Sempiternal ‘Pattiṉi’: Archaic Goddess of the Vēṅkai-tree to Avant-garde Acaṉāmpikai

Abstract

A seal of the Indic culture represents a goddess standing close to a tree and receiving sacrifices. Seven more goddesses, hypothetically the Ēḻukaṉṉimār or Sapta Mātṛkā, are linked with the Tree Goddess. The ancient Tamil Caṅkam literature, the Naṟṟiṇai and Cilappatikāram (c.450 ce), mention a goddess of the vēṅkai tree, the Vēṅkaik-kaṭavuḷ. In Tiṭṭakuṭi in south Ārkkāṭu district is located a temple dedicated to Vaidhyanāthasvāmi, the goddess called Acaṉāmpikai or Vēṅkai-vaṉanāyaki (cf. Dārukavana or Vaiṣṇava divyadeśa-Naimisāraṇya). The presiding goddess of Tiṭṭakuṭi, according to the sthalapurāṇam, based on oral tradition (twelfth to eighteenth centuries), is the “Mistress of the vēṅkai forest”. Alternatively, in Caṅkiliyāṉpāṟai (Tiṇṭukkal district) located in the foothills of Ciṟumalai, the Sañjīvi-parvata (‘hill of medicinal herbs and trees’) associated with Hanūmān of Rāmāyaṇa fame is a centre of folk worship. Recently, scholars claim to have discovered some pictographic inscriptions there resembling the Indic heritage. Several hypaethral temples to Caṅkili-Kaṟuppaṉ (‘The Black One Bound with an Iron Chain’), the Ēḻukaṉṉimār (‘Seven Virgins’), and the [Ārya]-Śāsta (equated with Ayyappaṉ of Śabarimalā) receive worship. On certain occasions, people from the nearby villages congregate to worship the gods and goddesses and undertake periodical and annual festivals. It seems that a “sacred thread” links the archaic traditions of the Indic culture (c.2500 bce) with the contemporary faiths (see Eliade 1960; Brockington 1998; Shulman & Stroumsa 2002) of Tiṭṭakuṭi and Caṅkiliyāṉpāṟai. This article examines the story of the Tree Goddess, the neo-divinity (vampat-teyvam) or numen (cf. Vedic devamātṛ-Aditi), with references to the Caṅkam lore, datable to the third century bce (cf. “Chōḍa Pāḍā Satiyaputo Ketalaputo” in Aśoka’s Girnar Edict; cf. Mookerji 1972: 223), Vēṅkaikkaṭavuḷ, Acaṉāmpikai of Tiṭṭakuṭi, and the Caṅkiliyāṉpāṟai vestiges.