Phul Mata is a Hindu goddess of disease, one of a group of seven sister goddesses with similar associations. Her sisters were Sitala Mata, Chamariya mata, Durga Kali, Maha Kali, Bhadra kali and Kalika Bhavani.[1][2][3] As a group, they were well known in northern India, and were often represented by balls of clay.[4][5] Phul Mata was specifically associated with typhoid fever.[6]

Phul Mata is mentioned in epic and Puranic Hindu literature.[7] She may have originally been perceived as a shakti, a personification of divine power, but in Hinduism gradually became associated with evil intent and illness. She was said to inflict sickness on children under seven years of age.[8]

Sources

  1. ↑ Reddy, Prof Katta Narasimha; Reddy, Prof E. Siva Nagi; Naik, Prof K. Krishna (31 January 2023). Kalyana Mitra: Volume 10. Blue Rose Publishers.
  2. ↑ Ferrari, Fabrizio M. (20 November 2014). Religion, Devotion and Medicine in North India: The Healing Power of Sitala. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4725-9872-1.
  3. ↑ Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (in German). 1905.
  4. ↑ Indian studies: past & present. 1970.
  5. ↑ Hastings, James (1928). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Scribner.
  6. ↑ Economic and Political Weekly. Sameeksha Trust. 1989.
  7. ↑ Jordan, Michael (14 May 2014). Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438109855.
  8. ↑ Stutley, Margaret (2006). Hindu Deities: A Mythological Dictionary with Illustrations. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 9788121511643.


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