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Matrikas
| Matrikas | |
|---|---|
Goddesses of War, Children, Emancipation[1] | |
_Flanked_by_Shiva_(left)_and_Ganesha_(right).jpg) The Seven Mother Goddesses (Matrikas) flanked by Shiva (left) and Ganesha (right) | |
| Devanagari | मातृका |
| Sanskrit transliteration | mātṛkā |
| Affiliation | Shakti, Devi, Mahadevi |
| Abode | Kailasha |
| Part of a series on |
| Shaktism |
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Matrikas (Sanskrit: मातृका (singular), IAST: mātṛkā, lit. "mothers")[2] also called Mataras or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses who are always depicted together in Hinduism. The Matrikas are often depicted in a group of seven, the Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mothers).[3] However, they are also depicted as a group of eight, the Ashtamatrika(s).[4] In the Brihat Samhita, Varahamihira says that "Matrikas are forms of Parvati taken by her with cognizance of (different major Hindu) gods corresponding to their names."[5] They are associated with these gods as their energies (Shaktis).[6] Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Kartikeya, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Chandi.[7] And additionals are Narasimhi from Narasimha and Vinayaki from Ganesha.
Originally the seven goddesses of the seven stars of the star cluster of the Pleiades, they became quite popular by the seventh century CE and a standard feature of the Hindu goddesses's temples from the ninth century CE onwards.[8] In South India, Saptamatrikas worship is prevalent whereas the Ashtamatrikas are venerated in Nepal, among other places.[9]
The Matrikas assume paramount significance in the goddesses-oriented sect of Hinduism, Tantrism.[10] In Shaktism, they are described as assisting the Parvati in her fight with demons and demonesses and killing all of them.[11] Other scholars say that they are Shaiva goddesses.[12] They are also connected with the worship of warrior god Kartikeya.[13] In most early references, the Matrikas are associated with the conception, birth, diseases, protection of children.[14] They were seen as inauspicious,[15] as the goddeses of perils, propitiated in order to avoid those ills, that killed off so many children before they reached adulthood.[14] They come to play a protective role in later mythology, although some of their early inauspicious and wild characteristics continue in these legends.[15] Thus, they represent the prodigiously fecund aspect of nature as well as its destructively killing aspect.[6]
- ^ Wangu 2003, p. 99.
- ^ Monier-Williams, Monier (1872). Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Clarendon. p. 765.
matrika
- ^ Berkson 1992, p. 134.
- ^ "Mantras to the Aṣṭamātṛkās". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
- ^ Brihat Samhita, Ch.57, v.56. Panda, S. S. (September 2004). "Sakti Cult in Upper Mahanadi Valley" (PDF). Orissa Review. Government of Orissa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2008.
- ^ a b Jain & Handa 1995, p. 162
- ^ Leeming, David; Fee, Christopher (2016). The Goddess: Myths of the Great Mother. Reaktion Books. p. part 33. ISBN 9781780235387.
- ^ Wangu 2003, p. 187, Glossary.
- ^ Van den Hoek 1993, p. 362.
- ^ Wangu 2003, p. 41
- ^ Bhattacharyya 1974, p. 126.
- ^ Wangu 2003, p. 75
- ^ Collins 1988, p. 143.
- ^ a b Wangu 2003, pp. 58–59.
- ^ a b Kinsley 1998, p. 151.
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