The legend and etymology of Thulukkanathamman temples

Discover the history of Thulukkanathamman temples in Chennai, linked to the Nawabs of Arcot and ancient military camps.

Last Saturday, I conducted a heritage walk at Kotturpuram. Among the participants was KR Kathir Murugan, the local councillor and also Rajagopal Swaminathan, past president of the Kottur Gardens Residents Association. As we passed Thulukkanathamman Koil Street, the conversation turned towards this variety of goddess, and the etymology of the name.

All over Chennai, you can see shrines to Thulukkanathamman. Of late, there is a tendency to give it a classical twist by referring to it as Thulir Kanathu Amman, though this does not mean anything. There are men named Thulukkanam too. But what does the word mean? Documentation is quite scanty, and most temples of this kind claim an antiquity of around 300 years or so.

Standard Tamil dictionaries give the meaning of Thulukkanam as anything associated with those from Turkey. It therefore shares the same roots as the Tamil word for Muslims — Thurukkar/Thulukkar — and also the Sanskrit equivalent — Turushka. The goddess is hence very likely associated with the arrival of the Golconda/Arcot forces in this area. For the record, this variety of goddess is worshipped in North Arcot and Chengalpattu as well. Temples for the deity do not seem to exist in southern Tamil Nadu.

Within Madras, these temples are usually in the older parts — for instance, Mylapore, Thiruvallikeni, Nungambakkam, Old Washermanpet, Thiruvottriyur, Zamin Pallavaram, and Kottur. What is common among all these areas, apart from their antiquity, is their playing host to armies of the Nawabs of Arcot at some time or the other between the 17th and 19th Centuries. The Old Washermanpet Thulukkanathamman Temple, for instance, claims that it was consecrated by Muslims from the Deccan. It was very likely established by a General in the Golconda/Arcot army for his Hindu soldiers to worship in. The Kotturpuram temple to this goddess calls itself Thandu Thulukkanathamman Temple. Dandu/Thandu is an old word for army camp. In his excellent blog, Veludharan (www.veludharan.blogspot.com), who is my go-to person for all matters on Chennai temples, states that the Thulukkanathamman temple at West Mambalam came up when an army camped there. By the 18th Century, the Nawab having established his base in Madras, Thulukkanathamman temples seem to have come up in civilian pockets associated with his entourage.

Now why were such temples established? It was a common practice for invading or besieging armies to build tiny shrines of guardian deities for their soldiers. The prevalence of Muniswaran temples all over Arcot, Chennai, and Chengalpattu is an example. The goddesses, particularly Mariamman and other variants, were meant to ward off epidemics. When they broke out, they could fell an entire cantonment within a few days, and hence the precaution. There are Plague Mariamman temples in Bangalore and Coimbatore where such scourges made their appearance very frequently.

Harking back to Veludharan, he says the Pazhavanthangal shrine was built in 1810 in thanksgiving by Santhiappan, son of Paran(g?)imalay Taniappen, butler to Major W. Morrison. The colonial master rode over a Thulukkanathamman idol, developed high fever, and was cured subsequently. The goddess is identified in the inscription as Mauryama (Mariamman). The two were thus worshipped interchangeably. Iconographically, the Thulukkanathamman, like Mariamman, is most commonly just a head, with a crown, often located under a sacred tree such as the banyan or the peepul or the neem. There are temples where the icon has been replaced with a standard seated goddess form, with four arms, like Mariamman.

Mari was a synonym for any epidemic and Mahamari was smallpox. In Madras, it was a huge threat well into the 20th Century, appearing with an alarming regularity and so the goddess, as Mariamman/ Thulukkanathamman, was sought after for protection.