Pattini cult
Also called: Kannagi worship · Topic: Sangam Age and Early South India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Pattini cult is the worship of Kannagi as a goddess. Pattini means a faithful, chaste wife. It grew out of the story in the Tamil epic Silappadikaram. The worship spread across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka, and it is still alive today.
Example
The Silappadikaram says the Chera king Senguttuvan started this worship. He brought a stone from the Himalayas, carved an image of Kannagi from it, and set it up in a temple. The epic says the king of Sri Lanka, Gajabahu, came to this ceremony and took the worship back to his island.
Don't confuse with
- Murugan worship: Murugan was a hill and war god from the earliest Sangam poems. The Pattini cult honours a woman from an epic who was later turned into a goddess.