Regional and Folk Deities

Deities whose worship is rooted in a specific region, language community or local tradition rather than the pan-Indian Puranic or Vedic pantheon, including the sacred river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna, the snake goddess Manasa of Bengal, the smallpox and disease goddess Shitala, the South Indian village goddesses Mariamman and Angalamman and the Tamil guardian deity Ayyanar, the Bengali forest goddess Bonbibi venerated by both Hindu and Muslim communities of the Sundarbans, the goddess Yellamma of Karnataka and Maharashtra, Bahuchara Mata, whose worship is closely associated with South Asia's hijra community, and Ayyappan, the popular South Indian deity of the Sabarimala pilgrimage tradition.