The Origin Story Of Ten Mahavidyas

The ten Mahavidyas or Wisdom Goddesses represent distinct aspects of Divinity, intent on guiding the spiritual seeker towards liberation. For the devotionally minded seeker, these forms can be approached in a spirit of reverence, love and increasing intimacy. For a knowledge-oriented seeker, the same forms can represent various states of inner awakening along the path to enlightenment. Our ancient texts mention about the ten Mahavidya who are worshipped to seek all sorts of powers. Mahavidya worship is known as sadhana in which worshipper concentrate on a single goddess to please and seek her blessings. The story about the origin of Dasa Mahavidya goes like this. Sati, the wife of Shiva, was the daughter of Prajapati Daksh, a descendant of Brahma. Sati had married Shiva against the wishes of her father. The vain Daksha performed a great yajna with the sole aim of insulting Shiva, to which he invited all of the gods and goddesses except his son-in-law, Lord Shiva. Shiva said that Daksha was trying to insult him and so, even if Sati attends the yajna, the fruit of the sacrifice would not be auspicious. Therefore, he advised Sati not to attend the yajna. Sati became furious. She thought that Shiva was treating her like an ignorant woman and not as the mother of the universe. So, to show Shiva who she really was, she assumed a different form, the one of the Divine Mother. The oceans raged, the mountains shook and the atmosphere was filled with the wonder of her form. Shiva began to shake and tried to flee. But in every direction that he tried to escape, the Divine Mother stopped him. The Divine Mother had multiplied herself into ten different forms, guarding each of the ten directions, the four cardinal directions, the four ordinal directions, above and below. And no matter how much Shiva tried, he could not escape from her, as she had blocked every way. These ten forms of the Divine Mother are known as the Dasa Mahavidya. Each form has its own name, story, quality and mantras. The Dasa Mahavidyas are wisdom goddesses. Dasa means ten, Maha means great and Vidya means wisdom. The Dasa Mahavidyas are considered forms of Divine Mother Kali, who is the first of the ten Mahavidyas. The Dasa Mahavidyas are Kali, Bagalamukhi, Chinnamasta, Bhuvaneshwari, Matangi, Shodashi, Dhumavati, Tripurasundari, Tara and Bhairavi. KALI First of all, Sati took the form of Kali. Her form was fearful, her hair untied and loose, her body the colour of a dark cloud. She had deep-set eyes and eyebrows shaped like curved swords. She stood on a corpse, wore a garland of skulls and earrings made from the bones of corpses. She had four hands. On one hand she had the head of a skull and the other a curved sword with blood dripping on it. She had mudras on the other two hands, one giving freedom from fear and the other giving blessings. She rode and the ten directions were filled with ferocious sound. She is the goddess that killed Chanda and Mund and also drank the blood of Raktabeej. She is known as Kaushiki who came from within and is the slayer of Shambha and Nishambha. She is beyond time, she takes away the darkness and fills us with light of wisdom. She resides in the cremation grounds where all creation dissolves. To know in full detail about the story of Kali, watch the video linked above. BAGALAMUKHI Bagala is the second Mahavidya. Once the creation was in turmoil and being destroyed in many places. Brahma became worried about his creation and wondered what the outcome of this turmoil would be. He then meditated to bring peace to the universe. Not succeeding, he then performed severe tapasya to obtain the blessings of Tripurambika, the mother of the three worlds. Pleased with his austerities, she appeared before him as mother Bagala in a yellow form and gave him a boon. Bagala grants all kinds of perfection to devotees who pray to her. Here is another story of her origin. Once an asura named Ruru, the son of Durgam, performed severe penance to win the favour of Brahma. Since Ruru was already very powerful, the gods became very apprehensive of what might happen if he obtained a boon from Brahma. So they did aradhana to the yellow mother. Pleased with their penance, the divine mother appeared as Bagala. Bagala is the goddess who stops all motion at the appropriate time, silences the mouths and words of all evil beings and controls their tongue. CHINNAMASTA The third Mahavidya is Chinnamasta. Once Parvati went with her friends Dakini and Varnini to take a pass in the Mandakini river. Parvati was feeling very happy and a lot of love was welling up inside her. Her friends on the other hand were very hungry and asked Parvati to give them some food. Parvati requested them to wait and said that she would feed them after a while and began walking. After a short while, her friends once again appealed to her, telling her that she was the mother of the universe and they were her children and asked to be fed quickly. Parvati replied that they should wait until they got home. Her friends could not wait any longer and demanded that their hunger be satisfied immediately. The compassionate Parvati laughed and with her fingernail cut her own head. Immediately the blood spurted in three directions. Her two friends drank the blood from two of the directions and the goddess herself drank the blood from the third direction. Since she cut her own head, she is known as Chinnamasta. Bhuvaneshwari Bhuvaneshwari is the fourth Mahavidya. Bhuvan means the universe and Ishwari means the ruler and therefore she is the ruler of the universe. She is also known as Rajarajeshwari and protects the universe. Brahma had the desire to create the universe and he did intense tapasya to invite the energy of creation, Kriya Shakti. Parameshwari, pleased with this tapasya, responded to his invitation and came as Bhudevi or Bhuvaneshwari. She is red in colour, seated on a lotus flower. She holds a noose and a curved sword in two of her hands and the other two assume the mutras of blessing and freedom from fear. Matangi The fifth Mahavidya is Matangi. One day Parvati went to Shiva to obtain permission to go to her father's house. Shiva wanted to go with her but would not go without being invited. Parvati laughed and said that he should go with her. Shiva replied that he would not go with her but would come to escort her back. In her absence, Shiva began to long for her and decided to visit her in the disguise of an ornament seller. When she selected the ornaments and asked for the price, Shiva told her that if she fully satisfied his desire, he would give her the ornaments for free. Parvati was shocked that somebody would dare suggest such a thing to her. Then she realised that the vendor was none other than Lord Shiva himself. She told Shiva that she would fulfil his desire but not just then and sent him away. Later that evening, she went with a friend to where Mahadeva was praying. She took the form of a beautiful outcast girl, a chandali, and approached him thinking that he would not recognise her. Seeing her, Shiva called out, Hey Shubhangi, who are you and why have you come here? Parvati said, I am a chandali and I am here to do tapasya to become a goddess. So please do not disturb me. Then Shiva said, I am Shiva. I give the fruit of tapasya. If you marry me, I will make you like Parvati without a doubt. Parvati understood that Shiva had seen through her disguise and bowed to him. Shiva said, Devi, you took this form because you wanted to pray to me and so I gave you the name Matangi. Anyone who prays to Matangi will attain perfection. Shodashi The sixth Mahavidya is Shodashi. When Parvati left her form as Kali and assumed the form of Gauri, Shiva addressed her as Kali again and again. Parvati was insulted and left the place. Shiva went into his own heart and began to remember the goddess. But without seeing the goddess in person, he became dismayed and wondered where she had gone. At that time, Narada Muni came to where Shiva was meditating. Shiva narrated this occurrence to Narada and told him that Kali had left him. Narada was very happy to hear the differences between Shiva and Kali. In his meditation, Narada saw that Parvati was sitting in meditation on Sumeru mountain in an inaccessible place. In order to increase the separation between Shiva and Parvati, Narada Muni went to Parvati and said that Shiva was entering into a relationship with another woman. When the goddess heard this from Narada's mouth, she was filled with anger. In this great anger, the goddess assumed the form of the most beautiful young lady of 16 years, showed her and presented herself before Shiva. Seeing her own shadow reflected upon Shiva's chest and thinking it to be another woman, she became even angrier and said, When we were married, you gave your heart to me for my residence. How can you now give your heart to another woman? When Shiva heard Kali's words, he replied, Look closely at my heart. The woman you see in my heart is your own reflection. When the goddess looked closely, with great satisfaction she asked, The woman that I just saw in your heart, by what name shall she be known? Shiva replied, This new form of yours is one of your Mahavidyas and her name will be Shodashi. Dhumavati The seventh Mahavidya is Dhumavati. One day Mahadeva was sitting in Kailash and Parvati was on his lap. She told Shiva that she was very hungry and requested him to get her some food. Shiva asked her to wait a while and so saying went back into meditation. Parvati once again asked Shiva for some food. When Shiva asked her to wait a second time, Parvati was so hungry that she became aggressive. The third time this happened, Parvati could bear no more and she ate Shiva to appease her hunger. Immediately smoke started to come out from within her body. Shiva who was inside her body had opened his third eye and he said to Parvati that without him there was no Purusha in the universe, only Prakriti as only Parvati existed. For this reason, this is the widow form of the goddess known as Dhumavati. Dhuma means smoke and she is depicted without any ornaments in this form. Tripurasundari The eighth Mahavidya is Tripurasundari also known as Kamala. A form of Mahalakshmi, she symbolizes wealth. Her body is golden in color and she is seated on a gold lotus. One day Indra, the ruler of the heavens saw Rambha and was lost watching her beauty. At that time, the fierce Rishi Durvasa appeared and gave a garland to Indra. But Indra, still mesmerized by Rambha, did not realize what he was doing and gave the garland to his elephant Airavat. Durvasa was angry with the disrespect shown to him and immediately cursed Indra that all the Devas will lose Lakshmi and will have to leave their kingdom. Goddess Lakshmi, true to the curse, left the heavenly regions. All the gods were saddened and led by Indra went to Vishnu to get his counsel. Vishnu suggested that Lakshmi would reappear if they churned the ocean of milk. Both Devas and Asuras arrived at the ocean of milk. They used Mount Mandar as the central axle and a serpent as a rope to move the mountain. Lord Vishnu took the form of a large tortoise to support the mountain. The Asuras and the Devas each took the opposite ends of the snake and churned the ocean. As they churned, a lot of beautiful beings and objects manifested. One among those various Ratna was Lakshmi. When they saw Lakshmi, the gods offered her an asana with the greatest respect. They did an abhishek to her and offered her a lotus garland and entreated her to stay with them to which she agreed. She became known as Tripurasundari. Tara When Lord Shiva bade Sati not to attend her father's Yagya, Sati became furious and assumed the fearful form of Kali, cursing Shiva to flee in another direction. Sati then assumed the form of the ninth Mahavidya, Tara. Tara is blue, her tongue is fearfully sticking out and her face is terrifying. Her hair is tangled like snakes sticking straight up and she is dressed in a tiger skin. On her head are five half-moons. She has three eyes, four arms, a large protruding belly and stands on a corpse. She has four arms in which she holds a lotus, a sword, a drinking bowl and a bell. Tara is the illuminator. She illuminates all of our attitudes. Bhairavi The tenth form of the Mahavidya is Bhairavi. Her body is the color of the rising sun. She wears a pearl necklace around her neck, has red breasts and has four hands in which she holds a chappamala, postak and displays the mudras of blessing and freedom from fear. She has three eyes that are red in color and wears a moon on her forehead. Bhairavi is the form of Kali that kills Chanda and Munda. She frees us from all fear as she herself is the fearless one. Thank you.