pestilence of the plague infected the Hyderabad area, the feeding of
goddesses took on greater import.
As village people trickled into the city, they brought their local goddesses
with them – Ellamma, Maiasamma, Peddamma, and others. They were
established at small shrines near a tree or a smeared stone. Come June or
July, at the first new moon after the summer solstice, the goddesses would
be fed at each local shrine; women carried on their heads pots of rice
smeared with vermilion and turmeric, and topped with a small fire (these
are known as “gathams”) and bring their gifts to the shrine of the goddess.
Often the goddess is thought to reside in the gatham itself. Accompanying
the goddess will be men smeared in ash and carrying whips, calling them-
selves Po ̄thara ̄ju, attendant, brother (and by some mythical accounts,
husband) of the goddess. At the shrines where the folk goddess still presides
goats are slaughtered and consumed in family picnics. Often women carry-
ing the pots will go into a trance and are believed to become possessed
by the goddess. At times a transvestite is employed by a particular family to
represent the goddess and tell fortunes, once “possessed.”
In time some goddess shrines have become “classicized.” Goat sacrifices
are replaced by the cutting of pumpkins or other vegetarian fare. She is given
the name of the “high goddess” Ka ̄lı ̄ or an entirely new name. This occurs
as former villagers become more affluent in the city or rub shoulders with
more affluent neighbors, and they seek to upgrade their shrines and even
install a brahman priest.
Religion in Contemporary India 203Figure 8Bonalu Festival, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh: roadside shrine to “folk” goddess
Maiasamma. Photograph by Rob F. Phillips.