Maha Kiriamma
Vedda · deity · Vedda traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Maha Kiriamma, the Great Milk-Mother, is the chief of the Maha Yakini, the great female spirits of the hilltops, of whom the lesser Maha Yakini are her attendants. She both sends sickness and is besought to lift it, and she is worshipped as a giver of children to childless women; the Maha Yakini were at the same time feared as stealers of children. Sources differ on how far her cult overlaps that of the wider Sinhala Kiri Amma associated with the goddess Pattini.
Domains
- childbirth fertility
- disease and healing
Powers
- gives children to the childless
- sends and lifts sickness
Sources
- Maha Kiriamma is the chief of the Maha Yakini, the great female hilltop spirits who send and cure sickness and are feared as stealers of children.: Seligmann & Seligmann, The Veddas (1911) (primary)
- As Kiri Amma she is worshipped as the giver of children to barren women, honoured with offerings of milk-rice.: Renaissance Sri Lanka; Obeyesekere, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini (1984) (secondary)