ABSTRACT
Smallpox was eradicated in India on 23 April 1977. But despite the action of colonial authorities first, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication later, the cult of Śītalā, the ‘smallpox goddess’, has persisted. Śītalaā is still celebrated to prevent diseases such as fevers, measles, malaria and tuberulosis. Further, with the spread of acquired imnuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the 1980s, she started to be worshipped as an AIDS-goddess. A similar phenomenon is found in Karnataka where a new deity, AIDS-ammā (lit. ‘Mother AIDS’), was created in 1997 by a local schoolteacher to instruct the rural population on the risks of human imnunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS-ammā and Śītalaā represent the artificial and natural adaptation of South Asian ‘plague goddesses’ and the response to a new threat. But if in the former case, contraception and hygienic norms are promoted as pūjā, in the cult of Śītalaā devotees tend to believe their faith will protect them and look at contagion as a (desirable) form of possession. As it was for smallpox, when variolation was preferred to vaccination, the contact with the goddess is looked upon as a form of love and can be therefore sought for.
