Kannaki, Goddess of Fertility and Conjugal Fidelity

Goddess Pattini or Kannaki Amman

Pattini or Kannaki is a conspicuous example of the deification of a mortal being whose human attributes elevated her to the status of a goddess.

The story how an ordinary woman named Kannaki became deified as goddess Pattini, for her chastity, is mentioned in the Tamil texts Silappadikaram and Manimekalai, belonging to the Sangam Age of India.

Deification has brought in its wake a train of legends and a complexity of cults, in which Pattini figures as the dominant deity in a hierarchy of gods.

Pattini found a receptive soil in Sri Lanka, where legends grew round the original incidents. Her cult took new aspects in the different parts of the island.