Kuldevi कुलदेवी and Kuldevta कुलदेवता

Main shrine: Kolhapur, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra

Ambabai is the name by which the Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur is known in southern and western Maharashtra. Her temple, in the old city of Kolhapur (Karvir), is the largest in the city and draws pilgrims from across the Deccan. The Kolhapur Gazetteer of 1886 names Ambabai among the family deities of the Kunbis and the Deshastha Brahmins of the state. The name Ambabai is also used for Tulja Bhavani in some places; this page is about the Kolhapur goddess, and the two are separate shrines and separate family traditions.

Main shrine: Mata no Madh, Lakhpat taluka, Kutch district, Gujarat

Ashapura is the family goddess of many Chauhan Rajput lines and of the Jadeja Rajputs of Kutch. In the Chauhan tradition she is the goddess of Sambhar, Shakambhari, under the name Asapuri or Ashapura. Her best-known shrines are at Nadol in Pali district, Rajasthan, and at Mata no Madh in Kutch, Gujarat. Several Kutchi and Gujarati trading communities also keep her. Which goddess a family calls its kuldevi depends on its branch and village.

Main shrine: Becharaji, Mehsana district, Gujarat

Bahuchar Mata, also called Bahucharaji or Becharaji, is a goddess of North Gujarat whose chief temple stands at Becharaji in Mehsana district. The Gazetteer of 1901 names her with Amba Bhavani and Kalika as the most widely worshipped goddesses of North Gujarat, guarding the route from the north into Chuval and Viramgam. Charan families hold her as one of their own, the Solanki Rajputs of Kalri are among her hereditary worshippers, and pilgrims come from many communities, among them Kanbi (Patidar) families. Her devotees also include hijras, who are known in Gujarat as Pavaiyas.

Main shrine: Jodhpur, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan

Chamunda Mata is the family goddess of the Parihar (Pratihara) Rajputs of Mandor in community and heritage accounts. Tradition holds that Rao Jodha, the Rathore founder of Jodhpur, had her image brought from Mandor to Mehrangarh in 1460, and the Jodhpur royal family still keeps her as its isht devi, the chosen goddess. Another well-known shrine is on Chotila hill in Gujarat, and Jain tradition makes her the converted protector goddess of Osian. This page is about her as a family deity, not the Chamunda of the Devi Mahatmya.

Main shrine: Kalighat, Kolkata, Kolkata district, West Bengal

Dakshina Kali is Kali in her form with the right foot on Shiva, the form most worshipped in Bengal and the one householders keep. Her two best-known shrines are Kalighat and Dakshineswar in Kolkata. Kali is listed among the family deities of Bengal, but no source seen ties her to a named lineage; the zamindar houses linked to her shrines are patrons, not recorded as keeping her as kuladevi.

Main shrine: Chitai, Almora district, Uttarakhand

Golu Devta, also called Goludev, Golujyu or Goril, is the god of justice of Kumaon in Uttarakhand. Temples at Chitai near Almora, Champawat and Ghorakhal near Bhowali are best known, and Atkinson in 1884 already called him the most popular of the village gods of Kumaon. Villagers in Kumaon keep him as ishta devta or kuldevta, and people bring their grievances to him in writing.

Main shrine: Jawalamukhi, Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh

Jwala Devi, also called Jwalamukhi, is the goddess worshipped as natural flames at Jawalamukhi in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh. Tradition counts the shrine among the Shakti Peethas, the place where Sati's tongue fell. Families from Punjab and the hills come on pilgrimage. As a family deity she is tied by Lawrence (1895) to Kashmiri Pandit households, some of whom worshipped Jwala at Khrew rather than Ragnya or Sharika.

Main shrine: Kanchipuram, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu

Kamakshi is the goddess of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, worshipped as the one Shakti of the town and as a form of Lalita Tripurasundari. Her temple in Kanchipuram is the main shrine. The 24 Manai Telugu Chettiars name her as their kuladeivam, the family deity. A family's own deity is fixed by its own tradition, so the page names only the lines a source ties to her.

Main shrine: Deshnoke, Bikaner district, Rajasthan

Karni Mata is a woman of the Charan community who, by tradition, lived in western Rajasthan from 1387 to 1538 and is revered as an incarnation of Durga. Her chief temple is at Deshnoke near Bikaner, famous for the thousands of rats, called kaba, that live in it. She is the patron deity of the Charans and, in the accounts of her cult, of the Rathore ruling houses of Bikaner and Jodhpur. Her dates are those of temple tradition and are not documented history.

Main shrine: Jejuri, Purandar taluka, Pune district, Maharashtra

Khandoba is the kuldevta, the family god, of a very large number of families in Maharashtra and northern Karnataka. His chief shrine is at Jejuri in Pune district. He is understood as Shiva in a warrior form, shown on a horse with his wives Mhalsa and Banai and a dog. Maratha, Kunbi, Dhangar, Ramoshi and Koli families keep him, as do some Brahmin and other families. In Karnataka and Telangana the same god is Mailara and Mallanna. Families often keep him together with Tulja Bhavani or another kuldevi.

Main shrine: Tulmul (Tulmulla), Ganderbal district, Jammu and Kashmir

Kheer Bhawani, called Ragnya Devi in Kashmiri, is the goddess of a sacred spring at Tulmul in Ganderbal district, about 25 km north-east of Srinagar. She is understood as a form of Durga. Walter Lawrence, writing in 1895, called her the Kashmiri Pandits' favourite goddess, and many Pandit families keep her as their kuldevi. Some Pandit households have kept Sharika or Jwala instead. Her main festival is on Jyeshtha Ashtami.

Main shrine: Mardol, Ponda taluka, Goa

Mahalasa Narayani, also written Mhalsa, is the family goddess of many Konkani-speaking Saraswat Brahmin families and of other communities of Goa, the Konkan and the Karnataka coast. Her chief temple is at Mardol in Ponda taluka, Goa. Saraswats and Vaishnavas of Goa and Canara identify her with Mohini, the female form of Vishnu. In Maharashtra the name Mhalsa belongs to the wife of Khandoba. Whether these are one goddess seen two ways or two traditions that share a name is a question the sources do not settle.

Main shrine: Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu

Murugan is the Tamil god of the hills, worshipped as Skanda Kartikeya, son of Shiva, with a spear (vel) and a peacock. His six best-known temples are the Arupadai Veedu of Tamil Nadu. Some Tamil families keep him, at one of his temples, as their kuladeivam. The Subrahmanya of Kukke in Karnataka is a related deity with a separate tradition and is not covered here.

Main shrine: Nagana, Pachpadra area, Balotra district (earlier Barmer district), Rajasthan

Nagnechiya Mata is the family goddess of the Rathore Rajputs of Marwar. Her main temple is at Nagana, in the Pachpadra area of western Rajasthan, and tradition says Rao Dhuhad, a grandson of Rao Siha, brought her image there about 1300. She is worshipped as Chakreshwari and shown with eighteen arms as Mahishasuramardini; her symbol is a falcon or eagle, which is on the flags of Marwar, Bikaner and Kishangarh. Accounts differ on where the image came from, Kannauj or the Karnatak, and families of other Rathore branches may keep other goddesses.

Main shrine: Saundatti, Belagavi district, Karnataka

Renuka, called Yellamma in Karnataka and the neighbouring parts of Maharashtra, is the mother of Parashurama in the Mahabharata and is worshipped as a goddess in her own right. Her best-known shrine is the Yellamma temple on Yellamma's Hill near Saundatti in Belagavi district, Karnataka; her Maharashtra shrine is at Mahur in Nanded district. Many Kunbi, Hanbar, Panchal and pastoral families name her as a family goddess in northern Karnataka. Her cult is wider than any one caste.

Main shrine: Osian, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan

Sachiya Mata, also called Osiya Mataji, has her chief temple on a hill at Osian, about 60 km from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Hindu accounts call her Durga as Mahishasuramardini and the family goddess of the Parmar Rajputs. Jain tradition says she was the fierce goddess Chamunda, won over by the monk Ratnaprabhasuri and made a vegetarian protector of the Oswals. Oswals regard the Osian temples as their mother temples, although few live there now, and not every Oswal family keeps her as its own. The two accounts differ, and this page gives both.

Main shrine: Sambhar, Jaipur district, Rajasthan

Shakambhari is the goddess who, in the Puranas, feeds a starving world with vegetables and fruit. In Rajasthan she is the family goddess of the Chahamana (Chauhan) rulers, whose early capital Sakambhari is modern Sambhar, and the Chauhan tradition of Ashapura is a form of her. Her main shrines are at Sambhar and at Sakrai near Udaipurwati. Chauhan branches differ, and other families keep her too.

Main shrine: Srinagar, Srinagar district, Jammu and Kashmir

Sharika Devi is the goddess of Hari Parbat, the hill north of the old city of Srinagar, which takes its name from her (Sarikaparvata, now Hara Parvat). She is a form of Durga and is worshipped as a rock marked with the Sri Chakra. Stein records her worship there from ancient times. Lawrence in 1895 found some Kashmiri Pandit households worshipping Sharika or Jwala and others Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani).

Main shrine: Tuljapur, Dharashiv (formerly Osmanabad) district, Maharashtra

Tulja Bhavani is the family goddess of a very large number of Marathi-speaking families. Her main temple is at Tuljapur in Dharashiv district (formerly Osmanabad), Maharashtra. She is best known as the family goddess of the Bhonsle house of Shivaji, and is also kept by Maratha, Kunbi and other families in Maharashtra and in the neighbouring parts of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In some places she is also called Ambabai, which can cause her to be mixed up with the Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur. They are separate shrines.

Main shrine: Tirumala, Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh

Venkateshwara is the god of the Tirumala hill at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, worshipped as a form of Vishnu and known across India as Balaji, Srinivasa and Govinda. Pilgrims of every community come to Tirumala, and many offer their hair there to fulfil a vow. Some Telugu and Marathi families are listed as keeping him as their kuladevata, but no source seen ties him to a named lineage.