My cousin brother’s daughter’s Family Deity is Angala Parameswari.
It is rare to find the Family of Brahmins having Angala Parameswari as Family Deity.
I have also noticed that some Brahmin Families have Village Deities , like the one for Vana Durga near Tiruvarur.
My mother used to take us for th Tonsuring of the head to Andavar Koil near Manapparai after visiting Palani in Tamil Nadu.
I am intrigued.
These Deities are not Vedic Deities,
How come these are worshiped in Brahmin Households when Brahmins are basically Vaidikas, those who follow the Vedas?
My interpretation is that as Hinduism allows Ishta Devata( One’s personal choice of God), apart from Kula Devata , Family Deity,Deities like Ankala Parameswari might have been the Ista Devatha at some point of time and later it might have become the Family Deity.
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Goddess Ankalamma, or Angalamma, is also known as Ankamma or Angamma, Ankali, Angali, Ankala Parameswari and Angala Parameswari. She is worshipped with these names in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Ankalamma is counted as one of the Matrikas or “Seven Mothers“. [H. Krishna Sastri, “South Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses” pages 223–224] She is also considered to be a form of goddess Ankali or Kali. In order to incorporate her worship into Vedic Hinduism, Ankamma is labeled as the mother of the Trimurtis, the Hindu male trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. However, Ankalamma is a non–Vedic deity and, like so many Tamil popular deities, she seems to have originated in a fierce guardian figure. Hindu scholars like H, Krishna Sastri say that “it is difficult to explain the origin of her name“, but he affirms that the sacred areas of Ankalamma and similar village goddesses are much dreaded by the locals. In the rituals dedicated to her she is appeased with blood…
Pardhis of North India worship Goddess Kalanka. The Koravas, Erukalas, Bedaras, Valmikis, Mudiraj, Kapus and even cholas who had their origins in Bhil–Pardhis, worship this Kalanka in the name of Ankala. Ankamma is a gradual modification of the name Kalanka.
Kala = Black
Aank = Anka = Eye
Kalanka = Goddes with Black Eyes
Kalanka => Kala + Anka => Anka + Kala => Ankala
Kalanka => Ankala => Ankalamma => Ankamma
Ankamma Kolupu ritual
The main characteristic of the ritual called Ankamma Kolupu is that a midnight worship (puja} is performed by making a colorful Rangoli with wheat flour, turmeric powder, kumkum, black charcoal powder, etc. During the worship singers recite ballads based on local stories about warrior ancestors (Veeran).The climax comes at the end of the ritual, when the devotees sacrifice a goat and its blood is spilled in order to appease the goddess. Other rituals like the Devara Kolupu or Veerla Kolupu are normally performed on some special occasions by individuals or by the community as a whole.”
Citation.
http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/7905731
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