Conclusion

Chapter VI

of an identity consciousness, which is lived, expanded, and culturally transmitted.

The rituals of the goddess during the Jataras show her close connection with vegetation, crops, and fertility. The first rite that is preparatory to her ritual is the sprouting of Navdhanyalu (nine variety of seeds), which is performed to ensure good rains and crops to beget children and to ward off epidemics.

In the agency areas of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram the communities of Koya, Bhagatha, Kondareddy etc celebrate the festival of shifting cultivation or Podu cultivation. This Kandikotha Panduga is exclusively for the harvest of the first crop of Kandi. As majority of people live on agriculture in this region, they will be very happy if the whole crop reaches their house with out any calamities

Women in India not only worship local goddesses but also worship trees and

serpents for special reasons like marriage and barrenness. A Common belief is

that if a Naga appears in a dream the person will be blessed with many

children. Because, snakes produce more eggs than any other creatures of

common occurrence. The agricultural communities believe that snakes

contribute to the fertility of the soils and the health of the cattle.

In several parts of the world, the mother goddesses have often been associated with diseases. Disease is seen as a favor of the goddess. The village goddess is the belief system embodies the very life and health of the natives. She can cause, prevent and alleviate disease. The reason for female deities invoked more than the male deities for purpose of healing is that the goddesses have the attributes of nurturing qualities.

They are the primary and original sources of life like human mothers and they represent a reprieve from the more painful realities of death, decay and disease. Goddesses are also linked to the darker experiences in the human condition. The healing and the quest for wholeness are universally associated with goddess worship not with the worship, of male deities.

In the Indian society 'ideally' women were accepted as a living force in society, the embodiment of Shakt'x (Power) and a symbol of purity, religiousness spirituality and sacrifice. In practice, however, they were subjected to suppression many deprivations, and exploitation. The myths of the goddess cast females in roles that appear to the social rules of females.

The goddesses are depicted as untraditional and unconventional. All women

must be chaste or self-controlled, in regard to their sexual desires. Sexually

aggressive, independent or unwed goddesses are usually regarded in Hinduism

as dangerous and inauspicious where as properly married, passive, and subservient goddesses embody auspiciousness and well-being.

One of the important features of the annual festival of the village goddesses isanimal sacrifice. In the words of Preston, a ritual sacrifice cannot be equated with everyday slaughter for food. It is to establish a symbolic relationship between man and god. It is an act of love, thanks giving or conciliation.

This is neither primitive nor barbaric but rather, an expression of special significance for devotees who strive to establish a sense of harmony with the cosmic order. The sacrifice may also be understood as representing the defeat of the invading demon or demons that are also associated with the consort of the goddess or husband who had afflicted or abused her in the myths.

The village goddess festival, which is held annually or cyclically, is one of the

auspicious events for the villagers and the village as a whole. The Jatara

provides an occasion for social gathering and helps in strengthening the intra

village communal bonds and harmony. The Jatara is performed for the

prosperity of the village and every individual of the respective village,

irrespective of caste and creed, propitiate the goddess for her benevolence. At

Regarding the Sanskritisation of the village goddesses, the process of mixture of elements in the Hindu tradition has been going on from the earliest times and has resulted in a form of society and culture in which the interaction of the little and the great tradition has become endemic and relatively stable. The priesthood of Brahmans in the temples of village goddesses, the legitimating of village goddesses in the Sanskritic texts is a part of Sanskritisation of village goddesses. Although Sanskritic identification does not necessarily bring adjacent the little communities closer to each other, they do bring the great community closer to all the little communities.

At the other side the lower caste people gain influence over upper caste people

through mother goddess beliefs. As the lower caste mediums are believed to

have good rapport with the goddess during the time of epidemics the upper

caste men worship her with the help of the lower castes in giving blood

sacrifice and other ritual practices. The Pambalas, the traditional storytellers as

well as shamans in north coastal Andhra invoke and appease the goddess with

their traditional music and songs. In Andhra, there is a saying that "Pamba

Palikithe Kaani Amba Palakadu" (until the Pamba sounds the goddess won't

be invoked). These Pambalas get a great respect from the landlords of the

region during the village goddess festivals. Thus the lower castes find a degree

of compensation for their lower rank in their power to control the upper caste

religion of village without confusing one another. The cult of the mother

goddess shows how beliefs and practices regarding tangible matters of crucial

importance allow the non-Sanskritic, little tradition to attract even upper caste

followers, through of universalisation.

Map of Andhra Pradesh Showing North Coastal Andhra ( Ficr. 1 ) ,

(not to scale)

GANACHARI F i g . 2

SIDIBOMMA