Goddess Brahmani (Matrika) or Brahmi

Who is Devi Brahmani?

Matrika Brahmi or Brahmani (ब्रह्माणी ) is one of the Sapta-Matrikas. She was a non-Vedic Goddess, who was adopted in later centuries as Lord Brahma’s female counterpart as his creative force.

हंसयुक्तविमानस्थे ब्रह्माणीरूपधारिणि ।
कौशाम्भःक्षरिके देवि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

(Salutations to You O Narayani) Who assumes the Form of Devi Brahmani and Ride the Celestial Chariot Yoked with Swans, And Sprinkle Water with Kusa Grass; O Devi; Salutations to You O Narayani.

Stories behind the origin of Devi Brahmani

There are many mythological stories about her origin. I mentioned one of these stories in the article on Andhakasura. According to this legend, Lord Brahma created Devi Brahmani to protect and fight along with Devi Parvati.

There is another legend for Devi Brahmani. Once, there was a demon called Raktbija. Incidentally, this demon, like Andhkasur demon, had the boon that every drop of his blood, when it falls on earth, will produce another demon. According to the legend, when Goddess Kali was fighting this demon Raktbija, the demon’s blood produced an army of demons. When goddess Kaali saw the large troupe of the demon army, she made a loud war-cry and from that cry was born Devi Brahmani.

Legends are legends, and there is one more. This legend says that once Lord Brahma was in deep contemplation about creation of the world. When he was contemplating intensely, his body split in two halves. Of these, one part remained male and the other part turned female. This second half became Devi Brahmani.

Vedas treated Languages as Brahman (brah – expand, Manas – Mind). The gestures, speech and the script expresses a language. The early Indian scripts were personified as woman and Goddess. The vowels of the languages were associated with the Matrikas.

Those were the legends from Hindu Mythology. According to Jainism, Bhagwan Rishabdev taught civilization to the mankind. He had two daughters – Brahmi and Sundari. He taught script to Brahmi and she invented writing. Not just that, Devi Brahmi made Bhagwan Bahubali realize that his false pride was the main obstacle in his attaining Kevalgyan.

Iconography of Goddess Brahmani

The sculptures of Devi Brahmani have four faces and four hands, just like that of Lord Brahma. Therefore, she is called चतुर्भुजी  and चतुर्मुखी. Out of these four faces, one is towards the back and is thus not carved. Her hour heads symbolizes omniscience.

However, there are differences about the number of hands in the carvings.

Amsumadbhedagama describes her as four-armed Goddess, who carries Sula and Lord Brahma’s prayer beads, Akshmala, in her hands and the other two hands in Abhaya (gesture of re-assurance) and Varada (wish granting) postures.

Purvakarnagama also describes her as four-armed goddess. The only difference is that in it, instead of Sula she carries water-pot (कमंडल). The water-pot represents the causal waters from which all creations sprung.

Vishnudharmottara Purana describes her as six armed Goddess carrying a book (Veda), a water-pot(कमंडल), rosary (akshamala), trident, with other two hands in Abhaya and Varada pose.

Her body is bright as Gold. In the sculptures, she is carved seating on red lotus and Swan (symbolizing Veda) is her vehicle. She wears yellow garment (पीताम्बर). She is adorned with Karanda-mukuta (basket shape crown) and resides under Palasha tree.

Karanda Mukuta – the head gear of Devi Brahmani

Let us understand, how Karanda-Mukuta looks like. Karanda-mukuta is a tall conical headgear often with series of diminishing tiers of roundels that appear as inverted flowerpots. The width of Karanada Mukuta at the top is half or one third of that at the bottom. In South India, the lesser Devas, and the Devis with their spouses, carry this headgear.

Hasta Mudras of Devi Brahmani

Abhaya Mudra – In this mudra, hand is raised to the shoulder with the palm facing the viewers. The idea conveyed is that the deity protects you from all evils.

Varada Mudra – In this mudra, hand is generally hanging down with the palm facing the viewers. The idea here is that the Goddess is giving boon to its devotees.

Devi Brahmani represents Pride

All Sapta-matrikas represents one bad-quality. And Goddess Brahmani represents pride or मद. By worshiping her, one can get rid of false pride. We can relate this to Devi Brahmi – Rishabhdeva Bhagwan’s daughter. She helped Bahubali to get rid of his false pride and attain Kevalgyan. It shows commonality about the Goddess in these two religions.

Brahmani – Goddess deity of East

Tantra-yoga visualizes seven Goddesses as the presiding deity of the seven chakras present in the subtle body of every human being and in this context Devi Brahmani represents the head. Matrikas are the presiding deities of different directions too. Devi Brahmani is the deity of the east.

What does one get if he worship Devi Brahmani

Each of the Saptamatrikas carry special power. Devi Brahmani helps devotees in obtaining proficiency in languages and gives a male heir to the devotee asking for it.

Saptamatrikas are usually carved together and in these carvings, the order of appearance is very important. Devi Brahmani is the first to appear in the group and she symbolizes creation (like that of Lord Brahma).

Kuladevi Brahmani

The weaver community (Vankars), Prajapatis (Kumhars), Nagar Brahmins, Darji Samaj and some other communities of Rajasthan and Kutch worship her as their Kuladevi.

In this series, we would read about each of these Matrikas one-by-one and end the series with final article on the Sapta-Matrikas.

References

Please click here to read about Matrikas

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