The City and Ammas Part -2

1898 to 1930

Plague Ammas

Photographer: Archana Hande 

Annamadevi Temple, Majestic, 2020

Plague Amma, or the Goddess of Plague, is one such deity worshipped prominently by the urbanites of Bangalore, and she is part of a remorseful history that has imprinted itself on the psyche of Bangaloreans.The goddess Mariamma, who has different labels such as Muthu Mariamman and Thandu Mariamman, was soon appropriated into the Plague Mariamman! Many temples dedicated to the goddess were built around the Basavanagudi, Malleshwaram and Megestic area

A particular temple for the goddess in Basavanagudi and Pete(city Market) is dedicated to ‘Bisulu’ Mariamman, where Bisulu refers to sunlight. It is believed that the sunlight refers to how the goddess derives her power from the sun and that living under an open sky can prevent the formation of bacteria and disease.

Photographer: Archana Hande 
Bisulu’ Mariamman, Avenue Road, 2020

The Grama Devi cult is prevalent in Bangalore, the significant goddesses are "Bisilu Maramma", Plaguemma, Annamma Devi, Muthyalalama, Patallama, and many more. The diverse avatars of the mother goddesses that dot the city are linked to the water bodies- 'keres.' The vernacular tradition of the celebration involves venerating the goddess with fire walking, "Karaga utsava' and a "jatre' '- urban fairs that bring different communities together. These folk deities apparently protected their devotees from diseases like smallpox and the deadly plague. 

 

Video by: Ashok Vish
Karaga Utsava, Thigalarpet, Bangalore City, Nagarathpete, 2017

Photographer: Clare Arni, 
Draupadi Aman fire walking festival, Ulsoor, 10.08.2006, Bangalore

 

One can witness this spectacle of devotees walking on smoldering coal, carrying elaborately decorated pots as offering to “amma”.The bugles. trumpets and the procession of folk dancers take over the street as the locals break into a folk dance to witness all the quadrilateral goddesses of Bengaluru meet and greet each other. Huge flower-decked floats called Pallakis or palanquins carry them on tractors accompanied by folk dancers and musicians. These are the ancient “Grama devatas'' with their own 'Sthalapuranas' -place legends, and folk myths associated with the location of once life-giving lakes of the city's landscape.

 

The many "Devis' of this city are the primordial goddesses, fierce protectors, and healers, and they are pacified with Neem leaves, turmeric, and lemons crushed violently. They visit each other riding on flower-bedecked chariots (Palakki or Theeru) to join each other to celebrate the "Ooru jatre"- village carnivals even today where chariots carrying these goddesses jostles with the traffic and the overhanging telephone and electric wires that crisscross the urban sky. During the Great plague of 1898 these iconic city myths became more important in the hope of postponing the disaster. After almost a century, during these times of covid, we can catch a glimpse of the same practices revisiting us. While the new “Covid Amma Temple” is yet to be seen in the city, the installation is not far away. Afterall, the ammas do rule the city. 

 

Artist: Shreyas Karle 

Where have all the demons gone? 2008 

Drishti Gombe 

The idea of Drishti in India is dealt with in several ways. It could be the image of an evil demonic face warding off the evil from buildings, namely a protector. Or it could be a guardian in the form of chillies and lemon hung on door steps. The Drishti gombe is the guardian of the house and the city that protects the people. This iconography of Drishti Gombe in Bangalore City is the most popular protector. This also reminds us of the Bhoota wooden sculptures of Tulunadu, Dakshina Karnataka. This icon might have travelled to Bangalore and with time it changed to its present form as a mask. We can also see similar mask figures in the houses of Tamil Nadu, so it is difficult to pinpoint the source of its entry to the city.

 

Photographer: Archana Hande

Bisulu’ Mariamman, Avenue Road, 2020 

This image is from Akkipete with the Marwadi community of Chikapete offering 'puja" 

to protect them from the Corona Virus. 

Bisulu’ Mariamman 

The mother goddess of sunshine, is known to have protected and healed us from deadly diseases such as smallpox and the plague, is back in full force with the advent of the coronavirus in the hopes for her to cure us in a similar fashion. Worshipped with turmeric and neem leaves by her devotees, she is one among many other 'Devis' or 'grama devatas'. The other Devis being Anamma, Patalamma, Muthyalamma, Gadagamma to name a few, are enshrined in different parts of the city, taken out in processions during festivals and are inherently connected to the water bodies in the city.

 

 

Photographer: Clare Arni, Designed by: Shree Tej

Kali Graveyard, Lakshmipuram graveyard, Bengaluru 

Kali Graveyard 

In 2010, Mohan William, then head priest of the temple, went to Kashi and never returned. His wife Tulsiamma decided to take over the duties. After all, their family had run the temple for over 100 years. “Nobody else was brave enough to work inside a cemetery, not even men,” say the female priests that are a rarity in the pantheon of Hinduism. The priest Shailamma says that the power of the goddess in the Samsahana temple on the burial ground is so much that her hair that hadn’t grown for years, suddenly started growing after praying at the temple.

  

Artist: Bharatesh GD

City and Ammas - Annamadevi Temple

Annamadevi Temple 

The ‘Plague Amma Temple’ was set up in Thyagarajanagar, Malleshwaram, Majestic to propitiate the Grama devatha, or village deity, for many believed that it was the wrath of the Goddess that brought about scourges like plague and smallpox.

The annual fair of this temple is mostly celebrated in all parts of the city by groups of people in each area. The temple has idols of different goddesses and anamma devis and are rented out to worshippers so that they can take it to their area for a certain number of days. The idols are also taken around the city and are then worshipped and brought back to the main temple. This way close to 10 idols do the rounds in rotation. These are called the Utsava Murtis.

 

Artist: Anil Kumar, Designed by: Bhartesh GD,
Nale Baa 

 Plague Amma, Naale Ba”

The concept of postponing the disaster or fear is Nale ba. “Plague Amma, Naale Ba” in 1898 was written on the walls of homes to deter the entry of the malevolent plague spirit into homes, pleading for the disease to, for death to “come tomorrow.”

Later in the 1990s the concept came back once again, Naale Baa was an urban legend that went viral during the 1990s in Karnataka. The myth goes "a witch roams the streets in the night and knocks on the door. There have even been a few films based on this concept, the most popular one being ‘O stree kal aana.’

Artist: Surekha, Designed by: Shree Tej

Wall Spits / Come Tomorrow, M.G.Road

Photographer: Archana Hande, Rejected Gods

Rejected Gods 

Exploration of the notion of ‘fetishism’ (attributing supernatural powers to a material object mistaken for the divine). The pictures and idols of Gods documented here have been abandoned on pavements and dump yards as they have been rejected - rejected because they are iconographically incorrect, or because the idols are damaged. Flawed representations are considered to be inauspicious and cannot be worshipped; nor can they be discarded because of their sacred value. Hence, they are laid to rest on the road and they continue to remain there either to be resurrected by wandering passers-by, or eventually to be thrown with the rubble of torn-down buildings. Interestingly, nobody dares to touch them.
The other belief is every 10 years the idol or the photo of the god loses its power. This could be counted as a marketing strategy to replace or buy new prints and idols. Of Course if the idol is made out of expensive material the power is retained.

On the city walls and buildings you can also see images of the divine either pasted, painted or tile plastered on them. These images sacralize the walls and prevent people from desecrating them. No spitting, No urinating. It is also a strategy to place images of all religions to receive maximum response by the passersby.

Back in the day's Amma Kallu, Beesu Kallu or Rubbu kallu (grinding stone) were auspicious for the people of Bangalore/Karnataka. They were primarily placed outside the house and used for grinding grains, batter, chutney, and masalas not just by the individuals who own them but also by the neighborhood. As the plague came to the city as a precaution to avoid the spread of the virus it was moved indoors, There is a popular belief that the sound from the empty Kallu would cause quarrel in the household, to avoid that a creative way was implemented to move the kallu back in the house. They would remove the threshold of the main door frame of the house and slide the kallu inside avoiding any kind of sound. Modernization brought in new gadgets and replaced these traditional tools. Now the Amma Kallu or Rubukallu could not be kept at home or be thrown away as it was believed to be a bad omen. The solution was an interesting one, people began placing them outside the gates of their homes, which was in turn believed to be a good omen. Then again with time, they were moved out and now can be seen in very few households or seen as antiques.