The Gramadevi or the Gramadevata are the guardians of the village and the people who stay in this village. The Telugus have majorly depended on the female goddesses to guard them. Let me tell you this, the culture of worshipping the Gramadevi predates what history knows as the Aryan settlement. Every village in Andhra-Telangana will have the head village goddess. The names of goddess will differ from village to village. Some of these names known to us today are Ellamma, Poleramma, Chinnamma, Sankalamma, Ankalamma is the goddess of Cholera, Gangamma of small pox. Interestingly the goddess of small pox in northern parts of India would be called Shitala or Seethalamma. Whenever the need arises to save the village from a disease the goddess will be invoked.
Ever seen the movie Devi led by Ramya Krishna? Well yeah, basically the same concept. There’ll usually be no fancy icons or images of the goddess; she will be placed under a tree worshipped in form of a stone of a certain shape. Sometimes she’ll be placed in fields too. Annual festivals in the village will take place close to the harvest of these goddesses. The community of Kummaras and Tsakalas presided the temples of the village goddess. However the Asadi sect-the Madigas and Malas sacrifice the animal and sing songs for the goddess.
How these goddesses are worshipped is so beautiful that holds one spellbound. Entire village contributes in this festival of the goddess. This procedure was recorded by the British official who was surveying the Nellore area. Let’s see how the function rolls.
First, the potter makes a clay image of amma and the carpenter makes the cart. The finest male buffalo will be selected for sacrifice-don’t be shocked! These people had rules. Only a male buffalo who has already mated and produced certain number of offsprings will be chosen for this ritual. A night procession happens! In torchlight! The procession of goddess comes from the potters house goes to washerman’s house to the toddy trapper house. The pots of toddy and lamb are placed before the goddess. The Reddi of the village gives rice to the goddess and then the buffalo head is offered to the diety.
The ones who took part in procession and consume meat are given so. Later ofcourse these sacrifices were converted into lemon offerings to the devis.
This way they believed the anger of the goddess will not be on the village and all evils will pass. It doesn’t matter what they believed it, what one must note is how a village life functioned in case of worshipping their goddess.
Everybody partied.
Try catching up some folk telugu movies, it’ll visualize it better.
Until then, Adios.
Tales of Forgotten Processions in Andhra & Telangana: Worshipping the Gramadevi
