सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

Poleramma belongs to the old and deeply loved stratum of Telugu religion: the gramadevatas, the village mothers who guard the boundaries, the fields and — above all — the children of their people. The vrata katha, as tradition tells it, concerns a young daughter-in-law in a large household. Each year on this Amavasya, misfortune took a child of hers, and each year she bore it in silence so that the family's observance would not be disturbed. At last the goddess, moved by her patience and grief, appeared to her; the woman poured out her heart, sought the goddess's grace, and Poleramma restored her children to life and health. The story fixed the day's meaning: this is the mothers' Amavasya, when women worship not for wealth or their own longevity but for the lives of their children. Village shrines of Poleramma see steady streams of mothers on this day, and homes far from any shrine keep the vrata before an image of the goddess.

Mothers rise early, bathe, and keep a fast through the day, at least until the puja is done. The goddess is worshipped at her village shrine where there is one; otherwise at home, where Poleramma is represented by a turmeric image or invoked in a decorated kalasha. The puja itself is simple and heartfelt — turmeric, kumkuma, flowers, and the katha of the daughter-in-law told or read aloud, for hearing the story is essential to the nomu. The characteristic naivedyam is garelu, the deep-fried black-gram vadas of festive Telugu cooking, and many families prepare a full spread with pulihora and sweets to offer before the children eat. A sacred thread, worshipped in the puja, is tied — by the mother on her wrist, or on the children's — as the goddess's protection for the year. Vayanam of the vrata foods is given to another sumangali, and children are fed first and blessed, which is the whole point of the day.

There are no Poleramma shrines in Canada, but this was always as much a home vrata as a shrine one, and it keeps well here. Find the Amavasya that closes Shravana on this site's panchang computed for Ottawa — new-moon tithis can differ by a day from Indian calendars. A small turmeric image of the goddess, or simply a kalasha with kumkuma, serves as the murti; urad dal for garelu and cotton thread dyed with turmeric are easy to arrange. Mothers here often keep a modified fast around work, performing the puja and thread-tying in the evening with the children present, and telling them the katha — which children take to readily, since it is a story about them. A call to grandmothers in Andhra, who often keep the same vrata the same day, joins the generations across the distance.