Mātaṅgī is the ninth form of the ten Mahāvidyās, or the Daśa Mahāvidyās.
The Gupta Navarātri of Magha and Aṣāḍha are attributed to the Mahāvidyās, with the Magha one being more so attributed to Mātaṅgī.
Apart from Kālī, Tārā and Ṣoḍaśī, less is known about other Mahāvidyās. Their origin iconography, mantra, yantra and subsequent lineages have been obscure due to their oral transmission, as well due to how their knowledge has evolved over time: from the Grāma Devīs attributed to fertility cults, to influences of Buddhism, and to the subsequent naturalisation of their lineages in the Indian diaspora abject to colonial and other invasive ethnic exposures.
Mātaṅgī Devī vidyā is highly secretive. Each Mahāvidyā has their own sādhanās and their own lineages, but sādhakas of Mātaṅgī are rare to find, the reason being Mātaṅgī’s multifarious forms and depictions that are reflected through her various iconographies and upāsanās. In this short article, I will attempt to present an algorithmic form of the Mātaṅgī Mahāvidyā. For simplicity’s sake, we can coalesce into three main forms all the various manifestations we find of her across the texts of Tantra, across the Purāṇas and even across the Upaniṣads.
The Gupta Navarātri of Magha and Aṣāḍha are attributed to the Mahāvidyās, with the Magha one being more so attributed to Mātaṅgī.
Apart from Kālī, Tārā and Ṣoḍaśī, less is known about other Mahāvidyās. Their origin iconography, mantra, yantra and subsequent lineages have been obscure due to their oral transmission, as well due to how their knowledge has evolved over time: from the Grāma Devīs attributed to fertility cults, to influences of Buddhism, and to the subsequent naturalisation of their lineages in the Indian diaspora abject to colonial and other invasive ethnic exposures.
Mātaṅgī Devī vidyā is highly secretive. Each Mahāvidyā has their own sādhanās and their own lineages, but sādhakas of Mātaṅgī are rare to find, the reason being Mātaṅgī’s multifarious forms and depictions that are reflected through her various iconographies and upāsanās. In this short article, I will attempt to present an algorithmic form of the Mātaṅgī Mahāvidyā. For simplicity’s sake, we can coalesce into three main forms all the various manifestations we find of her across the texts of Tantra, across the Purāṇas and even across the Upaniṣads.
Let us now begin with:
Rājamātaṅgī, Śyāmala, Laghuśyāmalā, Kalyāṇaśyāmalā, Śukaśyāmalā, Rājaśyāmalā etc of Śrīvidyā Tantra
She is understood through text as the eternal consort of Śiva. She is running after him, to be one with him. In her dhyāna-mantra, she is identified as the presiding deity of the world (स्मरामि भक्त्या जगताम् अधीशे). This form of her is supreme, as it defines the reverse algorithm of the sum total of all energy that is coalescing or imploding as the eternal balance of Śiva. This form is reflected as the blue spectrum in its Vaikhāri form, and in the nothingness or the perfect black body that absorbs everything in its bīja. Understanding her mathematical algorithm through the Mahāṣodaśi (only energised by dikṣa) or through ritualistic pūjā, the Magha Navarātri becomes an important moon phase in opening up the neural patterns within for the Śrīvidyā upāsaka.
Mātaṅgī, Sumukhi Mātaṅgī, Vāgvādinī, Śārikā, Vaśyamātaṅgī etc
This is a Vedic form attributed to the annals of the Goddess Sarasvatī. Both Mātaṅgī and Sarasvatī represent the Vāk Devī of Ṛgveda (ऋग्वेद दशम मण्डल १२५ सुक्त). Mātaṅgī’s Vedic form is similar to her Śrīvidyā form as Śyāmala. Mātaṅgī here denotes articulated speech. The words with subtle nāda create emotions (rasa and bhāva), which in turn create karma and māyā. These represent the Vaikhāri, the energy modulations of speech that run from subtle to macro. Its integral is Sarasvatī (ahaṃ, अहं), the sum-total of all knowledge that is reflected in the cosmos, yet through its Vaikhāri form of Mātaṅgī it creates the distinction (idaṃ, इदं). Through the expansion of her immense energy located in her macro bīja aiṃ (ऐं), and through her subtle bīja which cannot be written, her sādhaka opens and transcends neurohormonal pathways within through various upāsana and nyāsas, freeing the prāna. This sādhanā holds conjugations with asterism and with the stellar, which is why the Māgha Navarātri is significant here. Mātaṅgī’s Vaikhāri vidyā is so obscure that it can only be learnt from an adept or a Guru, as it involves 10 Vāyus.
Mātaṅgī is reflected as the green-yellow spectrum in her Vaikhāri, and AHAṂ or white (the sum-total of all light) in her bīja.
A small note here is to know the subtle difference between Mātaṅgī and Tārā, who also is associated with Vāka. Tārā is unmanifest speech, the Prākrit Dhāvani. It too represents Sarasvatī, but it has no manifest. It has building blocks, but no design. The moment a design forms, Mātaṅgī sets in. Hence Mātaṅgī is rightly called the Mantraśakti (अकृत्रिमाणां वचसाम्) of all cosmos, a force that manifests (idaṃ). This vidyā represents a neural network of the cosmos, unfolding of which lies at the symposium of Veda, and of how knowledge arrives from sound.
Ucchiṣṭa-Mātaṅgī
She is a fierce form of Tantric lineage associated with the wastes and excrements of the world. This form is extremely algorithmic, yet it is highly misunderstood. This form has slowly become associated with the darkest and repressible corners of worship, as her depiction is that of a deity who requests leftover food from soiled hands. In some lineages, even her sādhakas are required to worship her in a soiled form (without bath, soiled clothes, menstruating etc).
Opposingly, the manifestation of Ucchiṣṭa-Mātaṅgī represents the following Vedic algorithm: what is created through the Guṇas (Sattva, Raja, Tama), Doṣas (Vāta, Pitta, Kapha) or through the Pañcamahābhūta (5 elements) that manifest serves as food for some and as excrement for others. Nothing is wasted. Both aspects are in balance and must be in balance. If one consumes the good with appreciation, one must also exhume the waste with focus. Awareness is unbiased.
In today’s world, this vidyā seems especially relevant for our planet. The waste and excrements from the resources we consume in stable, progressive societies are dumped in ‘third world countries’, where poverty, filth and diseases spread.
This pattern occurs either globally or locally, and at each level of societal existence.
Notably, wastes are not just of a physical nature: wastes can also be mental and emotional. The Mātaṅgī vidyā of excrement enables the flourishing Bhuvaneśvari vidyā of prosperity. From the solar system to a cell, wastes are always an integral part of the system. Ucchiṣṭa Mātaṅgī vidyā enables the sādhaka to overcome and accept in totality the wastes and exhume this derivative to implode towards the sum-total Parama-Śiva.
Mātaṅgī in this form is reflected as the red spectrum in her Vaikhāri and in her bīja, a point where total light hits total darkness. It is a journey of ahaṃ to idaṃ, and of idaṃ to ahaṃ, with both eventually coalescing in the ultimate Praṇava. Without the Ucchiṣṭa, there is no Śrīvidyā.
The Paraśurāmakalpa-sūtra hence allots 98 letters to Mātaṅgī or Śyāmalā out of the 254. She is to be worshipped at noon out of the time quadrants between Brāhma-muhūrta. Applying the Katapayādi-sūtra, all the 254 finally absorbs in the Mahāṣoḍaśī, a mathematical brilliance ... that leads to the supreme Para… AUM, the one that has no sound, the one that is to be arrived at.
Worship in Māgha Navrātri
One can worship Mātaṅgī through the Śrīcakra Āvarna vidhi as taught by one’s lineage. Apart from this, one can worship the 9 forms of Śyāmalā as below:
1 Laghuśyāmalā
2 Vāgvādinī
3 Nakulīśvarī
4 Kalyāṇaśyāmalā
5 Jagadrañjinī-mātaṅgī
6 Vaśyamātaṅgī
7 Śārikā
8 Śukaśyāmalā
9 Rājaśyāmalā
The nine forms above mostly corroborate to the blue and green spectrum of Mātaṅgī. The red spectrum is highly obscure, powerful, and requires strong supervision. Technically, the red, green, and blue spectrum lies at base foundation of digital colour reproduction (the Bayers filter). When the the iconography, yantra and mantra is focused on, it gives the broad spectrum of light within, and through it the point of absolute black body... The Mātaṅgī sādhanā, the Mahāvidyā…
Some important temples of Mātaṅgī in India:
1. Tilakwadi-Belgam - Karnataka
2. Nuthi - Radhakrishnaiah Nagar - Madanapalle-Andhra Pradesh
3. Nangur- Sirkazhi - Nagapatnam district - Tamil Nadu (Raja Mātaṅgī Temple)
4. Jhabua - Madhya Pradesh
*DISCLAIMER*
Please do not try any upāsanā apart from the dhyāna-mantra for the Goddess. Prakrit contemplation of her bīja AIṂ without chants or visualisation is enough. Seek expert guidance.
The expounds made here aim to maintain brevity and to generate interest in algorithms of yantra and mantra as energy units. For more in-depth knowledge, those who are interested may refer to various texts of Tantra, such as the Śaktisaṃgamatantra, Śākta Pramoda, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad, Kubjikā-tantra.
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