Pattini

goddess · Sri Lanka · South Asia

Pattini (Kannaki) is the Sri Lankan goddess of chastity, healing, fertility — deified heroine of Tamil epic Silappatikaram. After husband Kovalan's execution, she burns Madurai with her anklet, settles in Sri Lanka. Documented by Obeyesekere ('The Cult of the Goddess Pattini'). She walks fire, cures epidemics (smallpox, measles), protects children.

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