Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Shakambhari

Hindu goddess From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shakambhari
Remove ads

Shakambhari (Sanskrit: शाकम्भरी, IAST: Śākambharī), also referred to as Shatakshi, is the goddess of nourishment. She is regarded as a form of Mahadevi, and identified with Durga in Hinduism.[2] After the malevolent asura Durgamasura deprived the earth of nourishment by causing the sages to forget the Vedas, the goddess appeared to offer human beings and devas sufficient fruits and vegetables to restore their strength.[3]

Quick Facts Devanagari, Venerated in ...
Remove ads

Etymology

The word śākaṃbharī means 'she who bears vegetables'. The word is derived from two words- śāka (Sanskrit: शाक) which means 'vegetable/vegan food' and bharī (Sanskrit: भरी) which means 'holder/bearer/wearer' which is ultimately derived from the root word bhṛ (Sanskrit: भृ) which means 'to bear/to wear/to nourish'.[4]

Legend

Summarize
Perspective
Thumb
Shakambhari Mata Temple in Sambhar, Rajasthan

After the asura Durgamasura sought to plunge the earth in drought and scarcity, a century of suffering endured on earth, when the sages finally remembered the goddess Parvati after the asura had made them forget about the Vedas, she appeared upon the worlds in a dark-hued blue form, casting her hundred eyes on the sages. When the sages extolled and chanted the hymns of Ishvari, the four-handed goddess appeared bearing a lotus, arrows, a great bow, and vegetables, fruits, flower, and roots. According to the Devi Bhagavata Purana, seeing the misery of the people, she showered incessant tears from her eyes, streaming into rivers, and offering medicines.

The Uma Samhita of Shiva Purana identifies Devi Satakshi and Shakambari as manifestations of Goddess Parvati. A parallel account is also found in the Skanda Purana and Devi Bhagvatam, where Parvati is said to have slain the demon Durgamasura.

The narration also found in Laxmi Tantra, where Lakshmi shares her deed with Indra :[5]

O Sakra, men will then extol me as the hundred-eyed (deity) and I shall nourish the whole world with wonderful life-sustaining plants issuing from my own body and filled with (my essence: dvistaih). Then, Vasava, the gods will worship me as Sakambhari (the embodiment of vegetation).

— Lakshmi Tantra, Chapter 9

Remove ads

Temple

There is the main temple in Saharanpur, Uttar pradesh .There are many various temples of Shakambhari Devi including one of the ancient temples in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh among the mountain range as it is most famous and visited by devotees after Vaishno Devi apart from that there is another major temple which is situated in Rajasthan near at Sambhar Lake Town jheel, a huge ground of dry salt lake. Shakambhari is worshiped as the ninth number among the nine deities in Navaratri after the beginning of Vaishno Devi.

Further reading

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads