Matangi

MATANGI, impure goddess of outcasts and the arts

Emerald green in colour, she sits on a throne and rests her delicate feet on a lotus. Clad in red robes and a garland of flowers, she glows brilliantly, with drops of perspiration on her face that emanate from her own radiance and render her even more alluring. A crescent moon crowns her head of long and wildly flowing hair. She is four-armed and wields a bloodied scimitar in the first, a veena (stringed instrument) in the second and a parrot in the third, while the fourth forms a boon-bestowing mudra. Another parrot rests on Her lap, looking up at her intoxicated eyes.

Other depictions of Matangi also exist, some with fiercer (a dishevelled sixteen-year old girl sitting atop a corpse, wielding a pair of scissors in one hand and a bowl of blood in another) or gentler forms (a radiant, sweetly smiling, dark complexioned young woman playing the veena and surrounded by the music of parrots). In all cases, Matangi is thought to depict another form of Goddess Saraswati, symbolising knowledge and most importantly, the power of expression.

Matangi is considered one of the Mahavidyas, the ten Tantric goddesses who are each an aspect of the Hindu Divine Mother. She is linked to outcaste communities and is considered to have a rebellious and unconventional nature, yet despite this non-conformist image, she is revered as a powerful and benevolent deity who imparts knowledge and wisdom to her followers. In particular she is a fierce protector of women who are shamed and raped.

She is invoked to acquire supernatural powers, especially for gaining control over one’s enemies, acquiring mastery over the arts, attracting others to oneself, and ultimately attaining supreme knowledge.

Matangi represents the power of the spoken word (Vaikhari) as an expression of thoughts and the mind. She also relates to the power of listening and grasping speech and converting it back to knowledge and thought. Besides spoken word, she also governs all other expressions of inner thought and knowledge, like art, music, and dance. She is thought to bestow both talent and expertise.

“Matangi is the outcaste or ‘untouchable’ poet who stands at the edges of conventional society. She is a visionary, wild and free from social constraints of any kind. She is associated here with manifesting the śakti, (powerful energy) in creative expression. Her special siddhi is the capacity for abundant creativity and the expression of unique vision. 

– Uma Dinsmore-Tuli

Like Saraswati, Matangi was associated with rain clouds, thunder and rivers. Though both were considered to govern learning and speech, Saraswati represented the orthodox knowledge of the Brahmins while Matangi—the wild and ecstatic outcast—embodied the “extraordinary” beyond the boundaries of mainstream society, especially inner knowledge.

Traditionally she is offered leftovers and trash. As the patron of left-over food offerings, she embodies inauspiciousness and the forbidden transgression of social norms. Thus she is associated with death, pollution, and the periphery of ancient Hindu society.

Leftover or partially eaten food (Uchchhishta) was offered to Matangi with the devotee in the polluted Uchchhishta state, that is, having eaten but not washed, with the remains of food in the mouth and hands. An offering of leftovers to Hindu deities or being in the polluted Uchchhishta state is a taboo in mainstream Hinduism. Another taboo that is broken in Matangi worship is the offering to the goddess of a cloth stained with menstrual blood to gain the ability to attract a mate.

Other Lives

1st age: Lalitha Vero