KULA DEVATHA/TUTELARY/FAMILY DEITIES:
ORIGIN AND CONCEPT

-Santhipriya-

142. Brahma realized that the folks in Satya Yuga called ‘Yuga of truth’ would remain free of greed, negativity, free of evilness, pure at heart and acts, free of anger and vengeance etc and therefore not much divine forces would be needed to guide and guard them in Satya Yuga, but only subsequent Yugas would require more divines. Therefore, he ensured that after the cosmic was created, increased number of divines in various forms and appearances manifested beginning from Thretha Yuga and continued till the end of the fourth Yuga called Kali Yuga.
143. Brahma foreknew that with the dawn of every new Yuga, the mind culture and behavioral attitude and characteristics of humans would gradually fall from purity to darkness, and by the time the Kali Yuga emerge, the morality of the mankind would have reached the lowest ebb.
144. Brahma was aware that yuga after yugas, the initially created souls would keep multiplying into several million souls even as land space would also increase to accommodate them till end of one Manvantara. Their behavioral pattern would also vary from Yuga to Yuga as the characteristics of the land would have its influence over their mind culture. Hence Brahma may have planned for the creation of more and more divine forces particularly Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities to take care of the increased populace in each of the Yugas. Perhaps this is the reason why we could see thousands of divine forces of all nature emerging afresh in different parts of the universe from Thretha Yuga itself compared to what has been mentioned in our puranic texts and epics.
145. After the land was made ready for the souls to settle down in the Satya Yuga, Brahma’s creations began to turn into mild knowledgeable creatures. It is believed that the acts like worship of some kind of divine or formless divines began to emerge at a very, very low key and gained momentum somewhere in Thretha Yuga and Dwapara Yuga. As the humans begun to gain knowledge, the folks who lived in each patch of land began to believe that something beyond their imaginations, super humans existed and prayed to the unknown to guard them which laid the foundation for worship, later expanded to the adaption of Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities.
146. The historians and archaeologists confirm that the folks of pre-Vedic period folks began to learn what was known as worship and prayer. Therefore, they  worshipped  sun, moon, fire, trees, mounts, rocks along with some other unknown forms of nature like rains, thunder and stones fearing that they may harm them if not worshipped. Therefore, one can be sure that the divines with specific form or appearances did not exist during the Rig vedic period and everything began only from Satya Yuga onwards.

147. According to the spiritual  masters,  Satya Yuga was known as the age of truth, or golden age when humanity was governed by divine, and every manifestation or work was close to the purest ideal and humanity. As per Bhagavata Purana,  the morality which was high in the initial yuga  stood on four legs which were termed as austerity, cleanliness, compassion and  truth.
148. Satya Yuga reportedly  began  sometime before  six to seven million  years, when advancement of    knowledge began on good scale. It was a time of great beauty, compassion, and understanding and folks began to live in harmony with each other; there was   great spiritual awareness too.
149. Satya Yuga reportedly  began  sometime before  six to seven million  years, when advancement of knowledge began on good scale. It was a time of great beauty, compassion, and understanding and folks  lived in harmony with each other; there was great spiritual awareness too.
150. Due to the continuous propagation of sages and saints who were got readied by the seven Maharishis created by Brahma, the feeble belief that someone more powerful than humans existed entered into the mind of folks; slowly the feeling turned into fear for unknown, ultimately leading to some kind of worship to the unknown in open spaces.
151. Since entire land across the universe in the initial stages were patches of land and bushy forested lands occupied by few humans along with animals, the folks worship to stones, rocks and trees which were in vague in Rig vedic period continued to be performed in open spaces for long period of time. The folks feared to go near those specific stones, rocks or even certain trees fearing that something unusual, unknown spirits resided there and therefore stood from a distance and prayed to save them.
152. This was happening to the fine-tuned drama of Brahma  who wanted the folks to begin accepting the existence of divine forces out of fear. The divines meant to settle in those places entrenched in them in invisible form and kept on increasing the fear of the folks till they completely surrendered to them.
153. The low-lying Maharishis with disciples, Rishis, saints and sages took the opportunity to convert the fear of the folks into some sort of worship pattern by orally transmitting stories to make the folks believe that the mysterious appearances were super humans- called divines – who had come there from space above (heaven) to guide and guard them. Thus, it is fair to believe that the  worship of invisible deities  may have begun sometime before six million years since the scientific theories suggest the first sight of humans only at that period of time. Slowly the first set of divines released by the prime divines too began to appear through mystery lightening, thunders, fearful sounds, ghost images etc in several areas and became group specific deities. This is how the group specific deities slowly turned into Tutelary/Family/Kula Devatha in the later stages began.
154. Each part of the land had unknown nos of invisible divine manifest. We need not dwell deep in to different forms of worship; it would be sufficed, if one understood how the the concept of divine worship began six million years ago even though the first primitive primates in the category of Anthropoidea (the bigger-brained monkeys and apes, including humans) appeared 55 million years ago on the vast land. No evidence of manifestation of divines before 55 million years is available. Therefore, it is safely assumed that the divine worship and appearance of divines may have commenced only before six to seven million years from now on.
155. The second line of divines were assigned specific lands which were much bigger areas covered by the third, fourth and fifth line of divines. The Second line of divines were the shadow divines of first line of divines. They were sent to represent the first line of divines. The second line of divines too enjoined enormous divine powers because they were also energy rays of prime divines only but emanated through them. They could exercise their authority and divine powers fully to guide and guard the families under their command.
156. What is the actual difference between first and second line of divines? Not much difference except that the secondary line of divines were mostly manifestations from the first line of divines and rarely released from the body of ‘Supreme’ at the request of Though the divine powers vested in them were also the same like the first line of divines, the scope of their authority were  restricted to limited areas and  for specific groups of divines under them. They were mostly meant to be seated in the shines and temples to bless those who worshipped or prayed to them. They do not become Kuladevatha/ family /tutelary deity except in very rare cases. However, they manifested in different forms, or took several incarnations  for specific tasks assigned to them. Some of their incarnates however turn into Kula Devatha or tutelary deities much later.
157. The third line of divines were sub divines functioning under second line of divines. They come from sinned or cursed Deva ganas, especially the one who accrued the maximum sin or cursed during their stay in ‘Supreme’ Loga, but also include those who assisted the other divines in some war or other events. They also stood as the Guardian deities of the temples of prime divines. They manifested as human or as animals and then turned into Village deities, guardian deities and local deities. Once they became Village Deity, they assisted all other divines who were present in several areas besides guarding the boundaries of space where all of them manifested. Some of the Village deities were also the incarnations of second line of divines.
158. The concept of Kuladevatha/Family/Tutelary deities are in vague only in the southern part of India, while there is no such larger concept in the North. There were several castes and not families which are identified with specific deities whom they worshipped as Ishta devatha or devathas meant for their clan.
159. In north India the concept of Village Deities is mostly unknown  except in parts of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa where the tribal are concentrated who worship some form of Village Deities. Otherwise in general, Lord Shiva’s Ganas and Snakes, Mohinis, Yogins, Kali, and Lord Bhairava are  kept in the village entrances or in the first reachable temples to stand guard to their villages. Some of the statues  used to be in half body, some have only the face of some Deity or simple Stone that were worshiped. They believe that the said Deities stand guard to their area. Apart from it they also believe that Lord Anjaneya is the Guardian Deity. May be this belief has been the reason to find several temples with  Anjaneya installed in the form of a simple stone painted in orange colour. Those temple used to be the place where  Anjaneya resided to guard the Village from attacks of evils.
160. Only from the third line of divines and below, the Kuladevatha/Family /tutelary deities emerged in southern India.  Village deities are deities worshipped by villagers as a part of a long, continuous tradition in rural India. The famous Village deity Kathavarayan is believed to be the incarnate of Muruga who incurred a small curse from Shiva and born as Kathavarayan to atone the sin. Another famous Folk deity called Madurai Veeran, a cursed Devagana from Devaloga is believed to protect city Madurai and Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. He is also worshipped by many as their Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deity. The other Village deity include Ayyanaar who is reportedly the incarnate of Aiyappa. Sudalai Madan, Ezhu Kanniyar take the form of seven virgins and Kanakampikai Amman is the guardian goddess of the Vanni region in Sri Lanka and Sangali Karuppan etc.
161. How do the Devaganas turn into Village/Guardian deities? Those of the Deva Ganas who came down to earth, either born as human or entered into the body of human or animals, displayed heroic acts through them and at the end of the penance period they became folk deities in the name of Village/Guardian deities. Once they became Village/Guardian deities, they were given some responsibilities and limited divine powers. Though the folk deities with those limited powers cannot answer the prayers of devotees for personal benefits, they were noble enough to get the boons bestowed through their master Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deity of that area. At the same time, even with those limited powers the Village/Guardian deities were able to prevent the evil spirits and demonic spirits (who carried sins in deva Loga and born to atone their sins) from entering into the village and drove them out from the village.
162. Over a period of time, the folk deities, who were in the fourth line of divines appeared in the dreams of some of the folks and commanded them to accept them as their family god and worship them in a particular manner. The sufferings of those families who offered worship to the folk deity when begin to recede, partly with the discreet support of the folk deity’s master Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities, more families began to consider the folk deity as divines. In this manner the folk deities slowly marched into the bandwagon of tutelary deities.
163. Though the folk deities, fourth line of divines, could effectively prevent the natural disasters causing destruction in the villages. They were however unable to completely destroy the evil  the ghosts and evil spirits  because they were created by   Brahma for certain reasons. However, the folk deities were able to drive away the ghosts and evil spirits from their area of control. As the performance of the folk deities begin to increase, more and more powers as enjoined by a Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities were also bestowed on them by Brahma to fall into the line of divines.
164. However, the fourth line of divines do not normally become Kuladevatha/Family /Tutelary deities, but remain guardian deities to the entire village which they represented. They assist the Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities in many manners and carry out their command by working under them. Therefore, some group of facilities in the interior villages adapt them as their Kula devatha.

165. The fifth line of divines are blessed ganas who entered into the body of humans and turn into angels or village guardian deities. On account of several good deeds acquired by some of the humans in the first Yuga in which they lived, few of them become angels. Such pious souls in the body of humans displayed mysterious acts through the divine powers they receive from time to time beneficial to the mankind in the village where they manifested. Over period of time, in appreciation of their service, the  human possessed with unknown good goblin or fairy angel or aspects of some divines, begin to get respect from the locals.
166. After the demise of those humans or animals through whose body the fourth line of divines functioned, they were buried, and a memorial pillar or inscribed stone blocks erected over them converting the spot into place of worship. The souls inside their body would settle in those sites in invisible manner and continue to protect the village as guardian deity or guardian angel because they carried some aspects of divine powers received from prime divines who sent them to become angels. Several years later some of them turn into Kula Devathas of poor  villagers in those areas, and never migrate to any other areas.
167. The next most important question that arises is how do the  Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities identified by the families ? The deities of all varieties manifest only in the lands allotted to them and then only reveal their presence through dreams of some of the villagers or spoke through those who were afflicted with trance in village festivals  conveying that such and such divine are in such and such place and if they were worshiped or prayed in those places, all their problems would get redressed.
168. As stated in earlier each and every one of the deities  were allotted specific area and land for manifestation and specific group of  people who would be under their control allotted to them.  Thus, the divines  can not go and manifest in any other land of their choice as all acts of the divines were pre determined and they were sent accordingly. Therefore, the divines will target only those folks who were designed by Brahma to be under their control.
169. Besides letting the folks know of their stay through dreams and trance, they also deliberately created  artificial problems which compelled the folks to seek divine intervention to get relief. Unable to get relief elsewhere, the folks will go to those  spots as foretold by the divines, offered prayers as commanded, and in few days, their problems which had been artificially created by the invisible divines will vanish.
170. While the artificial problems created were vanished by the act of those divines, which became Kula Devathas later, the  genuine problems of others and the nature’s fury were also contained by the hidden divines through the intervention of their master first or second line of divines the secret of which were not known to the folks of the land.
171. Gradually the invisible divines will continue to appear in the dreams of several of the folks or frequently engage folks to get into trances and propagate on their need to offer worship to them so that they would be protected from unknown spirits and nature’s fury. Thus, the sinned and cursed Deva ganas and Village deities get recognition over period of time and become Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities in those places where they performed magical acts. As said in initial paras all those ganas and village deities were created and sent to their prefixed places by the first and second line of deities.
172. In short, to generate tutelary deities over a period of time, Brahma enacted several  plays so that the humans with good deeds first turn into deva ganas. The deva ganas enter into the body of some human or animal and become guardian angel. Over period of time the  guardian angels by the mysterious acts of divine become village deities. The folk deities too by certain divine acts become  tutelary deities to the folks of certain lands allotted to them. Everything happened to the fine-tuned plan of Brahma, whose ultimate aim was to establish the concept of Kula Devatha or Tutelary/Family deities worship on earth.

……….continued from Serial No 173
References to all these points in last part