DHUMAVATI : The Widow Goddess

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

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MAA DHUMAVATI : The Widow Goddess

This is the seventh of the Dasa Maha Vidyas. According to Thodala Tantara Maa DHUMAVATHI is the equivalent of Varaha Avatara.

"Dhumavathi is ugly, unsteady and angry. She is tall and wears dirty clothes. Her ears are ugly and rough, she has long teeth, and her breasts hang down. She has along noose. She has the form of a widow. She rides in a chariot that has a banner on top decorated with a crow emblem. Her eyes are fearsome, and her hands tremble. In one hand she holds a winnowing basket, and with the other hand she makes the gesture of conferring boons. Her nature is rude. She is always hungry and thirsty and looks unsatisfied. She likes to create strife, and she is always frightful in appearance"

David Kinsley – Tantric visions of the Divine Feminine.

The above translation of one of the Dhyana Slokas of MAA DHUMAVATI depicts her as Ugly to say the least. David Kinsley compares her to the Goddesses Jyeshta and Alakshmi.

But there is a major difference in the MAA DHUMAVATI gives boons to the Upasakas.

To understand the concept of MAA DHUMAVATI, we should look at the entire Dasa Maha Vidyas. The Dasa Maha Vidyas could be classified as under:

Fearsome Goddesss representing pure power
MAA KALI
MAA TARA
MAA TRIPURA BHIRAVI

Beautiful Goddess with power
MAA LALITHA TRIPURASUNDARI
MAA BHUBANESHWARI

Goddess representing specific Siddhis
MAA BAGALAMUKHI
MAA CHINNAMASTHA
MAA MATHANGI

Goddess who is pure beauty and kindness
MAA KAMALATHMIKA

Goddess who represents Ugliness
MAA DHUMAVATHI

The above classification is my own. Now why do we need an ugly goddess and what is the message behind her ugliness? I believe that the relationship between MAA and her Bhaktha is like the one between a six month old child and its mother. The child does not care whether the mother is beautiful, ugly, rich or poor. To enable an Upasaka to develop this attitude we have Goddesses who are beautiful and fearsome. But an Ugly goddess was also required to drive home the point that MAA has no physical appearance and she is MAA whether the depiction if Beautiful, Fearsome or Ugly. If I can perceive SMASANA KAALI with disheveled hair, garland of skull etc. dancing in the burning ghat as beautiful what is the problem in imagining and
accepting MAA DHUMAVATHI. It is only a conditioning of the mind, which is able to perceive the truth behind mere appearance. In actual live don't the people who have ugly mother love them ?

There are many ugly people in the world. Don't they make good mothers, good lovers, good husbands, and good wives? We have a general opinion that good-looking people are good and ugly looking people are bad. This is not true. I feel that MAA DHUMAVATHI was conceived to drive home the point that physical appearance is not the end all.

The Gayatri for MAA DHUMAVATHI is

Om Dhumavawatyai vidmahe, Samharinyai deemahi.
Thanno Dhuma Praochadhayat

Here it is seen that she is called destroyer of enemies ( samharinyai).
Her Mantra is a very powerful mantra, which is used to destroy enemies.
Her Mantra is

Om, Dhoom, Dhoom, Dhumavathi Swaha !!

There are many more restrictions on this mantra than any other mantra. MAA DHUMAVATHI mantra is associated with Tantrics who perform Prayoga. One of the religious magazines in Tamil had given this mantra for general worship of the public.

Kinsley mentions a temple of MAA DHUMAVATHI in Varanasi. I have visited a temple of MAA DHUMAVATHI at Kamakhya ( Gowhati, Assam ). There is no image in the temple. All Dasa Maha Vidyas have separate temples at Kamakhya, which is considered to be the most holy place for all Sakthas.

Jai MAA !!!

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

David Kinsley is totally wrong in comparing Maa Dhumavati with Goddesses Jyeshta and Alakshmi. Dhumavati is a Benevolent Goddess whereas Goddesses Jyeshta and Alakshmi are not.

Why remember MAA Dhumavati now?

We are living in a world which has become obsessed with Beauty. And Youthfulness. We seem to have come to the conclusion that all that is Good is Beautiful and young. We tend to associate Ugliness and Old with Evil.

And Hindus especially Brahmins associate good things only with Sumangalis. The term Sumangali is itself indicative of this illusion.

Does one become bad or evil because she loses her husband?

Physical appearance has nothing to do with divine mother. Eshwara once came as a person supposed to be of a lower caste, in a drunken state and with dogs and completely unclean to Shankaracharya to teach him that clean/unclean, high/low, good/etc are attributes that are part of the discrimination. To perceive Brahman, one has to go beyond it.

So too a Goddess can be old , is a Widow. So what? She is still a mother who cares just as other form would. Because at the end of the day, she is the same mother in that form.

Physical appearance has nothing to do with in any relationship. We often distinguish between good and evil being merely driven by the ideas that is formed out of the sight of a person or a scene; and being the worshipper of beauty we are much prone to be oblivious of the so-called ugliness. We try to keep ourselves busy with what is beautiful and joyous shunning mercilessly those who epitomizes ugliness, unhappiness, poverty.

This particular incarnation of mother as Dhumavati tells that even ugliness is a part of nature and its beauty lies in its ugliness - and we must not dare to put a glance of contempt upon those who are ugly, poor and unhappy. We must worship ugliness as we worship beauty.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

MAA Dhumavati is worshipped only in Assam now. In Assam worship of Dhumavati is recommended to overcome the ill effects of Sani dasa and Sade sathi.

Assam was earlier known as Pragajyotishpur.

 

[kgopalan]

The tatva of dhoomaavatee devi can also be called as pralaya kaalee or yoga nidhra. paraman was in the state of samadhi and hence was not aware of the impact of self broken commodities by dhoomaavathee. only on account of this samadhi every soul gets liberation. only because of this devee, the state of ignorance, sleep for the family people , unconciousness and forgetfulness are happen.

saastras mention, that family people do not recognise their real form, because of ignorance. The energy of such a hiding is dhoomaavathee. The special effect of showing one as many is illusion. This tatva is called Raatri in Rig veda and the same is in the form of braadndi in puranaas. Since she is there even before this world is created in the form of darkness she is called jyeshtaa. (senior).

one who wants to remove this world with the knowledge of Brahman, can worship this devee. The easy way for this worship is sacrificing all the wishes from the mind. There cannot be a difference between our form and thought. That will create damages. This vidhya is called as Bhooma vidhya in upanishats as---where nothing else other than self is visible, where nothing else other than self is heard.

The state that there is nothing else other than self, is created. Ganapathy Muni in his Maha Vidhya Sutra Paata, feels that knowledge, ignorance and aggregation mentioned in Eesaavaasyaa Upanishad is this vidhya itself.. By woshiping dhoomavaadhee devee -one can get rid of fear from enemies, get plenty of wealth, money and grains, lead a decent life, respectively win over the inner enemies like desire, anger etc;

get a clean state of mind on account of daily chores and worshipping, lead a endless life with the benefit of State Of Samadhi.

Dhoomaavathee devee is the seventh among the ten. In tantra sastras the word energy will always indicate one with that energy. kali to kalee, Akshobya to taara and bhairavaa to bhairavee. but dhoomaavadhee is taking a deviation to this convention. hence tantras mention she is spouse less.

Dhoomaavathee devi indicates smoke, darkness and innocense. But when there is a smoke there should be fire. the concepts dark and innocence hide light and wisdom. Hence with the blessings of Dhoomaavadhee devi we can easily reach knowledge by removing the darkness of innocence and by destroying the enemies called obstructions, who are friends of darkness. This is the essence of Dhomaavadhee Vidhya.

Once the enemies of knowledge namely suspicion and diversity have been uprooted, the blessings of the teacher through belief and devotion, and the liberation can easily be reached through knowledge of BRAHMAM.

(1) Kalee devee location: anahataa chakram-Incarnation of lord vishnu --krishna. (2) Taaraa manipooraka chakram Raamaa avatharam. (3) Tirupura sundar sahasraaram chakram kalki avathaaram. (4) Bhuvaneswaree anaahatha chakram Varaha avatharam. (5) Bhairavi moolaadharam chakram Narasimha avathaaram. (6) Chinna masthaa - Agnaa chakram parasurama avatharam.

(7) Dhoomaavathee status of samaadhi vamana avatharam. (8) Bhaghalaamukee sankinee Koorma avathaaram. (9) Maatanghee Vishudhi chakram Budha avatharam. (10) Kamalaathmikaa Matsya avathaaram.

 

[SANDHYAV]

amazing! which era did she belong to, pre - mahabaratha or post mahabarath war?

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

amazing! which era did she belong to, pre - mahabaratha or post mahabarath war?

Maa Dhumvathi is part of Dasa Maha Vidya. Ten aspects of the Divine Mother Kali.

Mahavidya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[kgopalan]

THE ORIGIN OF DASA MAHA VIDHYA:; DAKSHA prajapathi himself started a yagna. all his daughters were presen t along with their husbands except satee devi. knowing this she asked permission from her husband lord shiva to attend the yagna. executed by her father. when lord shiva did not permit her, she took the form of maha kaalee.

surprised by the most terrified form of peaceful satee devi , lord shiva started running from that place. But in which direction he ran, deevee was before him with the terrified form. The ten forms she took in all the 8 directions and up and down. these are devee"s maha vidhyaas.

surprised by this Lord shiva stood stunned. though devi tried to console him stating that she is only satee devee only, Lord Shiva could not get away from the fear immediately. Then devi explained him the specialities and purposes of the ten maha vidhyaas to her husband.

Further she mentioned The vedas and aagamaas told by you to this world are my two hands.i wear movable and immovable things of this world with those two hands. these ten forms will help to bless the worshippers. people should reach me by secretly following the mantra , yantra, verses, kavacha etc; as taught by the teacher.I am telling you with the affection on you. please permit me to attend the yagna.

she requested. after getting his permission she reached the yagna place dhaksha yagna which was protected by nandhi, bringi and others. she could not tolerate the reprimands on lord Shiva and hence disappeared in the fire of yaga. knowing this lord shiva created from his bunch of hair - Veerabhadrar and send him to destroy the yagna of dhaksha.

devi also took the form of Badrakaalee and with the help of veerabadra destroyed daksha and all the opponents of lord shiva. This is the reason for the origination of dasa maha vidhyaas.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

The Ten Maha Vidyas represent Ten great Mantras. The Puranic references, relationship to the Avataras of Vishnu and the tale of Sathi have no relevance in the Tantrik practice.

The Tantrik texts are more of ritual manuals. They give the exact way of worshipping the Maha Vidyas. Upasana Marga. They give the Dhyana Slokas (from which the image of the deity is derived), Mantra, Sahasranama and the rituals.

Many of the Dasa Maha Vidyas have their own individual Tantrik texts, called Rahasyams.

Dasa Maha Vidyas are not for the common man because their worship has to be done only with the aid of a Guru.

I had posted this only for information purpose. And to show how Hinduism has a Goddess who is Ugly and who is a Widow.

Tantra does not believe in any discrimination based on Caste, Colour, Sex, Marital status. All are equal. In fact some of the Tantrik texts consider a woman Guru to be superior to Man Guru. One of then goes to the extent of extolling a Chandala Woman Guru as the greatest.

Unfortunately some of the later Tantrik texts forgot this basic concept of Tantra.

 

[Nacchinarkiniyan]

The tatva of dhoomaavatee devi can also be called as pralaya kaalee or yoga nidhra. paraman was in the state of samadhi and hence was not aware of the impact of self broken commodities by dhoomaavathee. only on account of this samadhi every soul gets liberation. only because of this devee, the state of ignorance, sleep for the family people , unconciousness and forgetfulness are happen.

saastras mention, that family people do not recognise their real form, because of ignorance. The energy of such a hiding is dhoomaavathee. The special effect of showing one as many is illusion. This tatva is called Raatri in Rig veda and the same is in the form of braadndi in puranaas. Since she is there even before this world is created in the form of darkness she is called jyeshtaa. (senior).

one who wants to remove this world with the knowledge of Brahman, can worship this devee. The easy way for this worship is sacrificing all the wishes from the mind. There cannot be a difference between our form and thought. That will create damages. This vidhya is called as Bhooma vidhya in upanishats as---where nothing else other than self is visible, where nothing else other than self is heard.

The state that there is nothing else other than self, is created. Ganapathy Muni in his Maha Vidhya Sutra Paata, feels that knowledge, ignorance and aggregation mentioned in Eesaavaasyaa Upanishad is this vidhya itself.. By woshiping dhoomavaadhee devee -one can get rid of fear from enemies, get plenty of wealth, money and grains, lead a decent life, respectively win over the inner enemies like desire, anger etc;

get a clean state of mind on account of daily chores and worshipping, lead a endless life with the benefit of State Of Samadhi.

Dhoomaavathee devee is the seventh among the ten. In tantra sastras the word energy will always indicate one with that energy. kali to kalee, Akshobya to taara and bhairavaa to bhairavee. but dhoomaavadhee is taking a deviation to this convention. hence tantras mention she is spouse less.

Dhoomaavathee devi indicates smoke, darkness and innocense. But when there is a smoke there should be fire. the concepts dark and innocence hide light and wisdom. Hence with the blessings of Dhoomaavadhee devi we can easily reach knowledge by removing the darkness of innocence and by destroying the enemies called obstructions, who are friends of darkness. This is the essence of Dhomaavadhee Vidhya.

Once the enemies of knowledge namely suspicion and diversity have been uprooted, the blessings of the teacher through belief and devotion, and the liberation can easily be reached through knowledge of BRAHMAM.

(1) Kalee devee location: anahataa chakram-Incarnation of lord vishnu --krishna. (2) Taaraa manipooraka chakram Raamaa avatharam. (3) Tirupura sundar sahasraaram chakram kalki avathaaram. (4) Bhuvaneswaree anaahatha chakram Varaha avatharam. (5) Bhairavi moolaadharam chakram Narasimha avathaaram. (6) Chinna masthaa - Agnaa chakram parasurama avatharam.

(7) Dhoomaavathee status of samaadhi vamana avatharam. (8) Bhaghalaamukee sankinee Koorma avathaaram. (9) Maatanghee Vishudhi chakram Budha avatharam. (10) Kamalaathmikaa Matsya avathaaram.

Thank you, Sri. Gopalan,

Upasakas are basically taught the marga that is the Mantra and the Rituals. The symbolism or the Tattva behind these practices are not emphasized upon. In fact they are frowned upon. An ounce of Practice is more than a tonne of Theory as my Guru used to often say.

I am grateful to you for explaining some of the Tattvas behind the worship.