A kula devatā as we commonly know, is a deity who is specific to your bloodline.
There are many ways to trace your kula devatā and one easy route would be rooting back to your ancestral village.
Many or perhaps most Malaysian Indians today do not know their actual kula devatā. As migration took place, the upcoming generation of the diaspora lost touch with their kula devatā temple and its identity.
If you made a random survey some decades back, you will notice how many families tend to give bizarre answers regarding their kula devatā. Commonly, they would just blurt out their favourite deity – say Gaṇeśa or Kṛṣṇa.
They do not know what 'kula devatā' actually refers to. Lately, some awareness of kula devatā has been circulating the net. An important and authentic clarification on how a kula devatā and iṣṭa devatā differ has penetrated the awareness of many. This ought to be a good sign but has unfortunately rendered some drawbacks.
In addition, a kula devatā may not necessarily be a guardian deity.
Many families started to conveniently 'adopt' kula devatās. For instance, if their grandparents had been worshiping muniaṇḍi, muniaṇḍi now becomes their new kula devatā in the house.
Now, try another simple survey. Just display the same query today. You will notice how 8 out of 10 families (in a rough guess) would vaguely answer muniaṇḍi or maḍura vīra. And interestingly, these families would not be consanguineous.
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You have to understand that your kula devatā can never have a vague identity, like just muniaṇḍi or vīraṉ. They should at least have a prefix or suffix to it. They should be specific to a temple in India at least. Those who are still keeping in touch with their ancestral village would know this. Your kula devatā would have a unique identity, with a unique history and name.
If 1000 families are going to claim maḍura vīra as their kula devatā, it really doesn't do justice to their ancestral ways.
For instance, you should at least identify a specific form of māriammaṉ – samayapuram māriammaṉ instead of a hanging 'māriammaṉ'.
If you are Malaysian, I would advise you to reconfirm your kula devata by default.
Read More :
(1) consequences of forgetting your kula devata
