Phul Mata

Phul Mata is a Hindu goddess of disease, one of a group of seven sister goddesses with similar associations. Her sisters were Sitala Mata, Badi Mata, Pansahi Mata, Gusulia Mata, Kankar Mata, and Malbal.[1] As a group, they were well known in northern India, and were often represented by balls of clay.[2][3] Phul Mata was specifically associated with typhoid fever.[4]

Phul Mata is mentioned in epic and Puranic Hindu literature.[5] 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.[6]

Sources
  1. Commissioner, India Census (1902). Census of India, 1901.
  2. Indian studies: past & present. 1970.
  3. Hastings, James (1928). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Scribner.
  4. Economic and Political Weekly. Sameeksha Trust. 1989.
  5. Jordan, Michael (14 May 2014). Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438109855.
  6. Stutley, Margaret (2006). Hindu Deities: A Mythological Dictionary with Illustrations. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 9788121511643.


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