Angala Devi, also known as Angalamman, Angala Paramesvari, and Aṅkāḷaparamēcuvari, Periyandichi, Periyayi, Periyanayagi, Ankala, Kati Ankamma, Anakalamma, and Ankamma is an aspect of the Hindu goddess Parvati, or Kali, primarily worshipped in the villages of South India as a kaval deivam, a guardian deity. She is often additionally considered to be an aspect of one of the Matrikas. However, she predates Hinduism's presence in South India and is not an exclusively Hindu goddess. She is particularly venerated by thirunangai (Tamil transfeminine people) and seen as an ethical role model and legitimizer for their existence. She is also sometimes seen as a goddess of graves, cremation, and resurrection.
Origin While disputed, some believe that Angalamman is the deified form of a human woman who was wronged or murdered. Many deities in South India have such origins, and are sometimes called "pey" (a word also applied to evil and restless spirits). These figures are appeased after their wrongful death, reconciling them towards humans. They frequent cremation grounds, uncultivated areas, and uninhabited places. Angalamman notably is associated with the cremation ground and must be appeased during certain ceremonies, and is an ambivalent figure that can afflict or heal. However, no myth that describes her as being wronged and dying tragically exists today. Given her association with children and as a "fetus slayer", some more specifically posit that she was a murdered pregnant woman. Her ambivalent goddess status (rather than a demonic one) allows those who have lost children to better cope by interacting with her, as she both gives an opportunity for things to be remedied and a way to view the death more positively without diminishing the horror of what happened.
Despite this, some of her devotees (such as many thirunangai) see her as a primarily positive presence in their lives, in contrast to transfeminine devotees of another ambivalent goddess, Yellama, where the ambivalence is more prominent. Instead, her fearsome aspects are seen as protective, and issues devotees have are seen as their faults being tested or the result of outside forces, such as evil spirits and sorcerers. Her anger, frenzy, and outrage are considered moral and righteous states that may be experienced by her devotees as well during trance. However, this anger is not seens as something to leave uncontrolled.
Legend Angalamman is a manifestation of Parvati that is more popular in South India. She is a fierce form of Parvati who is a guardian deity in many villages. It is stated that Parvati took the form of Angala Amman to help Shiva get rid of the Kapala that was following him after he cut off the fifth head of Brahma.
She is sometimes considered one of the Seven Sisters, a group of goddesses represented by the Pleiades. However, this grouping is applied to many different goddesses, and sometimes may be an independent group. The Seven Sisters are also sometimes conflated with the Saptamatrikas. The Seven Sisters are sometimes said to have a younger brother, Potu Razu.
At one point the Sembadava (a caste of freshwater fishermen) considered Angalamman to be their clan deity. To this day they hold the priesthood rights at one of her prominent temples. They believe that Angalamman was a Sembadava woman who Shiva fell in love with, and at one point performed rituals to her where participants dressed up as Shiva by wearing a feathered cap and smearing ashes on their faces. She has also been recorded as keeping away "the devils of the forest". She is also important to some clans of land owning farmers.
The goddess Pecci or Periyachi is sometimes considered a form of Angalamman. Pecci can either harm or protect children, and is frequently depicted as disembowling pregnant women and removing fetuses from their bellies. One of Pecci's prominent myths is that she prevented Shiva from being reborn into a monstrous lineage with a devilish king for a father by tricking the king (Vallalarajan) into letting her serve as midwife, then disembowling the queen. Another is that she was a midwife who discovered that a couple was planning to sacrifice their child once born, and killed both of them, disembowling the woman and raising their son as her own. At other times Pecci is simply Angalamman's attendant.
A variant of the Vallalarajan myth exists in the Manai Telugu Chettiar community, who consider themselves to be the "children of Amman". In it, an asura (no name given) manages to win a boon from Shiva (this is an element of some versions of the Vallalarajan myth). Using his boon he causes suffering and trouble for many others, but because the boon cannot be revoked, Parvati is given a new boon to help her kill this asura. She descends in the form of Angalamman, and the asura is so terrified he hides inside a corpse. To find him Angalamman proceeded to eat every corpse in the graveyard. She also tied some of the body parts around her waist and danced during this occasion.
Brahma's head
The core myth of Angalamman follows a basic structure: Brahma in some way angers Shiva (usually in a way involving Parvati and/or Angalamman), Shiva takes one of Brahma's heads, the head harms Shiva, and Angalamman saves Shiva but temporarily enters a frenzied, angry state to do so (either from a curse, attack, or willful transformation into a fearsome form like Kali). Among thirunangai this narrative may have an added detail or event that emphasizes why Angalamman has a connection to them.
According to legend, Shiva took the form of Bhairava and cut off the fifth head of Brahma for being arrogant about his creation. Brahma had no remorse about the suffering that living beings experienced on earth. Shiva soon felt remorseful. To receive redemption for the sin, Brahma told him to become a wandering ascetic (Bhikshatana) and beg for food in his skull, and he felt remorse for and cured the suffering of living beings on earth.
As per the story of Angalamman, the fifth head of Brahma started following Shiva. The head of Brahma made his home in the arm of Shiva and started eating whatever Shiva received from begging.
Parvati decided to put an end to the Kapala of Brahma. On the advice of Vishnu, she prepared food for Shiva at Thandakarunyam Tirtham near Angikulam Tirtham. Shiva came to eat the food. Parvati intentionally scattered food around the place and the Kapala of Brahma came down to eat them, leaving the hand of Shiva. Parvati seized this opportunity and took the fierce form of Angalamman and stamped down the Kapala using her right leg and destroyed it, turning it into ashes, after which it merged with Brahma.
Another version of this story is that originally, Brahma and Shiva both had five heads. Brahma one day disguised himself and attempted to have sex with Shiva's wife, Parvati, but was caught when she saw his true reflection in the water. She told her husband of this, and in his rage he struck Brahma, and took one of his heads off. The head stuck to Shiva and began sucking away his life force and driving him mad. He wandered the world's cremation grounds, afflicted and eating marrow from human bones, half burnt corpses, and drinking blood. Vishnu informed Angalamman that soon Shiva would arrive at a cremation ground near her, and that she had to cook massive amounts of food and scatter them in the area. The food enticed the head to release Shiva so it could eat the food, and Angalamman stomped on it. Unfortunately, this meant the head was now attached to Angalamman, and began driving her crazy and making her eat corpses. To help her, a large yearly festival occurs (Mayana Kollai) where large amounts of food are taken to the cremation ground, which satiate her hunger and return Angalamman to her normal self. A slight variation on this story is that the head did not bite Angalamman, but Saraswati cursed her for stepping on Brahma's head, causing her to go mad and have an insatiable hunger.
A variant of the previous story is that Angalamman (who in this version is Shiva's wife) mistakenly bowed to Brahma, as he and Shiva both having five heads confused her, and Brahma mocked her by joking that she was unfaithful. This angered both her and Shiva, causing her to curse Brahma and say he'd loose a head, and Shiva to immediately fulfill that curse. The rest of the story proceeds as the previous except that Angalamman took the form of Kali before stomping on the head and it did not manage to bite her. In this story she fuses with Shiva's left side and becomes Ardhanari at the end, emphasizing her connection to transgender women.
During her madness, Angalamman is described as dressing herself in rags, having loose disheveled hair, holding Brahma's severed head in her hand, and eating corpses.
A legend circulated only among the thirunangai says that after she stepped on Brahma's severed head and was driven mad by a curse and her hunger, she wandered into a hut that a thirunangai was living in during the month of Maasi. The thirunangai took her in, but was ill. Angalamman healed her with herbs (since outside of the month of Maasi she was able to behave normally). When Maasi came again, Angalamman once again took on a fearsome and mad form. She needed entrails to wear as a garland, and the thirunangai ended up sacrificing herself and giving Angalamman her entrails to wear. The thirunangai told Angalamman that she should appear in the form of a thirunangai from now on, and that it would bring prosperity to the land. And so, from then on Angalamman appeared as a thirunangai, gave special attention to thirunangais, and this is why thirunangais like her so much. This myth has some similarities to one where Yellama is chased by a land owner after picking some vegetables to eat, and is hidden by the goddess Matangi in the Dalit quarter. The land owner cuts off Matangi's nose for not telling him where Yellama went, but is healed and given the status of sister by Yellama when she sees what happened.
This central narrative emphasizes grand gestures of generosity. The amount of food used to save both Shiva and Angalamman is immense. The help Angalamman also requires a generosity of a spiritual nature, as in doing so Angalamman loses her sanity and personally suffers in Shiva's stead. It also emphasizes that actions initially involving two people spiral outward (especially in myths that distinguish Parvati and Angalamman as different people and include Vishnu and other gods as central figures). It emphasizes the morals of being willing to give (not just of worldly goods, but of one's self), being willing to be vulnerable to other's troubles, and being willing to intervene for others.
Because of the versions of this myth where Parvati and Angalamman are the same being, some women who have had to separate from their husbands (as Angalamman had to be separate from Shiva while he was wandering before she could save him) worship Angalamman.
The most famous temple dedicated to Angalamman is the Sri Angala Parameswari Temple at Melmalayanur in Gingee Taluk in Villupuram District in Tamil Nadu. This site is heavily associated with a major annual festival for Angalamman.
Iconography She is sometimes depicted with four arms. They hold a trident, a skull, a knife, and an utukkai drum. They might also hold two weapons, a utukkai drum, and a pot of food. On her head may be a crown with flames coming from it, behind which is a cobra with a spread hood. One leg may be folded with the other hanging down when she is seated. The foot hanging down may sometimes be stepping on Brahma's severed head, and her body language may come off as distinctly masculine. At other times she only has two arms, and yet other times she may have fangs, huge eyes, and a lolling tongue, holding many weapons and riding a lion. She is also sometimes depicted wearing a skirt made of rags. She also may wear a garland of skulls or lemons.