She Who Nourishes – A Yatra to Banashankari Devi
By Lalita Lily Diamond
Vishoka dushta damani shamani duritapadam/
Uma gauri sati chandi kalika sa cha parvati//
“She nullifies sorrow, suppresses evil, destroys difficulties and confusion. She is the Mother who Nourishes, She is Rays of Light, the Remover of Darkness, and She Who wears the Body of Nature.” From the astha murti rahasyam, The Secret of the Manifestations,
translated by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Chandi Path
Swami Veda Bharata referred to Her as “The Bearer of the Green,” suggesting she become the international symbol for ecology, and I have come to call her, the “EcoDevi.” In Sanskrit, Shaka means vegetables or vegan food and Ambari means “one who wears or bears to the hungry.” Shakambari is also known as Vanashankari, Banashankari, or Banadevi (Ban or Van meaning forest, and Shankari, a name of Parvati, consort of Shiva (Shankar). She is noted in several Puranas for restoring balance to the earth after a hundred year drought, first shedding tears of compassion as Shatakshi Devi and then offering fruit, flowers and vegetables from her own “body.” She came to be called Durga, as she slayed the Demon Durgama, restoring the power of sacred sound to the rishis by returning the stolen Vedas. I have been composing music in her honor for the past seven years, ever since I discovered her during my first recitation of the Devi Mahatmyam, when her story with its green message entered my heart.
Goddess Shakambari is worshipped in many parts of India as a family deity or kuladevata/kuldevi. Through recordings of my music, some of her devotees found me online and we began corresponding, leading to us develop our own kinships. Invitations and sponsor offers to come to India were generously made, so in October of 2009, my dream of seeing the temples of Ma Shakambari and meeting the devotees firsthand came true. I visited the States of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and finally, Karnataka, home to Banashankari Amma.
My hostess for my trip to the South was one of my “sisters” in Shakambari, Ujwalla. She has early memories of reaching up on her toes to see Ma during pilgrimages made to Banashankari. She and her family introduced me to the endearing and humbling practice of a traditional South Indian welcome. As I stood on the threshold, a fragrant and colorful garland was gently placed around my neck. Bharati, Ujwalla’s daughter, aarti tray in hand, lit a lamp, and in honor of the presence of the divine within the guest, she gracefully encircled me with the sacred flame. She dipped a finger into the kum-kum, put a tilak on my forehead, gave me a small handful of sugar crystals to ensure only sweet experiences, and the ceremony ended with smiles and tears all around. The next morning, I received more warm welcomes from five women who’d heard about me from Ujwalla and were inspired to join us on our yatra.
The seven of us women, and our driver, Shiva, spent most of the day getting from Kolhapur to Badami, stopping in for a visit to Ujwalla’s verdant ancestral village along the way. We traveled through beautiful rolling hills and endless green fields with crops of coffee, pulses, maize and tobacco, the lush green foliage and the black soil reminders of the gifts of Shakambari Devi. Her temple is in the Bagalkot District famous for the magnificent Badami Cave Temples carved from red sandstone in the hills over-looking Agastya Lake. The four cave temples depict Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious subjects, representing the tolerant nature of the Chalukyan rulers.
The Kalyani Chalyukas had Banashankari Devi as their tutelary deity and built the temple honoring her in the Tilakaraanya Forest. The temple was renovated ten centuries later by a Maratha chieftain. A “tank,” a large enclosed pond stands in front of the temple with a path around it for circumambulation. One of the many festivals celebrated at the temple has a custom of offering Banashankari 108 varieties of food made from vegetables. A very unique part of the festival is Teppotsava, held to bring good fortune and the grace of Goddess Banashankari to newly born children. The parents ferry the babies around the tank on boats made of banana stems.
The murthi (statue) of Banashankari Amma is carved from black stone is around five feet tall and is set on a marble platform. She is seated on a lioness, and tramples a demon. She has eight arms and holds a trishul (trident), damaru (hand drum), kamaalpatra (skull cup), ghanta (war bell), Vedic scriptures and khadg-kheta (sword and shield). She and her lion vehicle are encircled by an ornate gold arch.
The darshan of Banashankari began as soon as I stepped into the temple passageway leading to her shrine. A power of wisdom and organization permeated the atmosphere. This Mother, she gives the impression of knowing every single person who enters, all the details of each of their lives, and of offering inspiration and guidance towards the accomplishment their dreams. Standing in the vibrant energy of the shrine, every molecule in my body seemed to dance. I felt the blessing of Shakti, a super-charged feeling of grace and peace.
On the pathway back, an internal compass steered me away from the group. Following the magnetic pull, I came to rest in front of a small temple. A large Sri Yantra made from stone or carved cement stood elevated behind the Goddess. Silently I gave thanks for being led to Sri Devi, and vowed to bring her an offering. I was found by my group and taken to the temple office.
Two kindly pujaris greeted us, and having been told a bit about this Western Shakta, they asked to hear some of my miraculous encounters with Devi. It was a dream-like experience, sitting in the temple in Badami, so far away from the yoga studios of the U.S., telling my stories to people who needed no background explanation and who clearly saw the invisible spiritual thread tying us together. They confirmed my sense of Banshankari’s sovereignty and involvement in the lives of her devotees. I heard stories of Ma appearing in dreams to several devotees from different groups, who were staying separately at the temple, giving them the same instructions. Throughout the temple’s history, she has laid down the rules, letting the priests and devotees know her wishes, making changes in procedures in response to the changes in the world, dancing with us in our world, all the while giving us a taste of timelessness through her generous darshan.
Dr. Anand Pujar, a scholar and pujari at the temple for ten years, patiently answered questions in Marathi, Kannada and English as we discussed our puja for the next day. We all made our choices from the puja “menu,” and gave the necessary information of names and stars. I was in a state of exhilaration, excitement and exhaustion. I wanted to spend the night at the temple, sleeping on a stone floor in a room set aside for pilgrims. No one else however, felt the need to forego the comforts of the hotel room. Instead, I spent the evening chanting mantras and the Lalita Sahasranam at the hotel as the others ate dinner out.
The next morning, we arrived in the marketplace outside the temple with plenty of time to purchase our offerings at the colorful stalls. I selected a large garland with red roses and tuberose in addition to the usual basket of fruits, flowers and sweets. A few of us went on a mission to find a properly splendid silk sari to be offered, and finally chose one in a heavenly turquoise. Suddenly, our “plenty of time” ran out, and we joined the crowd, speeding with dignity into the temple and only slowing down to place baskets on the rail in front of the Mother. What a different energy was present in the shrine! Yesterday afternoon, we’d seen Banashankari hard at work, a sovereign serving her subjects. This morning, Her stone body uncovered, the presiding feeling emanating from Her was one of tenderness and sheer vulnerability. She was entrusting Herself fully to the devotion and care of the team of pujaris. There were so many tasks to be lovingly performed to get her ready for the day! Scrupulous cleaning of the inner sanctum, preparing all the ceremonial objects, accepting and managing the piles of saris and garlands, handling ladders, carrying in the bathing items; water, milk, ghee, sugar – preparing her makeup and applying it, fitting separate sculpted portions onto her body, dressing her in a multitude of saris and fanning them out against the wall like butterfly wings, adorning her with jewelry, piece by piece, placing the golden arches around and above her, decorating them with garlands — all the while chanting the slokas and mantras. The “Namaskara Mantra,” (my favorite mantra) proved to be the mula (main) mantra for the puja: sarva mangala mangalye shive sarvatha sadhike, sharanye tryambake gauri, narayani namostute.
As the puja progressed, the temperature inside the dark shrine increased, the atmosphere of devotion swelled and a few elders who’d become faint, were assisted out of the crowd.
The only Westerner present, I was smiled at every time I joined in chanting and was elbowed and pushed towards the front to make sure I saw kumari puja being conducted just inside the railing. Three hours later, drenched in sweat and certainly twenty karmic pounds lighter, we made our way out into the sunlight. Then our “Guruji,” as we called Dr. Pujar, escorted us to Sri Devi’s temple where an elder pujari was waiting, seated at her feet. He motioned for me to come inside, and I crouched down to enter the small stone room. He directed me to make the offerings of rice, tumeric, fire and water as he chanted. Squatting in the earth, at the feet of Devi and in front of the Sri Yantra, I felt once again, as I often did in India, that I had never been quite so happy, and had never felt so truly at home.
From Himalayan Heritage #32
July 2010
Himalayan Heritage Magazine: http://www.himalayanheritage.org/publications/magazine/
