Matrikas
Matrika is a group of mother or warrior goddesses who are portrayed together in unspecified numbers. They are considered to be inauspicious and wild in characteristics but became protective deities in later mythology. Different texts and traditions describe the origin of Matrikas, many of them having a distinct narrative. Earlier scriptures account Matrikas as a group of goddesses, uncertain in number and aggressive in nature. The group was widely regarded and feared as swarms of evil spirits preying on pregnant mothers and children. Although, they are portrayed as warrior goddesses in later works of literature. According to the Devi Mahatmya, Matrikas were created by Durga to defeat the demon army. In Matsya Purana, these goddesses were created from the Shakti of different gods to assist Shiva in his fight with Andhaka.
Sapta/Ashtamatrikas
In various Puranas and Tantra, Matrikas typically appear in groups of seven or eight goddesses. Sometimes there are five to ten goddesses on the list, but the majority of the tradition emphasizes having a total of seven to eight Matrikas. The most widely recognized Matrikas are Brahmi, Maheshvari, Kumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, and Chamunda. These goddesses are thought to have originated from attributes of different male deities. They represent the Shakti of these male deities in female form. In some traditions, they are also seen as the consorts of particular male deities. In the Devi Mahatmya, Goddess Durga created the Matrka goddesses to help her in destroying the demon army.
Following are prominent goddesses who are often listed as Matrikas in various Puranic and Tantric literature:
1. Brahmani
Also called Brahmi, she is the Shakti of Brahma, depicted in yellow complexion and with one or four heads. She has four arms, holding different attributes of Brahma, such as a rosary, kamandalu, trident, manuscript or her two hands are in Varada and Abhaya mudra. She is also shown seated on a lotus or a swan or goose as her mount. She is also shown as sitting under a palas tree.
2. Vaishnavi
She is the Shakti of Vishnu. Her complexion is bluish and her mount is Garuda, like Vishnu. She has four or six arms, holding different attributes of Vishnu, such as a conch shell, chakra (Discus), mace and lotus, bow-sword, or her two hands are in Varada and Abhaya mudra.
3. Maheshwari
Also called Rudrani, she is the Shakti of Shiva. She is depicted with a white complexion and with three eyes. She has four arms, holding different attributes of Shiva, such as a trident, damaru, akshamala (a garland of beads), axe, or a kapala (skull-bowl) or her two hands in Varada and Abhaya mudra. She is adorned with a crescent moon on her piled-matted hair and snakes on her neck and seated on Nandi, like Shiva.
4. Indrani
She is the Shakti of Indra. She has two or four or six arms, holding different attributes of Indra, like Vajra, goad, noose, or her two hands in Abhay and Varada Mudra. Her mount is an elephant.
5. Kaumari
She is the shakti of Kartikeya. She is depicted one headed or six-headed. She has four or eight arms, holding various attributes of Kartikeya, like a spear, axe, trident, bow-arrow, sword, shield, mace, or her two hands in Abhay and Varada Mudra. Her mount is a peacock.
6. Varahi
She is the Shakti of Varaha. She is depicted with a boar face like Varaha. She has two, four, or ten arms, holding various attributes like a plow, goad, noose, vajra, sword, panapatra, bell, chakra, bow-arrow, or her two hands in Abhay and Varada Mudra. Her mount is a buffalo but she is also shown seated on a tiger, lion, or horse, or seated on a lotus.
Varahi is also one of the principal goddesses in Tantric tradition and hence she is depicted in various forms. In Varahi Tantra, she has five forms, Svapna Varahi, Canda Varahi, Mahi Varahi, Krcca Varahi, and Matsya Varahi. Maha Varahi, Swapna Varahi, Magisharuda Varahi, Aadi Varahi, Simharuda Varahi, Achvaruda Varahi, Unmatha Varahi, and Lagu Varahi are other forms of grouped together as Ashta Varahi, worshipped during Ashada Navratri.
7. Chamundi
She is the form of Kali who slew Chanda and Munda, two rakshasas, hence called Chamunda. She is described as having a dark complexion with three eyes, fangs coming out of her mouth, and a sunken belly. She wears a garland of severed heads or skulls. She has two, four, eight, ten or twelve arms, holding a damaru, trident, sacrificial sword, skull-mace, thunderbolt, snake, a severed head and skull-cup. She is shown riding a jackal or standing on a corpse.
8. Narasimhi
She is the shakti of Narasimha. She is depicted as a lion face like Narasimha. She is generally shown with four, eight or ten arms, holding various attributes like a trident, damaru, mace, bow-arrow, chakra, sacrificial sword, a severed head, sankha, pasha (snake rope), and skull-cup. Her mount is a lion. She is often identified with Pratyangira. She is depicted with four arms and a lion-like countenance. With the head of a male lion atop a human female body, she bears erect hair on her head. Holding a skull, trident, damaru, and a noose (nagapasa) in her hands, she sits astride a lion, wielding her formidable power to vanquish adversaries.
9. Yami
She is the shakti of Yama mentioned in Varaha Purana as the seventh Matrika goddess.
10.Yogishwari
She is the eighth Matrika in Varaha Purana and a Shakti of Shiva. She was created by the flames emerging from Shiva’s mouth.
11. Vinayaki
Also called Gananayika, she is the Shakti of Ganesha, depicted with an elephant head like Ganesha. She has four or ten arms, holding various attributes like a sword, noose, trident, sugarcane, chakra, mace, sankha, lotus, or her two hands in Abhay and Varada Mudra.
12. Kuberi
She is the Shakti of Yama mentioned in Varaha Purana as the seventh Matrika goddess.
13. Varuni
She is the eighth Matrika in Varaha Purana and a Shakti of Shiva. She was created by the flames emerging from Shiva’s mouth.
14. Chandika
Chandi, also considered a form of Mahishasuramardini, is a fearsome goddess who is counted in a list of nine Matrikas in Some Tantric traditions. The Yoginis, the Goddess' attendants, are thought to be the daughters of these Matrkas. Each Matrka is said to have nine daughters, resulting in 81 Yoginis.
15. Mahalakshmi
In Nepal's tradition of Ashta Matara, Mahalakshmi is counted as the eighth Matrika and replacing Narasimhi. Mahalakshmi is also listed with Chandika in the group of nine Matrikas in Tantric traditions.
Ten Matrikas in
Devi Bhagavata Purana
The battles fought by Durga and assisted by ten Matrikas are described in the Devi Bhagavata Purana. The Shaktis of the other gods are these goddesses. Brahmi, Vaishnavi, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Indrani, Varahi, Narasimhi, Kalika, Shivaduti, and Chandika are the ten Matrkas mentioned.
Sapta Kanni
Saptha Kanni is a group of seven virgins worshipped in Tamil Nadu as protector deities. They are no other but the Saptamatrikas goddesses, Brahmi, Maheshwari, Kumari, Vaishnavi, Indrani, Varahi, and Chamunda. Generally, their idols are depicted in human forms with two arms, sitting together on a pedestal.
Matrikas in Mahabharata
The Mahabharata has the earliest recorded account of a group of Matrkas goddesses known as Matraha or Matragana. In particular, these narratives depict Matrkas as terrible and dangerous entities.
Lokamata
Vana-parva, the third of eighteen parvas in the Mahabharata, references a group of sixteen goddesses known as Lokamata, which means "mother of the world". The Lokamata are considered inauspicious and harmful. Indra sent them to kill Skanda as an infant. When they saw the baby, their maternal instincts raise and they couldn't bring themselves to kill Skanda as Indra had ordered. They then ask Skanda to adopt them as his mothers.
Matrikas emerged from Kartikeya
In another narrative, Indra hits Skanda with his thunderbolt, causing Matrikas to emerge from Kartikeya's body and assecpted Kartikeya as his mothers. They are separated into eight Shiva goddesses (auspicious) and eight Ashiva goddesses (terrifying). The Shiva Matrkas are Sasti, Laksmi, Asa, Sukhaprada, Sadvrtti, Aparajita, Sinivali, and Khuhu. Kaki, Halima, Malini, Brhali, Arya, Brahmata, Palala, and Vaimitra are the eight terrible goddesses, called Ashiva. They are of evil nature and are associated with the stealing of infants.
Krittikas
In another story, Kartikeya adopts six sage wives (from of the wives of Sapta-rishis, save for Arundhati) as his mothers. These six goddesses are also associated with the constellation Krittika. They became the constellation of seven stars after rising into heaven. They are known as Amba, Dula, Nitatni, Abhrayanti, Meghayanti, Varshayanti, and Chupunika in Taittareya Brahmana.
Ten Grahas (Seizers)
Another list of ten malevolent female entities is listed in Mahabharata, classified as Grahas or Rakkasi. They are portrayed as consuming flesh, ingesting strong intoxicants, and roaming around the place where the birth takes. They harass pregnant women and harm newborn babies. They are Vinata, Kadru, Putana, Shita Putana, Revathi, Diti, Surabhi, Sarama, Lohitayani, and Arya. In another version, they are listed as Sakuni, Revathi, Mukhamadika, Vinata, Putana, Sitaputana, Lohitayani, and Sarama.
-
Putana: In the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu created the Matrikas along with other dangerous beings such as rakshasas (demons), bhutas (ghosts), pretas, and Dakinis. Putana is one of the Graha or Rakshashi among them. She is depicted as a demoness who tried to kill the infant Krishna by breastfeeding him with poisoned milk and is consequently killed by Krishna. She is worshipped to protect children from diseases.
-
Kardu: She is a graha who enters pregnant women and damages their pregnancies by taking on different forms.
-
Lohitayani: She is yet another well-known graha. She is described as having a red complexion, a foul disposition, and being the daughter of the Red Sea. She is said to thrive on blood.
Jarā
Jarā is a significant figure in the lineage of King Jarāsandha of Magadha, as revealed by ancient sources. According to the Mahābhārata, King Bṛhadratha of Magadha worshipped Jarā, a demoness. Jarā was grateful for the king's dedication and hoped to repay him.
When King Bṛhadratha and his two brides, twin sisters from the Kingdom of Kāśī, battled infertility, they sought the help of the hermit Kakṣīvān, also known as Caṇḍakauśika. A mango dropped into the hermit's lap while he meditated under a mango tree, which was a fortunate coincidence. After infusing heavenly force into the fruit via prayer and meditation, Kakṣīvān presented it to the monarch, who distributed it among his wives. As a result, both queens conceived.
However, each queen gave birth to only half of a kid. Shocked and concerned, they abandoned the incomplete infants outside the palace. Jarā intervened and brought the two pieces together, resulting in a full and healthy infant. The infant was given the name "Jarāsandha," which refers to his genesis through Jarā's merger of two parts.
Matrikas as female warriors
The story of Kartikeya becoming the commander of the gods' army is told in the 46th chapter of the Shalya Parva of the Mahabharata. He leads a large army of female warriors known as Matrkas who support him in his battles with demons. Some of them have fair skin, are happy, and are attractive. Others have terrifying characteristics such as long nails, protruding lips, large teeth, and red eyes.
Matrikas as script characters
The Sapta Matrikas are also associated with vowel or syllable sounds represented by Devanagari characters. Because of this connection, they have tremendous creative and destructive powers in relation to these sounds. The Varnamala in Sanskrit is made up of 50 alphabets, each of which is associated with a different Matrika. These Matrikas mentioned in the Shakthi sangama Tantra are Nivritti, Pratishtha, Vidya, Shanti, Indhika, Dipika, Mochika, Para, Sukshma, Sukshmamrita, Jnanamrita, Apypayani, Vyapini, Vyomarupa, Ananta, Srishti, Riddhi, Smriti, Medha, Kanti, Lakshmi, Dyuti, Sthira, Sthiti, Siddhi, Jada, Palini, Shanti, Aishvarya, Rati, Kamika, Varada, Ahladini, Pritih, Dirgha, Tikshna, Raudri, Bhaya, Nidra, Tandra, Kshudha, Krodhini, Kriya, Utkari, Mrityurupa, Pita, Shveta, Asita, and Ananta.
Shodasha Matrikas
The Shodash Matrika (sixteen Matrika) and Ganesha are invariably worshipped at the start of the Hindu marriage rituals. Savitri, Gayatri, Sarasvathi, Jaya, Thristi, Megha, Puasti, Tushti, Dhriti, Vijaya, Devasena, Svadha, Svaha, Matara, Lokamatara, and Kuladevi are their names. A different list includes SavitriI, Kaumari, Rudrani, Brahmani, Gayatri, Tridhi, Dhiriti, Vijaya, Jaya, Chandravigraha, Bhima, Chamunda, Varahi, Indrani, Narayani, and Narasimhi.