Maa Dhumavati Maa (Sanskrit: धूमावती, Dhūmāvatī, literally "the smoky one") is one of the Mahavidyas, a group of ten Tantrik goddesses. Dhumavati represents the fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is often portrayed as an old, ugly widow, and is associated with things considered inauspicious and unattractive in Hinduism, such as the crow and the Chaturmas period. The goddess is often depicted on a horseless chariot or riding a crow, usually in a cremation ground.
Dhumavati is said to manifest herself at the time of cosmic dissolution (pralaya) and is "the Void" that exists before creation and after dissolution. While Dhumavati is generally associated with only inauspicious qualities, her thousand-name hymn relates her positive aspects as well as her negative ones. She is often called tender-hearted and a bestower of boons. Dhumavati is described as a great teacher, one who reveals ultimate knowledge of the universe, which is beyond the illusory divisions, like auspicious and inauspicious. Her ugly form teaches the devotee to look beyond the superficial, to look inwards and seek the inner truths of life.
Dhumavati is described as a giver of siddhis (supernatural powers), a rescuer from all troubles, and a granter of all desires and rewards, including ultimate knowledge and moksha (salvation). Her worship is also prescribed for those who wish to defeat their foes. Dhumavati's worship is considered ideal for unpaired members of society, such as bachelors, widows, and world renouncers as well as Tantrikas. In her Varanasi temple, however, she transcends her inauspiciousness and acquires the status of a local protective deity. There, even married couples worship her. Although she has very few dedicated temples, her worship by Tantric ritual continues in private in secluded places like cremation grounds and forests.
Dhumavati hardly has an independent existence outside the Mahavidya group. There is no historical mention of her before she is included among the Mahavidyas. As a goddess of poverty, frustration, and despair, Daniélou associates Dhumavati with Nirriti, the goddess of disease and misery, and Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune and poverty. Kinsley adds another goddess to the list: Jyestha.
The Vedic goddess Nirriti is associated with death, decay, bad luck, anger, and need. Hymns emphasize offerings to keep her away. Like Nirriti, Dhumavati is associated with unpromising things and hardship. Jyestha, also an early Hindu goddess, has similarities in iconography with Dhumavati. Like Dhumavati, she is dark, ugly and is associated with the crow. Jyestha is described as being unable to tolerate any auspiciousness. Also like Dhumavati, Jyestha dwells in quarrels, inauspicious places, and has a bad temper. Lakshmana Desika, the commentator on the Saradatilaka-Tantra, identifies Dhumavati with Jyestha. Both Alakshmi, the sister and antithesis of Lakshmi (Shri), the goddess of wealth, luck and beauty, and Dhumavati are described as old, carrying a broom and having a crow banner. Both symbolize hunger, thirst, need, and poverty.
While there are similarities between Dhumavati and the three goddesses, the latter lack significant characteristics of Dhumavati, like her widowhood and a textual emphasis on her ugliness. The names of the three goddesses also do not figure in Dhumavati's nama stotras (hymns invoking her many names), where such identifications could have been explicitly mentioned. The three also lack the more fierce warrior aspects of Dhumavati as well as her positive aspects in the context of the Mahavidyas. In scholar David Kinsley's opinion, though the three may be Dhumavati's antecedents, they are not "the same" as Dhumavati. According to Kinsley, the concept of ten Mahavidyas may not be earlier than the 12th century. Dhumavati is worshipped in Tulunad region in south India.
Dhumavati is often named as the seventh Mahavidya. The Guhyatiguhya-Tantra equates Vishnu's ten avatars with the ten Mahavidyas. The fish incarnation Matsya is described as arising from Dhumavati. A similar list in the Mundamala equates Dhumavati with Vamana.
In a story from the Shakta Maha-Bhagavata Purana, which narrates the creation of all the Mahavidyas, Sati, the daughter of Daksha and first wife of god Shiva, feels insulted that she and Shiva are not invited to Daksha's yagna ("fire sacrifice") and insists on going there, despite Shiva's protests. After futile attempts to convince Shiva, the enraged Sati transforms into the Mahavidyas, who surround Shiva from the ten cardinal directions. Dhumavati stands in the southeast.Another similar legend replaces Sati with Kali (the chief Mahavidya) as the wife of Shiva and origin of the other Mahavidyas. The Devi Bhagavata Purana mentions the Mahavidyas as war-companions and forms of goddess Shakambhari.
A legend from the Shaktisamgama-Tantra describes that Sati commits suicide by jumping in Daksha's yagna and Dhumavati rises with a blackened face from the sad smoke of Sati's burning body. She is "all that is left of Sati" and is her outraged and insulted avatar. The Pranatosini-Tantra explains the widowhood of Dhumavati. Once, Sati asked Shiva to give her food. When Shiva declines, the goddess eats him to satisfy her extreme hunger. When Shiva requests her to disgorge him, she obliges. Shiva then rejects her and curses her to assume the form of a widow. Another oral legend tells that Dhumavati was created by the warrior goddess Durga in the battle against demons Shumbha and Nishumbha. Dhumavati's literal name ("she who abides in smoke") comes from her ability to defeat demons by creating stinging smoke.
She is the only one of the Mahavidyas without her consort.
It is said that when the earth was under pressure of water the Divine mother manifested as Dhumavati. When she left she was called Alakshmi- ie without any light or radiance. She is an old woman who is sad, angry and also unsteady. Her teeth are bad and breasts are limp. There is no heavenly energy surrounding her. She has a basket in one hand and wears dirty clothes. She also is shown carrying fire pot. Her nose is shaped like that of a crow beak. She is dark and looks cruel. She also has greying hair, torch in hand and a broom. She has tamasic tastes. She looks always hungry and thirsty. Her negative energies provoke sadness, fights, divorces, conflicts and never-ending quarrels. She enjoys liquor and also flesh. She is always in a depressed state. Looking at her one wishes to be detached. She is capable of destruction. Since she moves on despite her husband, she shows that if a woman chooses she can remain independent.
A common feature is an association with a crow. The crow sometimes appears emblazoned on Dhumavati’s banner; sometimes it sits atop the banner. Occasionally the bird is shown as huge, serving as her mount (vahana). In some illustrations a flock of crows accompanies her. In any case the crow, as an eater of carrion, symbolizes death. It is a fitting companion for a goddess of misfortune, decay, destruction, and loss.
Dhumavati Sadhana
In the context of traditional Indian society, the fact that widows can be socially marginalized.But widows are also free to follow a spiritual path, to go on pilgrimages, and to engage in sadhana that would have been impossible during the years of family obligations. No longer constrained by the demands of the married state, they are in a position to apply themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual practice. There is an implied parallel here between the enforced position of widowhood and the voluntary state of renunciation known as samnyasa.It is universally acknowledged that something that seemed painful or unfortunate at the time might have been for the best after all, in short, a blessing in disguise. Most of us need look no further than our own lives or the lives of people we know for examples of disappointments, misfortunes, frustrations, defeats, or losses that led to positive transformation. Similarly, adversity can build character and turn an ordinary soul into an extraordinary one.
Dhumavati holds a bowl of fire in one hand and a winnowing basket in the other.
The fire symbolizes inevitable cosmic destruction: all things shall pass away. The winnowing basket, used to separate grain from the chaff, represents Viveka, mental discrimination between the permanent and the fleeting. Even though her stalled cart represents an external life going nowhere, Dhumavati empowers us inwardly to reach for the highest, and there is nothing to stop us once we are resolved. In the end, she points the way to liberation.
Dhumavati temple
Dhumavati temples are also very rare. The most famous temple of Goddess Dhumavati is located in Varanasi where the Goddess is worshipped with very unusual items. She is offered fruits, flowers along with meat, bhaang, liquor, cigarettes and sometimes even blood sacrifices.
Dhumavati Mantra
Saptakshar Dhumavati Mantra (7 Syllables Mantra)
धूं धूमावती स्वाहा॥
Dhum Dhumavati Svaha॥
Ashtakshar Dhumavati Mantra (8 Syllables Mantra)
धूं धूं धूमावती स्वाहा॥
Dhum Dhum Dhumavati Svaha॥
Dashakshar Dhumavati Mantra (10 Syllables Mantra)
धूं धूं धूं धूमावती स्वाहा॥
Dhum Dhum Dhum Dhumavati Svaha॥
Chaturdashakshar Dhumavati Mantra (14 Syllables Mantra)
धूं धूं धुर धुर धूमावती क्रों फट् स्वाहा॥
Dhum Dhum Dhura Dhura Dhumavati Krom Phat Svaha॥
Panchadashakshar Dhumavati Mantra (15 Syllables Mantra)
ॐ धूं धूमावती देवदत्त धावति स्वाहा॥
Om Dhum Dhumavati Devadatta Dhavati Svaha॥
Dhumavati Gayatri Mantra
ॐ धूमावत्यै विद्महे संहारिण्यै धीमहि तन्नो धूमा प्रचोदयात्॥
Om Dhumavatyai Vidmahe Samharinyai Dhimahi Tanno Dhuma Prachodayat॥
