Matangi - Worship

Worship

Besides the Mahavidya Bagalamukhi, Matangi is the other Mahavidya, whose worship is primarily prescribed to acquire supernatural powers. A hymn in the Maha-bhagavata Purana asks her grace to control one's foes, while the Tantrasara says that recitation of her mantra, meditation on her form and her ritual worship gives one to the power to control people and make them attracted to oneself. Her devotees, especially Tantric sadhakas, are regarded to have transcend the pollution by offering her left-over or partially eaten food (Ucchishta) and thus overcome their ego. Worship of Matangi is described to allow her devotee to face the forbidden and transcend pollution, leading him to salvation or allowing him to gain supernatural powers for worldly goals. The Purashcharyarnava describes pleasing the goddess would result in her answering all the devotee's queries by whispering in her ear.

Matangi is often worshipped with the mantra syllable Aim, which is associated with Sarasvati and is the seed-syllable of knowledge, learning and teaching. A longer mantra of twenty syllables is also used:

Om hrim aim srim namo bhagavati ucchishtacandali
sri matangeshvari sarvajanavashankari svaha

"Reverence to adorable Matangi, the outcast and residue, who gives control over all creatures"

Her mantra may be repeated ten thousand times, repeated one thousand times while offering flowers and ghee in a fire sacrifice, or repeated one hundred times while offering water (Arghya) or while offering food to Brahmin priests. Her yantra (sacred geometric diagram), whether physically constructed or mentally envisioned, is used in worship along with the mantra. Offering certain items to a fire sacrifice—particularly those performed at cremation grounds, river banks, forests, or crossroads—while repeating the mantra is said to fulfil specific goals. An offering of Bael leaves is said to result in kingship; salt gives the power to control; turmeric gives the power to paralyse; neem twigs bring wealth; and an offering of sandalwood, camphor and saffron together or a salt and honey mixture grants the power to attract people. A rice-flour bread prepared while repeating her mantra is said to give the power to attract women. It is likewise said that it is possible to make a person one's slave by feeding him or her the ashes of a crow whose stomach was stuffed with a conch and burnt in a cremation ground while repeating the goddess' mantra.

Leftover or partially eaten food (Ucchishta) is recommended to be offered to Matangi with the devotee in the polluted Ucchishta state, that is, having eaten but not washed, with the remains of food in the mouth and hands. Offering of leftovers to Hindu deities or being in the polluted Ucchishta state is a taboo in mainstream Hinduism. Another taboo that is broken in Matangi worship is the offering to the goddess of a cloth stained with menstrual blood to gain the ability to attract a mate. Menstrual blood is considered polluted in almost all Hindu scriptures and menstruating women are kept away from Hindu worship and temples. The outcaste Matangi community of Nepal collect polluted substances and items related to death and bad luck such as sacrificial animal heads and clothes of the deceased, and offers them at special stones kept at crossroads called chwasas, where the "dangerous" Matangi "consumes" them as an offering, thereby getting rid of the pollution. The Tantrasara also advises offerings to Matangi of meat, fish, cooked rice, milk and incense at crossroads or cremations grounds in the dead of the night to overpower enemies and gain poetic talent. Oblations of Ucchishta, cat meat and goat meat to the goddess are said to help achieve Supreme knowledge. A text proclaims Matangi's worship becomes fruitful only if the devotee reveres women as goddesses and refrains from criticizing them.

No fasts or rituals to purify oneself before worship—typical of Hindu worship—are prescribed for Matangi worship. Anyone can use any mantra for worship, even though he is not initiated or considered unfit for worshipping any other deity. A thousand-name hymn from the Nanayavarta-tantra and a hundred-name hymn from the Rudradamala are dedicated to the goddess. The reciting of the Sanskrit alphabet, the chanting of mantras, the reading aloud of the scriptures, and performance of music and dance are also described as constituting acts of her worship.