{{Short description|Tamil goddess}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}} thumb|upright=0.9|Goddess Korravai, a form of the Hindu goddess Parvati and a revered deity in Tamil Hindu culture, is depicted atop the beheaded head and body of the slain buffalo-demon Mahishasura. This relief carving, originally from the remnants of a magnificent 10th-century CE Tamil Hindu temple, is now located within the Nayakar Palace Art Museum, Madurai. thumb|alt=Korravai at Brihadishvara Temple, Thanjavur|Korravai at Brihadishvara Temple, Thanjavur '''Kotravai''' ({{IAST|Koṟṟavai}} / கொற்றவை), is the goddess of war and victory in the Tamil tradition. She is also the mother goddess and the goddess of fertility, agriculture, and hunters. In the latter form, she is sometimes referred to by other names and epithets in the Tamil tradition of South India and Sri Lanka, such as '''Atha''', '''Mari''', '''Suli''', and '''Neeli'''.<ref name="Schuler2009">{{cite book|author=Barbara Schuler|title=Of Death and Birth: Icakkiyamman, a Tamil Goddess|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wj76rDfgTCYC&pg=PA28 |year=2009| publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-05844-5|pages=28 with note 1.1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Nicholapillai Maria Saveri|title=A Catholic-Hindu Encounter: Relations Between Roman Catholics and Hindus in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 1900-1926 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wBXZAAAAMAAJ |year=1993|publisher=Centre for Performing Arts|page=170}}</ref> She is the form of the primordial Shakta goddess Parvati.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=savhAAAAMAAJ&q=kotravai+parvati |title=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1984 |publisher=Nanzan University Institute of Anthropology |pages=140 |language=en}}</ref>
Korava Idal (Malayalam: കുരവ ഇടൽ) and Kulavai Idal (Tamil: குலவை இடல்) refer to the traditional practice of ululation as a war cry or call to victory in Dravidian cultures. Historically associated with battle and triumph, this ritual ululation is a significant cultural expression in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Today, it is commonly performed during celebratory occasions such as weddings, housewarmings, and other festive events.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Castes_and_Tribes_of_Southern_India/FnB3k8fx5oEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA5&printsec=frontcover |title=Castes and Tribes of Southern India Volume 1|quote=bridegroom ties a string of black beads round the bride's neck. All the women present set up a roar, called kulavi-idal. |language=en}}</ref>
She is among the earliest documented goddesses in the Tamil Sangam literature, and also found in later Tamil literature. She is mentioned in the many poems in ''Paripāṭal'', though the dedicated poem to her in among those that are being discovered in history.<ref>{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Rani Segran|title=The River Speaks: The Vaiyai Poems from the Paripatal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnwruNVgFUkC&pg=PT47|date= 2012|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-81-8475-694-4|page=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Ca. Vē Cuppiramaṇiyan̲|author2=R. Vijayalakshmy|title=Philosophical Heritage of the Tamils|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5gnRAAAAMAAJ|year=1983|publisher=International Institute of Tamil Studies|page=138}}</ref> She is mentioned in the ''Pattuppattu'' anthology – the long Tamil poems dated between 300 BCE to 300 CE, including the ''Neṭunalvāṭai'', ''Maturaikkanci'', ''Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai'', and ''Paṭṭiṉappālai''.<ref>JV Chelliah (1946), ''Pattupattu - Ten Tamil Idylls (Tamil Verses with Englilsh Translation)'', Tamil University (1985 print), pp. xv–xxvi, 1–12</ref> In the Tamil epic ''Silappadikaram'' (c. 2nd-century), she is said to be the goddess of the Pālai region.
Her name is derived from the Tamil word ''korram'', which means "victory, success, bravery".<ref name="Zvelebil1992p21">{{cite book|first=Kamil|last=Zvelebil|title=Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC |year=1992|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-09365-6|pages=21–22 with footnotes}}</ref> The earliest references to Kotravai are found in the ancient Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam, considered to be the earliest work of the ancient Sangam literature.
She is also seen as a mother goddess, a symbol of fertility and success in agriculture.<ref name="Mahalakshmi2011p1">{{cite book|author=R. Mahalakshmi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7R9tgAACAAJ|title=The Making of the Goddess: Kor̲r̲avai-Durgā in the Tamil Traditions|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2011|isbn=978-0-14-341742-2|pages=1–7, Chapter 1 and 2}}</ref> Traditional rural communities offer the first harvest to her.<ref name="vr195">{{cite book|author=Vijaya Ramaswamy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALUvDwAAQBAJ|title=Historical Dictionary of the Tamils|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5381-0686-0|pages=195–196}}</ref> As war goddess who is blood thirsty, some texts such as the ''Silappadikaram'' and ''Agananuru'' mention that warrior devotees would, in a frenzy, offer their own head to the goddess.<ref name="vr195"/>
thumb|left|Standing Durga-Korravai in Varaha Mandapam. In Tamil Nadu, the blackbuck (Kalaimaan) is considered to be the vehicle of the Tamil goddess Korravai <ref name=geer>{{cite book|last1=van der Geer|first1=A.|title=Animals in Stone : Indian Mammals Sculptured through Time |url=https://archive.org/details/animalsstoneindi00geer|url-access=limited|year=2008 |publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, South Holland (Netherlands)|isbn=9789004168190|pages=[https://archive.org/details/animalsstoneindi00geer/page/n129 57]–58}}</ref><ref name="krishna">{{cite book|last1=Krishna|first1=N.|title=Sacred Animals of India|date=2010|publisher=Penguin Books India|location=New Delhi, India|isbn=9780143066194}}</ref> She is sometimes shown as riding a lion, as in the 7th-century mandapam of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. Both the lion and blackbuck is shown with a standing Korravai in a rock-relief panel at the Varaha Mandapam of Mahabalipuram.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/3248984 | first = James | last = Harle | year = 1963 | title = Durgā, Goddess of Victory | jstor = 3248984 | journal = Artibus Asiae | volume = 26 | issue = 3/4| pages = 237–246 }}</ref>
She is depicted as a deity with several arms holding different weapons. She is said to be the real mother of the Tamil Hindu god Kartikeya and her other children with Shiva as a form of Parvati. Sacrifices of animals and plants and dancing rituals are a part of the worship of this goddess.
== Notes and references ==
{{Reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
* Mahalakshmi, R. (2009). "Caṇkam literature as a social prism: an interrogation". Chapter 3 (29–41) in Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (editor). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0tX4wzIUY3QC A Social History of Early India]''. Pearson Education, India. * {{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/3248984 | author = Harle, James C. | year = 1963 | title = Durgā, Goddess of Victory | jstor = 3248984 | journal = Artibus Asiae | volume = 26 | issue = 3/4| pages = 237–246 }} * Kersenboom-Story, Saskia C. (1987). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lFR06tVELyIC Nityasumaṅgalī]: devadasi tradition in South India''. Motilal Banarsidass. * Kinsley, David R. (1988). ''[https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins Hindu goddesses]: visions of the divine feminine in the Hindu religious tradition''. Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions '''12'''. University of California Press. * Tiwari, Jagdish Narain (1985). ''Goddess Cults in Ancient India (with special reference to the first seven centuries A.D.)''. Sundeep Prakashan. [Adapted from his PhD thesis accepted by the Australian National University in 1971.]
Category:Hindu goddesses Category:Tamil deities Category:War goddesses Category:Nature goddesses Category:Lion goddesses Category:Forms of Parvati