Dear Raghy sir
Greetings
"In my opinion, you are confusing 'Ratha Katteri' with Kali. Same with Ellai Amman too. They all are different deities."
I agree with you sir and i have no confusion in this.
Most village Kaval Deivams in the form of Muneeswaran,Ellai ammans are a different form of deities, then comes Ratha Kateri,Kolluvai Pishachu, Jadamuni, etc.
Normally for Village ammans, devotees only give what one calls' Padaippu" not neivedyam like what is normally devotees do in other type temples like Vinayaka, Muruga, Lakshmi etc
Also after doing the "padaippu" the devotees take that as only Padaippu and not as prasadam; please correct me if i am wrong.
But in the case of Village kula deivams like Ayyapa, it is only Neivedyam offered and after that it is called Prasadams.
Coming to Ratha Katteri, in this Ellai amma Koil case, i knew about it, as i was living there for 6 years in my early days.
In those days, although Ellai amman was not a Kateri, it was blood thirsty Amman and in those days devotees used to offer many goats, chickens etc.
Muneeswaran is also a type of village Kavalan, ferocious looking, and devotees used to offer Goad etc.
Jada muni is a different type; it is never worshiped as Kaval Deivam, but used to roam in the villages.
I was told by my elders, these Jada munis are really not harming type;
Once one of my our distant relative ,an old woman was possessed by one Jada muni, and even though that woman had no hairs on her head, she used to say" see my Jadai' like that.
I hope Amalaji is not scared reading this.
Muneeswarans were worshiped to drive away Pichachu ; in many villages, one might have noticed that a Pujari use neem leaves etc and thrash a person in front of muneeswaran temple.
When i was in Villivakkam, there was a house in the same road, where a pujari used to drive away Pichachu from the persons possessed by it.
We used to close our eyes and run past that home whenever we cross that home.
More to come....
eep:
