The Worship of Goddess Kotravai in Silappathikaram and the Life of the Eyinars

Abstract

Kotravai worship is the most important place in the worship of the mother goddess of the ancient Tamils. Kotravai is an ancient goddess. In Sangam literature, Kotravai is referred to by the names Pazhayol, Ganamar Selvi, and Ayirai. Literature indicates that the Eyinars worshipped the Goddess Kotravai. Ilangovadigal in the Madurai chapter has explained in detail the worship of the Kortavai of the Eyinars in the Vettuvavari story. The Eyinars have lived as an ethnic group. The leadership was not mentioned to them. The Eyinars lived as ethnic groups and made their living under the rule of chieftains. It is a fact that the literature suggests the truth that people who were good at hunting in the early times may have turned into murderers and robbers due to poverty. But it is an incontrovertible fact that the Tamil people who lived in ancient times were Eyinars. It can be seen from the Silappathikaram that they have destroyed their own race by sacrificing to the Kotravai.