Chittirai

(2) Ten-day festival celebrated in the
southern Indian city of Madurai during
the Tamil month of Chittirai
(March–April). Madurai is famous for its
gigantic temple dedicated to the goddess Minakshi, and the Chittirai festival
celebrates Minakshi’s marriage to the
god Shiva in his form as Sundareshvara.
According to mythology, Minakshi is a
fierce goddess who vows that she will
marry only a man who bests her in battle. She fights and conquers all of the
kings of the earth, but when she
approaches Shiva, she is suddenly and
spontaneously stricken with modesty.
The powerful warrior is transformed
into a shy and bashful girl, and she
becomes his wife.
Although the wedding of a goddess
normally marks her domestication and
subordination to her spouse, in this case
Minakshi remains the more powerful
deity. She is the patron of Madurai, with
a temple dedicated to her, whereas
Shiva is merely her consort. The wedding is celebrated with great festivity
throughout the city, and one of the high
points is the public procession of the
deities around the city in the temple
chariots. For further information see
Dean David Shulman, Tamil Temple
Myths, 1980; the festival is also the
subject of a film, The Wedding of
the Goddess, produced by the South
Asia Center of the University of
Wisconsin at Madison.