in the case of chickenpox and other diseases
today.
Further reading: Pia Srinivasan Buonomo and S. A.
Srinivasan, The Goddess Mariyamman in Music and
Sociology of Religion (Reinbek: Dr. Inge Wezler Ver-
lag für Orientalische Fachpublikationen, 1999); Paul
Younger, Playing Host to Deity: Festival Religion in the
South Indian Tradition (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2002).
marriage See ASHRAMAS.
Maruts
The Maruts were originally the storm and wind
gods of the RIG VEDA. They accompanied INDRA,
king of the gods, who holds a lightning bolt. In
various references they are said to be 27, 49, or
180 in number. They throw thunderbolts, churn
up wind, and cause the Earth to quake with their
fury.
In the Puranas the Maruts are instead seen
as the sons of Kashyapa and Diti. Having no
child, Diti asked her RISHI husband for a boon.
She wanted a child who could defeat Indra. Her
husband said this could happen if she carried
the son in her womb for 100 years while remain-
ing completely pious and pure. At the 99th year,
she is said to have faltered and Indra, anxiously
observing, split the embryo into seven parts to
become the seven Maruts. The name Marut was
given to them by Indra when he told them not to
cry (rut).
Further reading: Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van
Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the
Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1978); E. Washburn Hopkins, Epic Mythology
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986); W. J. Wilkins, Hindu
Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, 2d ed. (Calcutta: Rupa,
1973).
Mata, Sri Daya (1914– ) prominent
American Hindu leader
Sri Daya Mata is the American-born third presi-
dent of the SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP (SRF).
Faye Wright was born in Salt Lake City, Utah,
and grew up in an environment of the Church of
Latter-Day Saints (Mormons). As an elementary
school student she first learned about India and
quickly developed an emotional attachment that
stayed with her as she grew up. Her reading of the
BHAGAVAD GITA as a teenager set her on a quest for
God that only began to be satisfied in 1931 when
she attended a lecture given by Paramahansa
YOGANANDA in her hometown.
Wright saw in Yogananda a person with a
relationship to the divine that she wanted for
herself; she resolved to follow him. Because of an
illness that kept her out of school she was able
to attend some of his classes, her face bandaged.
During one class Yogananda approached her and
announced that she would be healed within a
week. His prophecy materialized. Two weeks later,
with the permission of her parents, she entered
Yogananda’s ashram in Los Angeles.
Wright became one of Yogananda’s closest
associates in his Self-Realization Fellowship
(SRF). She took vows of renunciation and was
given a new name, Daya Mata. At the time of
Yogananda’s death, she was placed in charge of
the movement’s headquarters at Mount Washing-
ton, California, and James Lynn (Swami Rajasi
Janakananda) was placed in charge of the SRF
organization. Lynn died three years later. In 1955,
Daya Mata succeeded Lynn as the third president
of Self-Realization Fellowship, a position she has
retained for decades.
She has been very active as president, oversee-
ing a growing international organization, meeting
frequent speaking engagements, and authoring
several books. On March 5, 2005, she celebrated
her 50th anniversary as the leader of SRF.Further reading: Daya Mata, Enter the Quiet Heart (Los
Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 2005); ———,Mata, Sri Daya 279 J