The goddess who takes what the house would throw away
Warning
Her practice breaks the purity rules on purpose do not tidy them
Resonance
Musicians writers those outside the pure those crossing a boundary
Symbols
ParrotVeenaSwordNooseGoblet
Mythology Summary
Matangi is the ninth Mahavidya, the tantric Saraswati: goddess of speech, music and learning who is also the outcaste (matanga, chandala) and accepts ucchishta, leftover food. In Sri Vidya she is the Mantrini, the minister and counsellor of Lalita Tripura Sundari, and her emerald-green form holds the veena and the parrot. Because her worship deliberately crosses the purity rules, she is the Mahavidya most often sanitised by modern writers and most carefully hedged by the tradition.
Modern Practice
Matangi is approached for speech, music and learning, and for the crossing of the purity boundaries that keep a person outside, and her offerings include the leftover food that the householder tradition would not give a goddess. That reversal is the practice; a Western reader who keeps only the 'goddess of the arts' half has dropped the part that does the work.