Spent a lovely 45 minutes at Mutthumariamman. Met with a young pusari Narayanaswamy who is but a boy studying Tamil at the Pondicherry University, and with Prakash who works at the temple, following after his mother who also used to work here. They tell us enthusiastically about the special alankaram done on Aadi Fridays, when the goddess is adorned with velli ornaments. He showed us pictures of the goddess adorned with fruits all around (Thai masam). And also Chithirai Pournami, when she is adorned with all white.
When asked about the Ellai Amman connection, he tells us that there wasn’t any collective veethi ula with all the three ammans together. Instead, three times a year, when Mutthumariamman goes for a veethi ula, she goes up to the ellai (border) of Ellaiamman – this happens till date. They mention the Ezhai Mariamman, Mutthumariamman and Ellai Amman as being a sort of trio. The three veethi ulas are: Masi Maham, Brahmotsavam (Thai Masam), Aandu Vizha (Aavani Masam).
For Masi Maham the amman from Melmalayanur (Angalamman) comes down to Pondicherry. On her way, she stops at a Bala Tripura Sundari temple (the one near Irumbai?). She arrives in Pondy one day prior to Masi Maham, and spends that night at Mutthumariamman temple here. After masi maham theerthavari, she returns to Mutthumariamman, and then she has an Unjal Utsavam the same day or the next, when she leaves for the Vedapuriswara temple. There she has an entire veethi ula with Siva. After this, she heads back to Melmalayanur. On the way back home, drops by Bala Tripura Sundari again and then heads home. These journeys seem as much planned for historical reasons as for practical ones for those accompanying deities on these long travels.
The Mutthumariamman temple has Kathavarayan as a protective deity, apart from also having Pavadarayan and his wife (which is unusual, he’s usually not shown as a married man). There is Pecchayiamman, who has an unusually shanta roopam instead of the regular ugra.
There is also an Anjaneyar shrine, unusual for an Amman shrine. But it’s an old one, to which Pratishtha had been done from long before, so it was never removed during the temple’s expansion.
The pusari and Prakash also tell us that this is a kula deivam for many local Tamils who now live in France – there is some evidence for this on the stone inscriptions at the back of the temple. He says also that the Ellaiamman koyil may well be built fast because there’s support for it from those who take it as their kula deivam.