MUTHU MARIAMMAN SKIN
“I serve as a fourth-generation priest here and people still visit seeking remedies for chicken pox, skin diseases, Covid-19 and viral infections,” says M. “And since maari also means black in Tamil, the transition was seamless.”Īnd even as the plague itself retreats into the shadows of history, generationally handed-down memories of its impact manifest in diverse ways. “People also started calling Plague Mariamman as Black Mariamman,” says Elangovan. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes.”Īll these varied reasons have something to do with the existence of those 16 temples dedicated to the deity – whose popular name, too, underwent a shift.
It was in 1927, the middle of the city’s plague era, that the philosopher Bertrand Russell declared religion to be “based primarily and mainly upon fear. That hope, as so often happens, was also tied to fear and despair. Siva Kumar, a Coimbatore-based entomologist with a keen interest in the district’s ethnography. “Through those dark years, with no medical help available, people turned to divinity,” reasons P. All in all, heavy tolls on a city that in 1901 had a population of around 53,000.Įlangovan says his own family fled Coimbatore to briefly “live in the forests” before they could hope to return to the city “without being harmed.” That hope came from what seems an unlikely source today. Other reports suggest that Coimbatore’s population was reduced to 47,000 in 1911 after the plague outbreak of that year. But many of her generation, too, flock to Mariamman for succour.Īccording to the 1961 District Census Handbook, Coimbatore city witnessed 5,582 deaths in 1909, and 3,869 deaths in 1920 from different bouts of plague. Kanammal was born nearly four decades after the end of the plague era. By ‘general prayers’ she refers to the more routine demands of devotees – prosperity, success and long life.
We will continue to worship her, especially when we fall sick, but even for other kinds of general prayers too,” says Kanammal.
It doesn’t matter that we have a Corona Devi temple now. There will be a good turnout,” says Kanammal, in her 40s, without lifting her eyes from hands that continue to intricately weave the flowers together. Outside of what is perhaps the most famous of the Plague Mariamman temples in the bustling Town Hall area, a flower seller is readying for a busy evening. For many old-timers like Kuzhandhaiammal, the mention of plague is a chilling reminder of what the city historically lived through. Decades after it left, plague remains etched in the collective memory of this city. There are a few in neighbouring Tiruppur district too that still hold festivals and attract visitors.įrom 1903 to 1942, Coimbatore suffered at least 10 bouts of plague, killing thousands of people.
But it is the Plague Mariamman (also called Black Mariamman) shrines that command a far greater following. There are 16 of them in this city.Īnd, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the coming of a ‘Corona Devi’ temple as well. The proliferation of ‘Plague Mariamman’ temples. Now in her 80s, she was not yet in her teens when plague struck that Tamil Nadu city for the last time, in the early 1940s.Ĭoimbatore’s unhappy history of epidemics – ranging from smallpox to plague to cholera – has seen the rise of a phenomenon that exists elsewhere but seems concentrated in this region. Kuzhandhaiammal, a resident of Kalapatti locality in Coimbatore. That vivid and graphic account comes from A. You might laugh at it today, but a rat falling from the roof meant we had to leave our houses, not knowing when we could return.” It was the most ominous sight I have ever seen. “I remember rats falling down from roofs and dying in our homes.
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