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Kotṟavai (Korṛawai)

Kotṟavai (Korṛawai), also spelled Kotravai or Korravai, is the goddess of war and victory in the Tamil tradition. She is also the mother goddess and the goddess of fertility, agriculture and hunters. In the latter form, she is sometimes referred to by other names and epithets in the Tamil tradition of South India and Sri Lanka, such as Athaaa, Mari, Suli, and Neeli.[1][2]

She is among the earliest documented goddesses in the Tamil Sangam literature, and also found in later Tamil literature. She is mentioned in the many poems in Paripāṭal , though the dedicated poem to her in among those that have been lost to history.[3][4] She is mentioned in the Pattuppattu anthology – the long Tamil poems dated between 300 BCE to 300 CE, including the Neṭunalvāṭai, Maturaikkanci, Poruṇarāṟṟuppaṭai, and Paṭṭiṉappālai.[5] In the Tamil epic Silappadikaram (c. 2nd-century), she is said to be the goddess of the Palai region.

Her name is derived from the Tamil word korram, which means "victory, success, bravery".[6] The earliest references to Kotravai are found in the ancient Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam, considered to be the earliest work of the ancient Sangam literature.

She is also seen as a mother goddess, a symbol of fertility and success in agriculture.[7] Traditional rural communities offer the first harvest to her.[8] As war goddess who is blood thirsty, some texts such as the Silappadikaram and Agananuru mention that warrior devotees would, in a frenzy, offer their own head to the goddess.[8]