Konkan coastline, they are also known
as Konkanastha.
Chitrakut
City in the Banda district of Uttar
Pradesh, about sixty miles south and
west of the city of Allahabad. In the
Ramayana, the earlier of the two great
Hindu epics, Chitrakut is the place in
which Rama, the epic’s hero, his wife
Sita, and his brother Lakshmanalive
during the early part of their exile. It
is here as well that Rama instructs
another brother, Bharata, to rule as
regent until the fourteen years of Rama’s
exile have ended.
Chitswami
(late 16th c. C.E.) One of the ashtachap, a
group of eight northern Indian bhakti
(devotional) poets. The compositions of
these eight poets were used for liturgical
purposes by the Pushti Marg, a religious
community whose members are devo-
tees (bhakta) of Krishna. In the Pushti
Marg’s sectarian literature, all eight are
also named as members of the commu-
nity and as associates of either the com-
munity’s founder, Vallabhacharya, or
his successor, Vitthalnath. Chitswami is
traditionally associated with Vitthalnath,
a link confirmed by his poems written in
praise of this guru. Aside from such
explicitly sectarian compositions,
Chitswami also wrote poetry in praise of
Krishna, which tends to be more
elaborate and uses more Sanskritthan
his contemporaries. To date, his works
have not been translated, perhaps
because interest in them is limited to
a small sect.
Chittirai
First month in the Tamil year, corre-
sponding to the northern Indian solar
month of Mesha (the zodiacal sign of
Aries, which by the Indian solar calendar
usually falls within April and May). This
name is a modification of Chitra, the four-
teenth of the twenty-seven nakshatrasin
the lunar zodiac. See also Tamilmonths.
Chittirai
(2) Ten-dayfestival celebrated in the
southern Indian city of Maduraiduring
the Tamil month of Chittirai
(March–April). Madurai is famous for its
gigantic temple dedicated to the god-
dess Minakshi, and the Chittirai festival
celebrates Minakshi’s marriage to the
god Shivain his form as Sundareshvara.
According to mythology, Minakshi is a
fierce goddess who vows that she will
marry only a man who bests her in bat-
tle. She fights and conquers all of the
kings of the earth, but when she
approaches Shiva, she is suddenly and
spontaneously stricken with modesty.
The powerful warrior is transformed
into a shy and bashful girl, and she
becomes his wife.
Although the wedding of a goddess
normally marks her domestication and
subordination to her spouse, in this case
Minakshi remains the more powerful
deity. She is the patron of Madurai, with
a temple dedicated to her, whereas
Shiva is merely her consort. The wed-
ding is celebrated with great festivity
throughout the city, and one of the high
points is the public procession of the
deities around the city in the temple
chariots. For further information see
Dean David Shulman, Tamil Temple
Myths, 1980; the festival is also the
subject of a film, The Wedding of
the Goddess, produced by the South
Asia Center of the University of
Wisconsin at Madison.Chokamela
(d. 1338 C.E.) Poet and saint in the
Varkari Panth, a religious community
centered around the worshipof the
Hindu god Vithobaat his temple at
Pandharpur in the modern state of
Maharashtra. Chokamela was born an
untouchable Mahar, and he is the only
untouchable among the Varkari saints.
Despite Chokamela’s deep devotion to
Vithoba, his low social status prohibited
him from ever entering the god’s temple,
since his very presence would have ren-
dered it impure. The hagiographicalChokamela