Korravai

2021-09-30T16:49:27Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Durga Korravai.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Goddess Korravai(tamil goddess) atop the buffalo-demon head, tuyaram thirkum "arumathuvanai kondraval " ( Kotravai iconography from the ruins of a 10th-century Tamil temple (now at Nayak Palace Art Museum).]]
'''Kotṟavai''' ({{IAST|Korṛawai}}), also spelled ''Kotravai'' or ''Korravai'', is the goddess of war and victory in the Tamil tradition. She is also the mother goddess and the goddess of fertility, agriculture and hunters. In the latter form, she is sometimes referred to by other names and epithets in the Tamil tradition of South India and Sri Lanka, such as '''Athaaa''', '''Mari''', '''Suli''', and '''Neeli'''.<ref name="Schuler2009">{{cite book|author=Barbara Schuler|title=Of Death and Birth: Icakkiyamman, a Tamil Goddess|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wj76rDfgTCYC&pg=PA28 |year=2009| publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05844-5|pages=28 with note 1.1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Nicholapillai Maria Saveri|title=A Catholic-Hindu Encounter: Relations Between Roman Catholics and Hindus in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 1900-1926 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wBXZAAAAMAAJ |year=1993|publisher=Centre for Performing Arts|page=170}}</ref>

She is among the earliest documented goddesses in the Tamil [[Sangam literature]], and also found in later Tamil literature. She is mentioned in the many poems in ''[[Paripāṭal ]]'', though the dedicated poem to her in among those that have been lost to history.<ref>{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Rani Segran|title=The River Speaks: The Vaiyai Poems from the Paripatal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnwruNVgFUkC&pg=PT47|date= 2012|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-81-8475-694-4|page=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Ca. Vē Cuppiramaṇiyan̲|author2=R. Vijayalakshmy|title=Philosophical Heritage of the Tamils|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gnRAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=International Institute of Tamil Studies|page=138}}</ref> She is mentioned in the ''Pattuppattu'' anthology – the long Tamil poems dated between 300 BCE to 300 CE, including the ''[[Neṭunalvāṭai]]'', ''[[Maturaikkanci]]'', ''[[Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai]]'', and ''[[Paṭṭiṉappālai]]''.<ref>JV Chelliah (1946), ''Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation)'', Tamil University (1985 print), pp. xv–xxvi, 1–12</ref> In the Tamil epic ''[[Silappadikaram]]'' (c. 2nd-century), she is said to be the goddess of the [[Pallai|Palai]] region.

Her name is derived from the Tamil word ''korram'', which means "victory, success, bravery".<ref name="Zvelebil1992p21">{{cite book|first=Kamil|last=Zvelebil|title=Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC |year=1992|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09365-6|pages=21–22 with footnotes}}</ref> The earliest references to Kotravai are found in the ancient [[Tamil language|Tamil]] grammar [[Tolkappiyam]], considered to be the earliest work of the ancient [[Sangam literature]].

She is also seen as a mother goddess, a symbol of fertility and success in agriculture.<ref name="Mahalakshmi2011p1">{{cite book|author=R. Mahalakshmi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7R9tgAACAAJ|title=The Making of the Goddess: Kor̲r̲avai-Durgā in the Tamil Traditions|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2011|isbn=978-0-14-341742-2|pages=1–7, Chapter 1 and 2}}</ref> Traditional rural communities offer the first harvest to her.<ref name="vr195">{{cite book|author=Vijaya Ramaswamy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALUvDwAAQBAJ|title=Historical Dictionary of the Tamils|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5381-0686-0|pages=195–196}}</ref> As war goddess who is blood thirsty, some texts such as the ''[[Silappatikaram|Silappadikaram]]'' and ''[[Akanaṉūṟu|Agananuru]]'' mention that warrior devotees would, in a frenzy, offer their own head to the goddess.<ref name="vr195"/>

[[File:Mahishasuramardini Mandapam, Pallave period, 7th century, Mahabalipuram (25) (36764507274).jpg|thumb|left|Korravai at the 7th century mandapam, Mahabalipuram.]]
In Tamil Nadu, the [[blackbuck]] (Kalaimaan) is considered to be the vehicle of the Tamil goddess Korravai <ref name=geer>{{cite book|last1=van der Geer|first1=A.|title=Animals in Stone : Indian Mammals Sculptured through Time |url=https://archive.org/details/animalsstoneindi00geer|url-access=limited|year=2008 |publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, South Holland (Netherlands)|isbn=9789004168190|pages=[https://archive.org/details/animalsstoneindi00geer/page/n129 57]–58}}</ref><ref name="krishna">{{cite book|last1=Krishna|first1=N.|title=Sacred Animals of India|date=2010|publisher=Penguin Books India|location=New Delhi, India|isbn=9780143066194}}</ref> She is sometimes shown as riding a lion, as in the 7th-century mandapam of the [[Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram]], Tamil Nadu. Both the lion and blackbuck is shown with a standing Korravai in a rock-relief panel at the Varaha mandapam of Mahabalipuram.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/3248984 | first = James | last = Harle | year = 1963 | title = Durgā, Goddess of Victory | jstor = 3248984 | journal = [[Artibus Asiae]] | volume = 26 | issue = 3/4| pages = 237–246 }}</ref>

She is depicted as a deity with several arms holding different weapons. She is said to be Mother of the [[Tamils|Tamil]] God [[Murugan]]. Animal sacrifices and dancing rituals were a part of the worship of this Goddess.

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== Notes and references ==

{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

* Mahalakshmi, R. (2009). "Caṇkam literature as a social prism: an interrogation". Chapter 3 (29–41) in Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (editor). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0tX4wzIUY3QC A Social History of Early India]''. [[Pearson Education]], India.
* {{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/3248984 | author = Harle, James C. | year = 1963 | title = Durgā, Goddess of Victory | jstor = 3248984 | journal = [[Artibus Asiae]] | volume = 26 | issue = 3/4| pages = 237–246 }}
* Kersenboom-Story, Saskia C. (1987). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lFR06tVELyIC Nityasumaṅgalī]: devadasi tradition in South India''. [[Motilal Banarsidass]].
* Kinsley, David R. (1988). ''[https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins Hindu goddesses]: visions of the divine feminine in the Hindu religious tradition''. Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions '''12'''. [[University of California Press]].
* Tiwari, Jagdish Narain (1985). ''Goddess Cults in Ancient India (with special reference to the first seven centuries A.D.)''. [[Sundeep Prakashan]]. [Adapted from his PhD thesis accepted by the [[Australian National University]] in 1971.]

[[Category:Hindu goddesses]]
[[Category:Tamil deities]]
[[Category:War goddesses]]
[[Category:Nature goddesses]]

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Korravai