Book of Devi, page 10
The following folk tale is recited during the auspicious day of Shitala shashti in spring when women fast and abstain from bathing in hot water or even cooking food.
There lived a wealthy old man who had seven sons. But though they had been married for many years none of the sons had any children. An elderly woman in the village advised the daughters-in-law to fast and pray to the Goddess Shitala who would bless them with sons. The seven wives did as they were told and were soon gifted with sons by the goddess who was pleased by their devotion. But later on, as the years went by, the old man’s wife become careless and once during the fast, she decided to bathe in hot water. ‘How cold it is today. You too bathe in hot water, what harm will it do,’ she said to her daughters-in-law. They all obeyed her and happily began bathing in hot water.
That night the old woman woke up screaming. She had had a terrible nightmare in which her husband and all her seven sons were lying dead. She saw that their wives too were beginning to die one by one. The old woman began to rant and rave like a mad person when she opened her eyes and saw that her husband had actually died. Then when she saw herself being killed by an axe which she herself held in her hands she screamed. As her shrieks became louder and louder, the neighbours rushed to see what was happening and saw her thrashing on the ground, her clothes torn and her face swollen with fear and grief. They told her that she herself was to blame for this trauma. ‘You broke the rules of the Shitala fast and bathed in hot water. This is what happens when you annoy the goddess,’ they shouted.
The old lady, unable to bear her anguish, ran out of the house and kept running till she reached the woods beyond the village. Her head and hands seemed to be burning with fever and she stopped to rest in the shade of a tree. As she was rubbing her body with leaves to cool the burning of her skin, she suddenly saw an old woman burning like herself. Waves of heat were pouring out of her head, her skin was yellow and her eyes were red as if on fire. ‘Kind lady, please bring me some cool curd to soothe this burning which is causing me so much pain.’ When the old lady heard the woman speak, she realized at once that this was none other that the Goddess Shitala herself. ‘I have caused her so much pain, I must do something at once to relieve her of this sorrow,’ said the old lady and ran back at once to her village. There she gathered as much curd as she could in a pot and headed back to the woods. The people of the village tried to follow her but she vanished from the path as if she had never been there. The old lady found the goddess in the same place under the tree and after bowing before her, she began to smear her arms with the curd. Gently, with great love, she smeared the goddess’s entire body with the curd till the burning of her skin had subsided. Then when the goddess sat peacefully with her eyes shut, the old woman fell at her feet and asked for her forgiveness. The goddess smiled and placed her cool hand over her head. ‘Your husband will be alive again. You did no wrong. Go and pray with a true heart and I will take care of your family,’ said Shitala and vanished. From then on the people of the village kept the fast of Shitala every spring for the well-being of their family.
Hymn to Aparajita
‘Salutation to the Devi, to the Mahadevi. Salutation always to her who is ever auspicious. Salutation to her who is the primordial cause and the sustaining power. With attention, we have made obeisance to her.
‘Salutation to her who is terrible, to her who is eternal. Salutation to Gauri, the supporter (of the universe). Salutation always to her who is of the form of the moon and moonlight and happiness itself.
‘We bow to her who is welfare; we make salutations to her who is prosperity and success. Salutation to the consort of Shiva who is herself the good fortune as well as misfortune of kings.
‘Salutation always to Durga who takes one across in difficulties, who is essence, who is the author of everything; who is knowledge of discrimination; and who is blue-black as also smoke-like in complexion.
‘We prostrate before her who is at once most gentle and most terrible; we salute her again and again. Salutation to her who is the support of the world. Salutation to the Devi who is of the form of volition.
‘Salutations again and again to the Devi who in all beings is called Vishnumaya.
‘Salutations again and again to the Devi who abides in all beings as consciousness;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of intelligence;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of sleep;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of hunger;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of reflection;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of power;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of thirst;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of forgiveness;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of genus;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of modesty;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of peace;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of faith;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of loveliness;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of fortune;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of activity;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of memory;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of compassion;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of contentment;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of mother;
‘To the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of error; (Truth and error are both obverse and reverse forms of the Goddess.)
‘To the all-pervading Devi who constantly presides over the senses of all beings and (governs) all the elements;
‘Salutations again and again to her who, pervading this entire world, abides in the form of consciousness.
‘Invoked of yore by the devas for the sake of their desired object, and adored by the lord of the devas every day, may she, the Isvari, the source of all good, accomplish for us all auspicious things and put an end to our calamities!
‘And who is now again, reverenced by us, devas, tormented by arrogant asuras and who, called to mind by us obeisant with devotion, destroys this very moment all our calamities.’
(Devimahatmyam, 8–82, translated by
Swami Jagadiswarananda)
Bibliography
Bhagawata Purana; Gita Press
Devi Katha; Ramakrishna Mission
Devi Mahatmya; Chinmaya Mission, Madras
Devimahatmyam; translated by Swami Jagadiswarananda; Ramakrishna Math, Madras
Dhasha Devi; Randhir Prakashan
Folk Tales from Bengal; L.B. Dey; Subarnarekha
Gitagovinda; Jayadeva
Hindu Goddesses; D. Kinsley; Motilal Banarasidass
Hindu Myths; Penguin Classics
Mahabharata; translated by C. Rajagopalachari; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Puranic Encyclopaedia; Motilal Banarasidass
Ramayana; T.H. Griffith; Luzac and Co.
Ramayana; translated by C. Rajagopalachari; Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Rig Veda; Penguin Classics
Sankshep Purana; Gita Press
Shiv Purana; Amit Prakashan
Srimatdevibhagwat; Gita Press
Tulsidas Ram Charit Manas; Gita Press
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This collection published 2001
Copyright © Bulbul Sharma 2001
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-143-06766-5
This digital edition published in 2016.
e-ISBN: 978-9-351-18090-6
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Bulbul Sharma, Book of Devi
