Dhumavati - Worship

Worship

Though Dhumavati may seem to be a goddess to be avoided due to her inauspiciousness, she is described as tender-hearted and one who gives her devotees whatever they want. In several places, Dhumavati is described as a giver of siddhis (supernatural powers), a rescuer from all troubles and granter of all desires and rewards, including ultimate knowledge and moksha (salvation). Dhumavati's worship is prescribed to ward off all the negativity that she stands for and to transcend the smoke screen to acquire true knowledge. By worshipping and confronting her, the embodiment of the impure, the inauspicious and outside the fringes of society, one can look beyond the arbitrary dichotomies of society and acquire ultimate knowledge to become spiritually enlightened.

Married people, however, are advised not to worship Dhumavati. It is said that her worship creates a feeling of wanting solitude and distaste of worldly things, which is considered as highest characteristics of a spiritual quest. Thus, Dhumavati's worship is appropriate for world renouncers who roam as lone wanderers and widows who parallel the life of world renouncers. Dhumavati is also described a being partial to single persons and especially partial to widows. Widows are considered the only beings who can withstand her power.

The mantra of Dhumavati is "Dhum Dhum Dhumavati Svaha", containing a repetition of her seed syllable Dhum. This mantra used in the worship of Dhumavati, sometimes with her yantra, is believed to create a protective smoke shielding the devotee from negativity and death. Her worship involves clearing one's mind of all thoughts and leaving back the known, meditating on the unknown silence beyond, and the Void that Dhumavati represents.

The Shaktisamgama Tantra says that Dhumavati can be worshipped for the Uchhatana (eradication) of a person. A worshipper should imagine the world as well as the goddess's mantra as grey. He should blacken his teeth and wear black clothes and observe regulations, such as eating little, sleeping on the ground, and subduing his senses. In this worship procedure called kakakarma (crow-procedure), he should "transform his mind into a crow" by which one can cause harm to a person. Another Tantric text mentions the worshipper should burn a crow in a cremation flame and, while repeating the goddesses' mantra, spread the ashes in the enemy's house, which will lead to his destruction. The text further says Dhumavati should be worshipped only by Dakshinamarga ("right-handed path"). While the Kalarudra-tantra says Dhumavati can be worshipped for destructive purposes, Shakta-pramoda relates that her worship is useful to acquire siddhi to destroy one's foes.

Dhumavati's worship is performed in the night in a cremation ground, bare-bodied with the exception of a loincloth. The fourth lunar day of the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha) is considered the special day to perform her puja (worship). The worshipper should observe a fast and remain silent for a whole day and night. They should also perform a homa ("fire sacrifice"), wearing wet clothes and a turban, repeating the goddess' mantra in a cremation ground, forest, or any lonely place.

Dhumavati temples are extremely rare. At a temple in Varanasi, Dhumavati is the main deity. Smaller Dhumavati temples exist in Rajrappa in Bihar and near the Kamakhya Temple near Guwahati. At the Varanasi temple, which claims to be a Shakti Peetha, Dhumavati's idol rides a chariot and holds a winnowing fan, a broom, and a pot, while the fourth hand makes the fear-not gesture (abhaya-mudra). The goddess is offered usual offerings like flowers and fruit, but also liquor, bhang, cigarettes, meat, and sometimes even blood sacrifices. Though traditional devotees of Dhumavati (world renouncers and Tantrikas) worship at the Varanasi temple, here the goddess transcends her traditional role as "the inauspicious, dangerous goddess who can be approached only by heroic tantric adepts". Dhumavati acquires the role of a local guardian deity, or village deity, who protects the locals and even married couples worship her.