Navashakti, were created. Due to their arrogance, they were banished from heaven to the earth, where they were assigned the task of protecting mankind from evil and malicious forces. Thus, the gramadevatas are honoured for their duty through festivals and temples dedicated to their worship. Veneration Gramadevatas are believed to serve as the protectors of fields and the general countryside, preventing plagues, famines, pestilence, war, as well as natural disasters. They are also venerated to honour their task of guarding villagers from evil. These deities, predominantly goddesses, possess both benevolent and malevolent features, to mark their roles as gentle to supplicants, and also fierce to wrongdoers. They are associated with agriculture, harvests, rain, and are regarded to be embodiments of fertility. These deities are often venerated in the open fields, or in the form of shrines. Most of them are not accompanied by a male consort. Their shrines could sometimes be composed of a pile of stones or a flag. While some of these shrines are maintained and served by priests, others merely have a keeper who is not accorded a special status. Gramadevatas often share common suffixes in their names, such as amman or amma, the Dravidian root word for mother, or ai. Animal sacrifices and blood are often served as offerings to placate these goddesses by their devotees, including chickens, goats, and occasionally buffaloes, traditionally requiring them to be male. Syncretism While various gramadevatas possess discrete worlds and forms of worship from mainstream Hinduism, others have been syncretised as members of the greater pantheon of Hindu deities. For instance, the deity Venkateshvara, a form of Vishnu, is regarded by local adherents to be the brother of Gangamma, a gramadevata. Mainstream Hindu deities and gramadevatas are often ritually worshipped together due to their integrated traditions. Due to the prevalence of Vaishnavism and Shaivism, it is common to find representations of male gramadevatas as forms of Vishnu and Shiva, and female gramadevatas as forms of Lakshmi and Parvati. Few gramadevatas, such as Ganesha, have been completely adopted into Puranic Hinduism. Examples Ankalamman Mariamman Dharmathakur Ellamman Bhadrakali Pitari Siparia Mai Dharmathakur Kala Bhairava Jathera Gallery References Tutelary deities Hindu deities