Dakshiṇā Devī

Dakshiṇā Devī is the śakti (power) of ritual giving. She is the devī of every dakshiṇā (the fee or gift given to the priests) offered in yajñas and sacred works. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, in its Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, tells how she came to be.

She was once Suśīlā, a beloved gopī and close companion of Rādhā in Goloka. Rādhā laid a śāpa (curse) on her, and she left Goloka. After long tapas (austerity) she merged into the form of Mahālakshmī. Later Śrī Nārāyaṇa drew her out and gave her to Yajña, the deva of the yajña (fire ritual), as his wife. In this way every yajña is completed with its power to give fruit.

Who she is

Dakshiṇā Devī is the energy that completes and fulfils every sacred act. Without her even the greatest yajña bears no fruit, like a tree without fruit. She is a part (aṃśa) of Mahālakshmī, born from her left side, and so she shares the nature of Śrī: the power to give the fruit of right action. She is the wife of Yajña-devatā (the spirit of the yajña) and the mother of a son who gives the reward of finished karma.

The Prakṛti Khaṇḍa says that the Kāṇva-śākhā of the Vedic tradition keeps her dhyāna (meditation verse), stotra (hymn of praise) and pūjā. This shows that her ārādhanā was part of the Vedic yajña tradition. Her mūla mantra (root mantra) is:

Oṃ Śrīṃ Klīṃ Kraiṃ Dakshiṇāyai Svāhā

She is honoured in a śālagrāma or a kalaśa (water pot), with the shoḍaśopacāra pūjā (pūjā with sixteen offerings).

Origin: Suśīlā in Goloka

In the eternal Bṛndāvana of Goloka lived a gopī named Suśīlā. She was beautiful and graceful, skilled in the art of love and rasa, and one of Rādhā’s closest friends. She was devoted to Śrī Kṛshṇa, and he favoured her. One day Kṛshṇa was found in Suśīlā’s company. When Rādhā came up in anger, Kṛshṇa vanished. Rādhā then turned her anger on Suśīlā.

Rādhā laid a śāpa on Suśīlā: if she stayed in Goloka from that moment, she would be burned to ashes. Suśīlā was struck with grief and left Goloka at once. For a long time she did hard tapas aimed at Śrī Kṛshṇa. By the power of that tapas she at last merged into the body of Mahālakshmī herself.

Coming out as Dakshiṇā

After Suśīlā merged into Mahālakshmī, the devas found that their yajñas no longer bore fruit. The power that completes ritual action had left the world. In distress the devas went to Brahmā, who sent them to Śrī Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa reached into the body of Mahālakshmī and drew out the form of Suśīlā. She was now called Bhū-Lakshmī, or Dakshiṇā. He presented her to Brahmā. Brahmā in turn gave her to Yajña-devatā, the ruler of the yajña, so that she might bring every righteous act to its purpose.

Yajña-devatā saw Dakshiṇā’s shining beauty. She had a golden colour and wide lotus eyes, and she glowed like a billion moons. She was decorated with jewels and held a garland. He was filled with love and at once made a stotra in her praise. Brahmā performed their vivāha (marriage). For a hundred divine years they lived together in a forest grove. Dakshiṇā carried their child in her womb for twelve divine years. The son born from this union became the deva who gives the fruit of all good works (satkarmans) to those who do them.

Yajña-devatā’s stotra to Dakshiṇā

When Yajña-devatā first saw Dakshiṇā, he praised her. He said that she was once Suśīlā, Rādhā’s dear friend and chief among the gopīs. He said she arose from the right side (dakshiṇa-aṃśa) of Kṛshṇa on Kārtika Pūrṇimā in Goloka, and that this is why her name is Dakshiṇā. He said that she gives the fruit of all good works, and that without her even Brahmā, Vishṇu, Śaṅkara and the Parabrahman Śrī Kṛshṇa himself cannot give the fruit of ritual action. He called her Kāntā and said she is his śakti in every birth and in every act.

The phala-śruti (the verse on the fruit of reciting) of the stotra says that one who recites it at the start of any yajña will finish the ritual without obstacles. It especially ensures that the great yajñas (Rājasūya, Vājapeya, Gomedha and Aśvamedha) are finished without a break.

The duty to give dakshiṇā

The Prakṛti Khaṇḍa speaks at length about the duty to give dakshiṇā promptly after any good work. If the performer of a yajña does not give the fee when the work is finished, the amount grows:

• After a muhūrta (a short moment): it doubles.
• After one night: it grows sixfold.
• After three nights: tenfold.
• After one week: twentyfold.
• After one month: a lakh-fold (one hundred thousand times).
• After one year: thirty million times. Even so, the work itself becomes nirarthaka (without fruit).

A man who holds back dakshiṇā for a full year is counted as one who has stolen a brāhmaṇa’s property. He becomes unfit for further good works. Lakshmī leaves his house. The pitṛs (ancestors) refuse his śrāddha, and the devas refuse his offerings of pūjā. He falls into the Kumbhīpāka naraka (hell) for a lakh of years. When he is born again, he suffers disease and poverty, and he drags seven generations of his ancestors into suffering.

The giver who holds back dakshiṇā and the receiver who refuses it fall together, like a rope and a bucket falling into a well when the rope breaks.

The fruit of sacred works done without dakshiṇā does not go to the doer. It goes to Bali Cakravartī, as Bhagavān Vāmana ordained. The same is true of the fruit of śrāddhas held for those who do not know the Veda (aśrotriya), of casual gifts, of offerings made without ṛtvikas (officiating priests), and of works done without śraddhā (faith).

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 42