Chilika - Narayani; Chandbali - Dakeshvari; Konarak - Ramchandi; Belkhandi - Chandi; Mulajhargarh - Ugratara; Soroda - Kandhuni Devi; Chourasi - Varahi; Manikesvari - Bhavanipatna, Parlakhemundi; Khurda - Arunei-Barunei; Chilika - Kalijai; Piteipur - Kanak Durga; Ranpur - Maninaga; Berhampur - Budhi Thakurani, see Das, H.C. 1999. On the Chandi temple in Cuttack, see Preston 1980.

See Donaldson 2001.

On the eyes of the goddess, see Masilamani-Meyer 1996.

See Mallebrein 2000, 2001.

In many village shrines, like the Burha Raja shrine at Banbir in Nuapada District, a sword represents the deity. For discussion of the importance of the sword of the king and his relation to the goddess, see Tanabe 1999 (a), 155. On the change from sign to icon, see Eschmann 1994.

Lidia Guzy has intensively studied the relationship between music and the divine; see Guzy 2008, 2006.

On the snake cult in India, see Brighenti 2001, 307-313, Donaldson 1982, Maity 1966, Thierry 1965, Panda 1986.

See Mallebrein, v. Stietencron 2008, 84-92; See Kapadia 1996.