Mother goddess
A ritual narrative is narrative sung or performed in a ritual, as an inseparable part of that ritual. It loses its importance when it is dissociated from that ritual. It is another functional narrative. These narratives are nothing but the narratives of Goddesses and Gods. The mother goddess narratives of A.P enjoy a prominent social relevance. They are sung or performed in the Jataras or Tirunallas of the Mother goddess and the Perantalu or the deified women goddesses. The mother goddesses like Ankamma, Maremma, Poleramma, Peddamma, Atalamma, Ellamma, Pochamma and so on are considered to be the goddesses of diseases. They are the destructive or malevolent goddesses. They are also protective or guardian deities but their prominence is for their destructive power. They have to be appeased from time to time or annually, otherwise they would show their wrath by creating epidemics. The best ways to appease these goddess are to sing the narrative of the relevant goddess in her praise and offer her animal sacrifices. Performing the narrative or the puranam or the myth of the goddess is very crucial in the weekday ritual of any mother goddess. These myths are very long and performed over from one night to seven nights. The audience listens to them not only with reverence but also with fear and obedience. They also go into trance when the narratives are performed. Specific caste people from dalit communities Baindlas, Asadis are specialized and traditional singers for all these mother goddesses. The Kurumas are singers for the myths of the male gods Mallanna, Birappa and the Goddess Ellamma. The literature of these myths or the narratives is also very big repertoire in Telugu folk literature. Mother goddess narratives are performed in several hundred places in A.P. every year. A number of scholars Krishna Kumari.N, Venkata Subbarao.T.V, Premalata Ravi. Andamma.M and others have done commendable research on mother goddess worship and narratives.