Please lead me the lord Ganesa who sits under Neem tree,Īnd Please lead me he who removes obstacles. Please lead me, Vinayaga who was born before the god with Vel, Please lead me, the gem who was born before lord Skanda, Who is the son of the god with three eyes, Please lead me ahead and ahead, oh, God who removes obstacles, Vembadiyir pillayare, vikkinare, munnadaivai. Velavarkku mun piranda vinayagare munnadaivai, Kandarukku mun piranda karpagame munnadavai, Mundi mundi vinayagre, mukkannar than magane, Who is the great support to all people in this earth, When I sing this special lullaby to the sister of Vishnu, Let the great Ganapathy provide the protection, Seedharanar thangai, sirappana thalattai, Vinayagar Thuthi Poothalathil yavarkkum peradaravay ennalum, There is also mention of her interaction with several Gods of the Vedas and Puranas. She in some places is referred to as the sister of Lord Krishna (the girl who was born to Yasoda, at the same time when lord Krishna was born to Devaki), there is reference to the yantras in the body, to Sri Chakra worship, to several village gods of Tamil Nadu and so on. Several references to Puranic gods are made. More than being poetic, it clearly brings out the utter devotion and the colossal fear in the mind of her devotees. Though not written in the Stotra style, the lullaby sings praise of Goddess Mari, mentions her various forms, mentions her companions, mentions the acts of devotees for getting her favour, contains in various places of her worship, prayer to her to remove the small pox eruptions from the body etc. A request is made to her for help in singing the story of Mari. The Lullaby starts with a prayer to Ganesa and then prayer to Goddess Saraswathi. It is believed to be ancient but references to instruments like Clarinet (a western musical instrument), reference to the invasion of Marathas etc indicate that additions to the lullaby took place as per the local times and the imaginative approach of the singer. The song written in a folk music style does not obey any rules of Lullabies except that it is aimed at soothing the Mariamman rather than the baby, The language used is not literal Tamil but spoken Tamil. One such form of propitiation is the singing of “ Mariamman Thalattu” (Lullaby to mariamman) accompanied by fast playing of a small drum. People believed that in a pox affected person, she has come in person and would not go away unless she is propitiated. People believed that she did not tolerate any clinical treatment for such diseases except worshipping her and caressing the eruptions of the pox with margosa leaves. She was once considered to be responsible for the pox epidemics which used to wipe away entire villages. This Another form of worship is for the devotees to hang on a crane with a hook pierced in their body or tied to the pole by cloth. This was also called Karagam and is the forerunner of Karagattam of the present day, which is a dance balancing a pot on the head. After the sacrifice the meat of these animals is carried round her temples in a bamboo basket. Animal sacrifices are often carried out, the preferred animals being goat and buffalo. These embers are never called “fire” but “Flowers” In some other temples the women devotees carry a mud pot containing burning embers kept over Margosa leaves in their bare hand during festivals to please her.In some cases, after bath in the nearby river, women go to her temple dressed in a saree like clothing made of Margosa leaves. In many temples, there is a ritual walk on burning embers by her devotees. There is also a very famous temple for her in the city of Singapore. One of her most famous temple for her is in Samayapuram near the town of Trichy in Tamil Nadu. In some cases she is represented only by the statue of her head with local villagers believing that the entire village is her body. Most of her temples do not have buildings and in some cases, she is represented simply by a granite stone in a village field. Invariably the priest in her temples does not belong to the Brahmin caste and the agamas for her worship are very much different from the normal Hindu temples. Toddy and meat are offered to her during worship. She is considered as a goddess who would punish, if not propitiated properly. Mostly her form in the temple is ferocious. While most people believe that she is the goddess Kali or the form of Renuka Devi who was the mother of Parasurama, some people believe that she is Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas and yet others believe that she is Vasugi, the wife of Thiruvalluvar. Mari, Mariyamma and Marikamba, all denote a grama devata who is very popular in the villages of South India. Ramachander, Kannabiran Ravi Shankar, and Dr.