Ma Jakkamma Devi is a form of Ma Shakti Devi, and she is the Chief Deity of some Telugu community people, and she is also the family (Kula Devi) deity of some Tribal community people. In Panchalankurichi, a temple is dedicated for Ma Jakkamma Devi and it had been built by the great King Sri Veerapandiya Kattabomman’s family. The address of this temple is:
Ma Veera Jakkamadevi Temple
Address: W2MM+FM2, Veerapandiya Kattabomman Memorial Fort Road, Panchalankurichi, Tamil Nadu 628401.
Ma Jakkamma is also fondly called in some places as Bommamma, Bommi, Bommammavari, and as Jakkayi, Jakki Devi, Jakkukannu, Jakkeshwari and as Jakkammavari.
Still we can find some fortune tellers, especially women, at the Jakkamma temple in Ettayapuram, and they used to stay in this temple for some time, and with the shells which they have, they used to tell the fortune of their clients, who are supposed to be Ma Jakkamma devotees, who would anxiously sit in front of those noble women, in order to know about their fortune.
These women fortune tellers are to be considered as the daughters of Ma Jakkamma Devi. With the money received from their clients, these wonderful women fortune tellers would feed her and her family. The people who sit in front of these women would consider them as the holy aspects of Ma Jakkamma Devi itself! Those who approach these women with wrong thoughts would be severely punished by Ma Jakkamma!
Nowadays the fortune tellers who are the devotees of Ma Jakkamma can be found in all parts of South India, and especially we can find these excellent women in Chennai and its surrounding places.
Similar to the women fortune tellers, there are some male fortune tellers also, who belong to Tribal communities. They are called as Kutukutupai Karar(The male fortune teller used to keep a small drum like thing which raises a different kind of sound whenever it is Shaken) and Boom Boom Mattukaran(A male fortune teller with a bull) are those fortune tellers, belongs to a group of tribal people and they are mostly found in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, who are considered as the true sons of Ma Jakkamma.
“OM MA JAKKAMMA DEVI NAMO NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR