Matangi
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.
Matangi is the Mahavidya who breaks the purity rules: her signature offering is ucchishta, leftover food, and her worship deliberately crosses the caste and purity boundaries the householder tradition polices. Modern Western writers often sanitise her into a 'goddess of music and learning' - which she also is - but the pollution is the point and belongs to the tradition. The planetary, elemental, zodiacal and tarot values are a modern Western overlay.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Mercury
Offerings
- Offerings
- UchchhishtaLeftover foodRiceTurmericCoconutRed flowersAlcohol
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Uchchhishta ChandaliniMantriniRaja MatangiThe Outcaste Goddess
- Gender Expression
- Feminine
- Titles
- The Outcaste GoddessThe Tantric SaraswatiThe Minister of LalitaNinth of the Mahavidyas
- Symbols
- ParrotVeenaSwordNooseGoblet
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneUnpolished warmAddressMatangiMantriniMa MatangiRelationshipThe goddess who takes what the house would throw awayWarningHer practice breaks the purity rules on purpose do not tidy themResonanceMusicians writers those outside the pure those crossing a boundary
- 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.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- SpeechMusicLearningThe outcasteThe leftoversThe counselBoundary crossing
- 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.
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsGreenEmerald greenBlackScentsSandalwoodVetiverPatchouliJasmineMetalsCopperSilverAnimalsParrotElephant
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