A Talk by Asst. Professor. Indira Arumugam

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

National University of Singapore

Abstract: The goddess Periyachi has been good to think with. This paper is a reflection on my anthropological research on Periyachi worship in public temples dedicated to mother goddesses in Singapore as well as in intimate settings like private Singaporean homes and among villagers in rural Tamil Nadu. Two main questions have emerged from and propelled my research on the Periyachi cult. First is the intricate effects of overseas migration on the nature and force of specific deities as well as the constitution and ambience of specific ritual cults. What happens when a goddess from the rural hinterlands migrates with her devotees to a cosmopolitan city?

Second, what is the difference that gender makes to the imagination of, framing and approach to divinities and rituals? What happens when a mother and midwife goddess primarily of and for women becomes appropriated by male ritual specialists, instituted in public temples and worshipped with spectacular rituals? Fundamental to appreciating the multifaceted nature of not only the goddess but also of various ritual approaches to her is ethnographic comparison. Following the goddess as she travels from her rural origins to settle among the urban diaspora as well as her oscillations between households and temples and between women's and men's worship has facilitated the centering of ordinary people's everyday sacraments and their improvised and intimate theologies. In so doing, I grapple with imaginings of spirituality not, as is orthodox, from outside of but rather from within the framework of materiality.