The fish incarnation Matsya is described as arising from Dhumavati. The Guhyatiguhya-Tantra equates Vishnu's ten avatars with the ten Mahavidyas. Legends A silver panel of the door of the Kali temple, Amber Fort depicts Dhumavati on a horseless chariot with a winnowing basket.ĭhumavati is often named as the seventh Mahavidya. According to Kinsley, the concept of ten Mahavidyas may not be earlier than the 12th century. In scholar David Kinsley's opinion, though the three may be Dhumavati's antecedents, they are not "the same" as Dhumavati. The three also lack the more fierce warrior aspects of Dhumavati as well as her positive aspects in the context of the Mahavidyas. The names of the three goddesses also do not figure in Dhumavati's nama stotras (hymns invoking her many names), where such identifications could have been explicitly mentioned. While there are similarities between Dhumavati and the three goddesses, the latter lack significant characteristics of Dhumavati, like her widowhood and a textual emphasis on her ugliness. Both symbolize hunger, thirst, need, and poverty. Both Alakshmi, the sister and antithesis of Lakshmi (Shri), the goddess of wealth, luck and beauty, and Dhumavati are described as old, carrying a broom and having a crow banner. Lakshmana Desika, the commentator on the Saradatilaka-Tantra, identifies Dhumavati with Jyestha. Also like Dhumavati, Jyestha dwells in quarrels, inauspicious places, and has a bad temper. Jyestha is described as being unable to tolerate any auspiciousness. Like Dhumavati, she is dark, ugly and is associated with the crow. Jyestha, also an early Hindu goddess, has similarities in iconography with Dhumavati. Like Nirriti, Dhumavati is associated with unpromising things and hardship. Hymns emphasize offerings to keep her away. The Vedic goddess Nirriti is associated with death, decay, bad luck, anger, and need. Kinsley adds another goddess to the list: Jyestha. As a goddess of poverty, frustration, and despair, Daniélou associates Dhumavati with Nirriti, the goddess of disease and misery, and Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune and poverty. There is no historical mention of her before she is included among the Mahavidyas. Origins A traditional image of Dhumavati as a widow with a winnowing basket on a horseless chariotĭhumavati hardly has an independent existence outside the Mahavidya group. ![]() Although she has very few dedicated temples, her worship by Tantric ritual continues in private in secluded places like cremation grounds and forests. In her Varanasi temple, however, she transcends her inauspiciousness and acquires the status of a local protective deity, where she is also worshipped by married couples. ![]() ![]() Dhumavati's worship is considered ideal for unpaired members of society, such as bachelors, widows, and world renouncers as well as Tantrikas. Her worship is also prescribed for those who wish to defeat their foes. Her ugly form teaches the devotee to look beyond the superficial, to look inwards and seek the inner truths of life.ĭhumavati is described as a giver of siddhis (supernatural powers), a rescuer from all troubles, and a granter of all desires and rewards, including ultimate knowledge and moksha (salvation). Dhumavati is described as a great teacher, one who reveals ultimate knowledge of the universe, which is beyond the illusory divisions, like auspicious and inauspicious. She is often called tender-hearted and a bestower of boons. While Dhumavati is generally associated with only inauspicious qualities, her thousand-name hymn relates her positive aspects as well as her negative ones. The goddess is often depicted carrying a winnowing basket on a horseless chariot or riding a crow, usually in a cremation ground.ĭhumavati is said to manifest herself at the time of cosmic dissolution ( pralaya) and is "the Void" that exists before creation and after dissolution. She is often portrayed as an old, ugly widow, and is associated with things considered inauspicious and unattractive in Hinduism, such as the crow and the chaturmasya period. Dhumavati represents the fearsome aspect of Mahadevi, the supreme goddess in Hindu traditions such as Shaktism. Dhumavati ( Sanskrit: धूमावती, Dhūmāvatī, literally "the smoky one") is one of the Mahavidyas, a group of ten Hindu Tantric goddesses.
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