Navratri - Forms of Goddess - Part 2

In the earlier article we read about three important forms of the Mother Goddess during Navratri - here are the other two important forms of the Goddess -

The eighth day of Navratri is associated with Goddess Bagala – Bagala or Bagalamukhi, or ‘crane-faced’ is a form of the Mother goddess. Some also interpret the name with bridal face, implying the face which has the power to attract attention, like all brides. The worship of the goddess is generally in the tantric form when opposite behavior is warranted. The worship enables opposite reaction of what is normal, implying that she has the power to turn speech into silence, movement into motionless, power into impotence, etc. It is this reason why she also referred to as “stambha-shakti” the power to stun. Her worship is very ritualistic and a lot of care is undertaken in the rituals, as any error could earn the wrath of the goddess. There are quite a few temples of the goddess and the greatest boon that one can receive on worshipping at the temple of Bagala devi is to have worshipped all the 330 million gods in the Hindu pantheon just by worshipping at her temple. One of the myths associated with the goddess is that once a huge storm waged on the earth threatening to swallow the whole earth. All the gods assembled and prayed to Bagala Ma, who appeared and calmed the storm. Another legend says that the goddess defeated an asura to protect Dharma. She is supposed to have pulled out the tongue of the asura who begged for forgiveness – implying that unwanted speech or discussion is a threat to religion and the goddess does not forgive such people. In the ancient times animals were sacrificed during the ritual worshipping and some say that the practice is followed even now.

The ninth day is associated with Goddess Matangi – Matangi is again a ferocious aspect of the goddess and again a form worshipped in the tantric form. Matangi is the tantric goddess of speech and the knowledge of arts like music, etc. and is thus as the ‘Tantric Saraswati’. She is generally worshipped to gain supernatural powers and a victory over enemies. The myths associated with Matangi are very similar to the ones of Sati or Kali, but the details of the myths are not very elaborate. However, different tantric texts also relate many other myths which are replete with sexual undertones (which are not being mentioned here as the same have not been verified by me). Some texts have also compared her to an outcaste, a ‘chandala’, and thus sometimes she is also referred to as Chandalini. Some say, that she was the daughter of Sage Matanga, who was an outcaste but became a rishi with his penance and thus Goddess Saraswati was born as his daughter, which was goddess Matangi. Different texts have said different things about Matangi, but what is common to all is her ferocious aspect.

This brings us to the end of the Navratri. Tomorrow is Vijaya Dashami – a time to celebrate the victory of good over evil. For more on this, please check my earlier article –

http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010/10/vijaya-dashami.html

Navratri - Forms of Goddess

The Navratri is the celebration of the Mother Goddess cult in India. It involves the worship of the primordial female energy, the energy which gives birth to new life and generative power. The worship of mother goddess cult can be seen all across the world in different forms.

Egyptians worshipped Mut, Isis and a few others, the Babylonians worshipped Tiamat, and the Sumerians worshipped Innana. The Greeks had the cult of Cybele, besides the worshipping of Gaia and Rhea. Similarly, the Irish, the Nordic and all the major cultures of the world had the concept of a mother goddess cult. So what is behind the cult of Mother Goddess that is so prevalent across the world which has some cultures still following the rituals associated with it?

In all major cultures, creation was either by a single unidentified (or not so distinctly clarified) principle or a male principle with the help of a female principle, but the initiation was by a single dominant force which ‘seemed’ to be male. But the successive generations came with the help of a female principle for both human beings and other living organism. Even if science had not proven that this union was necessary, this had been assimilated well by the primordial man, and thus emerged the significance of the cult of a goddess who soon took the form of a Mother Goddess. The concept of mother goddess was also similar to the concept of Earth goddess in many cultures, which takes one back to the principle of fertility and the concept of fertility goddesses and rituals associated with it.

Here, this Navratri, let us understand the different forms of the goddess –

The fourth day of the Navratri is associated with Godess Bhuvaneshwari – Bhuvaneshwari is one of the important forms of the Mother Goddess, who is responsible for giving a form and shape to the universe. She gets her name from the words ‘bhuvan’ meaning universe and ‘eswari’ meaning the ruler. She is invoked by uttering “Hreem” which is considered to be as powerful as the “Om”. She is always depicted as smiling and two of her four hands are always in the blessing form. She is bedecked in gold jewelry and is supposed to be residing in “manidwipam”, a land of gold, silver and jewels, which is guarded by powerful gods like Agni, Vayu amongst others. She is a giver of boon, which not only includes material forms, but also knowledge, health and happiness. She thus seems to be the embodiment of later goddesses like Saraswati, Lakshami and even Parvati.

The fifth day of the Navratri is associated with Chinnamastaa – Chinnamastaa or Chinnamastika is a ferocious aspect of the Mother goddess cult. The depiction of Chinnamastaa is often quite gory and repulsive as it is shown as a self-decapitated goddess holding her severed head in one hand and a small sword in the other hand with jets of blood flowing from her neck, which again is being drunk by two of her attendants (Dakini and Varnini) and herself! She is often depicted as standing on a copulating couple. Chinnamastaa is associated with the Tantrik form of worshipping and is seldom associated with individual worship, and temples of her are found in the Northern parts of India and Nepal. The ferocious and the gory form are associated with self-sacrifice and self-control – self-control of sexual energy at the same time as the epitome of sexual energy, depending on the interpretation. There are different versions to this form of the goddess. According to one, Parvati was once having a bath in the river Mandakini and while bathing she gets so aroused sexually that she turns black. Around the same time her attendants feel very hungry. Parvati tells then that she would give them food when they reached home, but later relents to their hunger, by severing her head and feeding the attendants with her own blood. The myth brings out the element of motherhood curtailing the sexual hunger of her own self. There are different versions to this myth, but this seems to be the most apt, if we go with what the goddess stands for. The significance of the copulating couple can be seen as the concept of sexual energy giving birth to life, along with the urge to suspend the energy for the call of motherhood which needs to be able to sustain even if it meant to satiate that urge with one’s own blood! (There may be many more esoteric and philosophic explanations besides this, but let’s keep the matter sweet and simple)

The sixth day of the Navratri is associated with Bhairavi – Bhairavi is another terrifying form of the goddess which sometimes gets confused with the Kali form of the goddess. Bhairavi is also referred to as Baala or Tripurabhairavi and as part of the nine day battle waged by Goddess Durga, when she entered the battle field, the asuras ran away in fear. She however, killed the two fearsome asuras Chanda and Munda and thus is also referred to as Chamundeshwari. Besides the two, she is also supposed to have killed two of the most important asuras - Shumbha and Nishumbha. Bhairavi, is shown on a donkey when angry.

At the end of the day, these are different form of the same Mother Goddess, i.e. Goddess Durga.

Navratri

Navratri

A Short Story

One of my short stories (non-mythological!) has been published in Litizen (again not my Blog)! Do read and send in your comments!! Happy reading!

To read - click

The Lipstick-Stained Cup

 

http://www.litizen.com/StoryReading.aspx?StoryId=63

http://litizen.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/the-lipstick-stained-cup-by-utkarsh-patel/

Mahalaya Amavasya

Today is Mahalaya Amavasya, also known as Mahalaya, the last day of the Pitru Paksha (the fortnight for the ancestors) and also the final day to offer oblations to ones ancestors.  According to Hindu religion, the souls of the three preceding generations reside in ‘pitru-loka’ a realm between the earth and the heavens and governed by the Lord of Death, Yama. However, during the pitru-paksha, the souls come down to earth and hover around the homes of their descendants and it becomes imperative for the descendants to feed their hungry souls. One of the ways to feed them is to feed the poor, though feeding the crows (also considered to be harbingers of death) or cows is a ritual many follow during the fortnight.

Details and significance of the day can be read in my article “Mahalaya” dated 7/10/2010 in the link - http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2010/10/mahalaya.html

However, I would like to delve into another aspect of Mahalaya which is very important. This day is also marked as an important day for daan or charity which is considered to be a virtue. Many offer food, grains, clothes, etc. however, the most important of charities is donating food to the poor. This aspect of donation has its significance in an episode from the epic Mahabharata.

Karna, in Mahabharata was a well-known philanthropist and was also referred to as ‘daanveer’ – the hero of charities. All his life he had donated great wealth in the form of gold and jewels and at a crucial moment, he even donated his kavach, armour and kundal, gold earrings, (both of which he was born with and made him invincible) to Lord Indra who asks for it as alms in the guise of a Brahmin. Though Karna was well aware that he would need then during the forthcoming war and could be the only saviour, and the fact that the Brahmin was none other than Lord Indra, he gave them up as they were asked for in the form of alms and he could never deny anybody, not in the least a Brahmin, alms as long as he could.

After his death when his wounded and tired soul reaches the heavens, the way to heavens is strewn all around with the riches of the world. When in heaven, there was no food for him, just gold and silver. When he asks Yama, as to why was he not given any food, he was told that all he ever donated was gold and silver and never offered any food and water, especially to his ancestors. Karna went on to say that he did not offer anything to his ancestors, because he didn’t know who his ancestors were. He then requested Yama to grant him permission to go back to earth and feed his ancestors, so that their souls could seek salvation. Since his sons had all died during the war and there was none to do the same for him, the least he could do was seek salvation for his ancestors. Yama agreed to his request and Karna is supposed to have visited the earth for a fortnight where he fed the poor and offered water to his ancestors. It is this fortnight which is now known as ‘pitru-paksha’ and Lord Yama is supposed to have decreed that anybody who offered charities during this period would be rewarded hundred-fold in his afterlife!

The day ends with heralding of autumn and the Devi-paksha, from when the nine days of Durga Puja or Navratri starts. The inauspicious period is over and from tomorrow starts the celebrations!