Pattini is chief among the guardian deities of the Sinhala Buddhist pantheon of Sri Lanka, venerated for her power to cure epidemic disease and protect chastity and fertility. Her cult centers on the Gammaduwa ritual and on the legend of her husband Palanga, unjustly executed on a false charge, whose death Pattini avenged by tearing off her breast and using it to burn down the city of Madurai. She is venerated in parallel by Tamil Hindus as Kannagi, the same figure under a different name, making her cult one of the clearest points of contact between Sri Lanka's Buddhist and Hindu religious communities.
Facts
Belief
TheologyPattini is chief among the guardian deities layered onto a formally non-theistic Buddhism, and she is venerated in parallel by Tamil Hindus as Kannagi under a different name, so her cult crosses two religious frameworks rather than sitting inside one settled classification. Attributions
Mythic AssociationHer central myth recounts the unjust execution of her husband Palanga on a false accusation of theft; Pattini proved his innocence, then tore off one of her own breasts and used it to set fire to the city of Madurai in retribution, sparing only the virtuous. 1 Function
Domain / Function Attestation
Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 2 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 3 Connections
Associated With
Source The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (Obeyesekere)Gananath Obeyesekere
Source The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (Obeyesekere)Gananath Obeyesekere
This source names Pattini directly: "Lanka and southern India, among them Pattini, worshipped by Sinhala Buddhists as a goddess of chastity, health and protection, who is Kannagi, the wronged heroine of the Tamil epic Silappatikaram..."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names Tamils directly: "Pattini is chief among the guardian deities of the Sinhala Buddhist pantheon of Sri Lanka, venerated for her power to cure epidemic disease and protect chastity and fertility."
Source The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (Obeyesekere)Gananath Obeyesekere
This source names Pattini directly: "study of the Sri Lankan goddess Pattini, published by the University of Chicago Press in 1984."
Source The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (Obeyesekere)Gananath Obeyesekere
Sources
1. The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (Obeyesekere)
Gananath Obeyesekere, University of Chicago Press, 1984
2. Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.), Routledge
3. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
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