Shitala

Shitala Devi
Goddess of sores, ghouls, pustules and diseases
Devanagari	शीतला देवी
Tamil script	ஷீதலா தேவி
Bengali	শীতলা দেবী
Affiliation	Devi
Mantra	Jaya jaya Mātā Śītalā tumahī dharē jō dhyāna. Hōya bimala Śītala hr̥daya, vikasē buddhī bala jñāna. Ghaţa ghaţa vāsī Śītalā, Śītala prabhā tumhāra. Śītala chaiṃyyā Śītala maiṃyyā pala nā dāra.
Weapon	Broom
Consort	Jvarasura
Mount	Donkey

Shitala (Sheetala), also called Sitala (शीतला śītalā), is a Hindu goddess widely worshipped in North India, West Bengal, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan as the pox-goddess. She is the Goddess of sores, ghouls, pustules and diseases in Hindu mythology.

Name and variants

Shitala literally means smallpox in Sanskrit. Shitala is worshipped under different names all through the subcontinent. Śītalā is more often called mā or āmmā (‘mother’) and is worshipped by Hindus, Buddhists and tribal communities. The goddess is mentioned in early Tantric and Purāṇic literature and her later appearance in vernacular texts (such as the Bengali 17th century Śītalā-maṅgal-kāvyas, ‘auspicious poetry’) has contributed to strengthen her role in village Hinduism. Śītalā is worshipped as a protector.

Shitala is primarily popular among the people of North India and the Indian diaspora. In some traditions she is identified with an aspect of Parvati, the consort of Shiva. Ferrari (2009: 146-147) reports that Shitala is addressed with the following titles:

• The names implying a maternal condition: Mā, Ammā, Āi, Padmāvatī Mā (Mother [born from] a lotus],Baṛī Mā (Great Mother) and Moṭi Mā (Pearl Mother);
• The names implying a relation with a particular season: Vasanta Rāy (Queen of Vasanta), Vasanta Buṛī (the Beldam of Vasanta) and – among Munda speaking tribes – Māgh-boṅga (Spirit of Māgh);
• Honorific titles: Ṭhākurāṇī (Notrê Dame), Jāgrānī (Queen of the World), Karuṇamāyī (She who is full of mercy), Maṅgalā (The Auspicious One), Bhagavatī (The Blessed One), Dayāmāyī (She who is Full of Grace and Kindness).

The role of Shitala in South India is taken by the Goddess Mariamman, who is worshipped by the Dravidian-speaking people in the Indian Subcontinent and abroad (i.e. in the West but particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bali)

Shitala puja

The worship of Shitala is conducted by both Brahmins and low caste pujaris. She is primarily worshipped in the dry seasons of winter and spring. There are many arti sangrah and stuties for the puja of maa shitala.some of them are shri shitla mata chalisa, Shri Shitala maa ki arti,shri shitala mata ashtak etc.

Iconography and symbolism

The idol of Shitala Devi.

Shitala is accompanied by Jvarāsura, the fever demon, Olāi Caṇḍi/Olāi Bibi, the goddess of cholera, the Cauṣaṭṭī Rogas, the sixty-four epidemics, Gheṇṭukarṇa, the god of skin diseases, and Raktāvatī, the goddess of blood infections. Śītalā is represented as a young maiden crowned with a winnowing-fan, riding an ass, holding a short broom (either to spread or dust off germs) and a pot full of pulses (the viruses) or cold water (a healing tool). Among low-caste Hindus and tribal communities, she is aniconically represented with slab-stones or carved heads. Sometimes, she is said to be carrying a bunch of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves, an ancient Ayurvedic medicinal herb that is very much an effective remedy to most skin diseases even today^{[citation needed]}.

Shitala along with her consort Jvarasura is also sometimes depicted with a shady woman called Raktavati (Possessor of Blood). She is often worshiped with Oladevi, another disease goddess.

Buddhism

In Buddhist culture, Jvarasura and Shitala are depicted sometimes as companions of Paranasabari, the Budhhist goddess of diseases. Jvarasura and Shitala are shown escorting her to her right and left side, respectively. In some images these deities are shown as flying away to escape from wrath of the Buddhist goddess Vajrayogini, destroyer of diseases.

Temples

• Shitala Devi temple, Mumbai
• Jara Shitala Temple, Bowbazar, Kolkata
• Shitala Devi temple, Gurgaon
• Shitala Maa temple, Samta
• Shitala Maa Temple Mand, Mandla, Madhya Pradesh.
• Sheetla mandir, Jalandhar
• Maa Sheetla Mandir, Maghra (Maa Ghar), Biharsharif, Nalanda, Bihar
• Shitala Mata Mandir , New Colony , Mangalwari Bazaar , Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• Shitala Mata Mandir , Hingna T - Point , Ambazari Road , Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• Shitala Mata Mandir , Vill: Ghirdhar Pur Nawada, Post: Gulaothi (Saidpur Road), Distt: Bulandshahr , Uttar Pardesh.

See also

• Kali
• Māri
• Isakki
• Rangda

Notes

• Arnold, D. (1993) Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India, Berkeley, University of California Press.
• Auboyer, J. and M.T. de Mallmann (1950). ‘Śītalā-la-froide: déesse indienne de la petite vérole’, Artibus Asiae, 13(3): 207-227.
• Bang, B.G. (1973). ‘Current concepts of the smallpox goddess Śītalā in West Bengal’, Man in India, 53(1):79-104.
• Kinsley, D. Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition
• Dimock, E.C. Jr. (1982) ‘A Theology of the Repulsive: The Myth of the Goddess Śītalā’, in J.S. Hawley and D.M. Wulff (eds), The Divine Consort: Rādhā and the Goddesses of India, Berkeley, University of California Press, 184-203
• Ferrari, Fabrizio M. (2007) ‘Love me two times. From smallpox to AIDS. Contagion and possession in the cult of Śitala.’ Religion of South Asia, 1(1), 81-106.
• Ferrari, Fabrizio M. (2009). “Old rituals for new threats. The post-smallpox career of Sitala, the cold mother of Bengal”. In Brosius, C. & U. Hüsken (eds.), Ritual Matters, London & New York, Routledge, pp. 144–171.
• Inhorn, M.C. and P.J. Brown (eds) (2005). The Anthropology of Infectious Disease. International Health Perspectives, Amsterdam, Routledge.
• Junghare, I.Y. (1975) ‘Songs of the Goddess Shitala: Religio-cultural and Linguistic Features’, Man in India, 55(4): 298-316.
• Katyal, A. and N. Kishore (2001) ‘Performing the goddess: sacred ritual into professional performance’, The Drama Review, 45(1), 96-117.
• Kolenda, P. (1982) ‘Pox and the Terror of Childlessness: Images and Ideas of the Smallpox Goddess in a North Indian Village’, in J.J. Preston (ed.), Mother Worship, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 227-250
• Mukhopadhyay, S.K. (1994) Cult of Goddess Śītalā in Bengal: An Enquiry into Folk Culture, Calcutta, Firma KLM.
• Stewart, T.K. (1995) ‘Encountering the Smallpox Goddess: The Auspicious Song of Śītalā’, in D.S. Lopez, Jr. (ed.), Religious of India in Practice, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 389-397.
• Wadley, S.S. (1980) ‘Śītalā: The Cool One’, Asian Folklore Studies, 39: 33-62.