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The villages of Tamil Nadu have special deities such as Ayyanar, Madurai Veeran or Karuppaswamy, who are considered to be guardian angels of the village. According to common belief, not only do these deities scare away evil spirits and protect the villager against evil, diseases and ill fortune but also punish the erring villagers.
Statues of these guardian deities are found especially at the boundaries of villages. It is very common to find statues of horses (it is believed that the deities ride around villages on horses) and weapons such as spear, machete, spears etc.
Many villages in south Tamil Nadu celebrates "Kuthirai Eduppu", where fresh statues of horses and weapons are offered with sacrifice of poultry or cattle to the deities.
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