Mahagauri

Mahagauri
Goddess of beauty and purity
Murti of Mahagauri
Affiliation	Navadurga
Abode	Mount Kailash
Planet	Jupiter
Mantra	oṁ devi mahāgauryai namaḥ śvete vṛṣe samārūḍhā śvetāmbaradharā śuciḥ mahāgaurī śubhaṁ dadhān mahādevapramodadā
Weapon	trident, damaru, abhayamudra, varadamudra
Mount	Ox
Festivals	Navaratri, Durga Puja, Durga Ashtami
Genealogy
Consort	Shiva
Children	Kartikeya, Ganesha

Mahagauri (Sanskrit: महागौरी, romanized: Mahāgaurī, lit. 'the great fair-complexioned one')^[1] is a form of the Hindu goddess Mahadevi, venerated as the goddess of beauty and purity.^[2] She is the eighth of the Navadurga, and is worshipped on the eighth day of Navaratri.

Iconography

Mahagauri is usually depicted in white while riding a white bull.^[3] She is shown with four arms: in her upper right hand she holds a trident, in her upper left a damaru, her lower right hand is in the gesture of abhayamudra, and her lower left hand holds a japamala, or performs the varadamudra.

Legend

According to a legend from the Shiva Purana, The asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha had gained a boon that may only be killed by a virgin, unmarried form of Parvati, who was also of a fair complexion. Hence, as advised by Brahma, Shiva repeatedly called Parvati Kali (black) to deliberately infuriate her. Parvati was agitated by this teasing, so she performed severe penance to Brahma so as to gain a fair complexion. Brahma explained his inability to grant her a boon and instead requested her to stop her penance and slay the asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha. Parvati agreed and went to take a bath in the Ganga river in Himalaya. Parvati entered in the Ganga river and as she took a bath, her dark skin washed off entirely and she came back out as a beautiful, fair woman, wearing white garments and apparels, lending her the epithet Mahagauri.^[4]

She then appeared in front of the gods who were praying to her at the Himalayas for the destruction of Shumbha and Nishumbha, and worriedly asked them who they were worshipping. She then reflected and answered her own question and concluded that the gods were praying to her after being defeated by the asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha. Parvati then turned black out of pity for the gods and was called Kali.^[5] She then transformed into Chandi (Chandraghanta) and killed asura Dhumralochana. Chanda and Munda were killed by the goddess Chamunda who appeared out from the third eye of Chandi. Chandi then killed Raktabija and his clones, while Chamunda drank their blood. Parvati turned into Kaushiki again and killed Shumbha and Nishumbha, after which she transformed back into Mahagauri. Hence Parvati killed Shumbha and Nishumbha, giving her the titles of Mahasaraswati or Ambika in the Shiva Purana and the Devi Mahatmya (part of the Markandeya Purana) respectively.^[6]

Mounted upon the back of an ox, she rode back home to Kailasha, where Shiva awaited for her. The two became reunited once again and lived happily with their sons, Kartikeya and Ganesha.^[7]

References

1. Sinha, Atul K. (2009). Approaches to History, Culture, Art and Archaeology. Anamika Publishers & Distributors. p. 500. ISBN 978-81-7975-248-7.
2. Sharma, Arvind (2002-09-26). Methodology in Religious Studies: The Interface with Women's Studies. SUNY Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-7914-5347-6.
3. Dasgupta, Sayantani (2016). "GODDESSES: Durga in Perspective". India International Centre Quarterly. 43 (2): 104.
4. Shastri, J. L. (2017-01-01). The Siva Purana Part 4: Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Volume 4. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 1857–1865. ISBN 978-81-208-3871-0.
5. www.wisdomlib.org (2014-09-12). "The Devī-Māhātmya: The goddess' conversation with the Asura's messenger [Canto LXXXV]". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
6. Shastri, J. L. (2017-01-01). The Siva Purana Part 4: Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology Volume 4. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 1868. ISBN 978-81-208-3871-0.
7. Books, Kausiki (2021-10-24). Siva Purana: Vayuveeya Samhitha: Poorvardham English Translation only without Slokas. Kausiki Books. p. 162.