Phul Mata
Phul Mata is a Hindu goddess of disease, one of a group of seven sister goddesses with similar associations. Her sisters were Sitala Mata, Badi Mata, Pansahi Mata, Gusulia Mata, Kankar Mata, and Malbal.[1] Another tradition names the sisters as Sitala Mata, Chamariya mata, Durga Kali, Maha Kali, Bhadra kali and Kalika Bhavani.[2][3][4] As a group, they were well known in northern India, and were often represented by balls of clay.[5][6] Phul Mata was specifically associated with typhoid fever.[7]
Phul Mata is mentioned in epic and Puranic Hindu literature.[8] She may have originally been perceived as a shakti, a personification of divine power, but in Hinduism gradually became associated with evil intent and illness. She was said to inflict sickness on children under seven years of age.[9]
Sources
[edit]- ↑ Commissioner, India Census (1902). Census of India, 1901.
- ↑ Reddy, Prof Katta Narasimha; Reddy, Prof E. Siva Nagi; Naik, Prof K. Krishna (31 January 2023). Kalyana Mitra: Volume 10. Blue Rose Publishers.
- ↑ Ferrari, Fabrizio M. (20 November 2014). Religion, Devotion and Medicine in North India: The Healing Power of Sitala. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4725-9872-1.
- ↑ Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (in German). 1905.
- ↑ Indian studies: past & present. 1970.
- ↑ Hastings, James (1928). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Scribner.
- ↑ Economic and Political Weekly. Sameeksha Trust. 1989.
- ↑ Jordan, Michael (14 May 2014). Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438109855.
- ↑ Stutley, Margaret (2006). Hindu Deities: A Mythological Dictionary with Illustrations. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 9788121511643.
 | This Hindu mythology–related article about a Hindu deity is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |