Umā Prādurbhāva

The Umā Prādurbhāva is the account of how Devī Umā appeared before the assembled devas. It is told in Chapter 49 of the Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa. The devas had won the great war against the asuras, and they grew proud. Umā appeared as a blazing mass of tejas (radiant light), tested them, and then showed herself. On Caitra Śukla Navamī, at midday, she declared “aham brahmāsmi“, which means “I am Brahman”. She told the devas to give up their pride and worship her, the eternal Prakṛti.

The pride of the devas

The devas had just seen the great wars of the Devī. Mahishāsura was defeated, Śuṃbha and Niśuṃbha were killed, and the whole host of asuras was destroyed. The devas then became dangerously pleased with themselves. They praised one another loudly: “We are glorious! We are victorious! What can the rākshasas do against us? They saw our unstoppable strength and ran in terror to Pātāla.”

In their pride they forgot that the victory had not come from their own power. It had come by the grace of Mahāmāyā.

The blazing tejas

At that very moment a wonderful tejas appeared before the assembled devas, as if in answer to their forgetting. It was unlike anything they had seen. No deva in the three worlds had ever shown himself in such a form. The devas stared at it in confusion. They could not tell what it was or where it came from. Full of awe and some fear, they cried out: “What is this? What is this?”

Indra gave an order to Vāyu, the deva of the wind, who moves everywhere and holds up all life: “Go and find out what this is.”

The test of Vāyu

Vāyu went up to the tejas. The tejas spoke to him first and asked: “Who are you?”

Vāyu’s pride had not lessened. He answered at length: “I am Vāyu, the prāṇa (life-breath) of the whole creation. All beings, moving and unmoving, depend on me, as the warp and weft depend on the loom. I am the one who keeps the world running.”

The tejas then pointed to a tiny blade of grass lying before it and said: “If you have the power to move things, move this blade of grass. I am holding it.”

Vāyu used all his strength. He could not move the blade of grass even a little. The great deva of the wind, who moves mountains and oceans, stood there unable to shift one straw, and he was full of shame. He went back to Indra’s assembly and said: “Something is wrong with our understanding. We claim we can do everything. But we cannot move even the smallest thing.”

Indra then sent other devas, one after another. None of them could find out what the tejas was. At last Indra went himself. The moment he arrived, the tejas vanished. Indra was bewildered. He thought: “Whatever has such power and glory, that is the one in whom I take shelter.”

Umā appears

At that moment Devī Umā appeared. She was moved by her own compassion, which has no cause, and she wished to remove the devas’ pride and give them grace. It was Caitra Śukla Navamī, at midday, when the sun stood straight overhead. She appeared as Saccidānanda-svarūpā, the very form of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss.

Her form was glorious. She had four arms. They showed the vara-mudrā (the gesture of granting a boon), the pāśa (noose), the aṅkuśa (goad) and the abhaya-mudrā (the gesture of fearlessness). She wore red clothes and a red garland. Her beauty was greater than ten million Kāmadevas, and her light was like ten million moons. The Vedas themselves stood round her and served her. Her presence lit all ten directions.

Standing among the devas, she spoke the Mahāvākya (great saying) to them all.

Umā’s declaration: “Aham brahmāsmi”

“Brahmā cannot stand before me with pride. Vishṇu cannot. Even Śiva cannot. What then of the other devas?

The Parabrahman that is the light of all awareness, the form of Oṃkāra, that lights up all the pairs of pleasure and pain, that is the form of the whole universe, that is I. There is nothing different from me.

Though I have no form, I take form. I am the true nature of all the tattvas. I have qualities beyond imagining. I cannot be destroyed. I am both cause and effect. Sometimes I am in the form of a woman, sometimes a man, sometimes both at once. I am all forms. I am the ruler of the worlds.

As Brahmā I do the work of creation. As Vishṇu I protect the world. As Rudra I do the work of dissolution. And with great force I bewilder the whole universe.

Kālī, Lakshmī, Sarasvatī, all the Śaktis rise from a part of me alone. All the kalā forms rise from me alone.

It was through my power that you defeated the asuras. You knew this, and still you thought, ‘We are the great ones.’ Your pride is all in vain.

A puppeteer makes wooden puppets dance with strings. In just this way I, Sarveśvarī, make all living beings dance.

From fear of me, Vāyu blows. Agni burns. The lokapālas, the guardians of the worlds, do their work without rest.

I am the independent Supreme. I show my līlā (divine play), giving victory now to the groups of devas and now to the rākshasas, as I choose.

That Parabrahman which the Vedas describe, which cannot be destroyed, which is the highest goal, the cause of all and beyond even Māyā, that is my own true form.

My form is twofold: saguṇa (with Māyā as its support) and nirguṇa (beyond Māyā). Know this clearly.

O devas, understand this and put away your pride. With devoted hearts, worship me, the eternal Prakṛti.”

The response of the devas

When the devas heard this, they bowed their heads in full devotion and gave up their pride entirely. They prayed: “O Jagadīśvarī, O Parameśvarī, forgive us. Be gracious to us. May such pride never rise in us again. O Mātā, show us mercy.”

From that day the devas never again fell into the mistake of thinking their victories were their own doing. They worshipped Devī Umā with one-pointed devotion, as they had done before.

Sūta says: “I have told you the Umā Prādurbhāva. Hearing it alone gives the Supreme Abode.”

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Umā Saṃhitā, Chapter 49