Karṇāṭaka Daitya and Mātaṅgī
This is the account of the daitya Karṇāṭaka, who spread terror in the region of Dharmāraṇya, and of Mātaṅgī, the fierce eighteen-armed form that Śrīmātā brought forth from her own anger to defeat him. It is told in the Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.
Karṇāṭaka carried away married couples and stopped all religious rites. The brāhmaṇas and vāṇikas (merchants) of Satya Mandira prayed to Śrīmātā. Mātaṅgī fought Karṇāṭaka, defeated him on Māgha kṛshṇa tṛtīyā, and drove him south. The land where he settled is called Karṇāṭaka.
Karṇāṭaka’s reign of terror
Satya Mandira, also called Dharmāraṇya, was fully built and full of people. Then a daitya of terrible power named Karṇāṭaka began to spread terror through the land. Neither the devas nor the dānavas could stand against him, and he had conquered all the worlds.
He was especially cruel to married couples. He took the form of a brāhmaṇa and came to weddings. At the most auspicious moment he seized the bride and groom and carried them into the sky by his daitya-māyā (power of illusion). In the regions he haunted, the study of the Veda stopped. Yajñas (fire rituals) were given up. The devas and ṛshis could not perform their daily upāsanā (devotion).
The Skanda Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Chapter 18.
Karṇāṭaka and Dharmāraṇya
Karṇāṭaka could not enter Dharmāraṇya, which is Satya Mandira. The power of Śrīmātā and of the other Śaktis installed by the kājeśas made a wall around it that nothing could pass. When he came near, the sound of Veda recitation from inside the city struck him like a blow of the vajra (thunderbolt). He reeled and circled the city in rage, but could not go in. He felt the śakti of the city pushing him back like a physical force. Outside its walls he went on with his harm and carried off married couples from all over the region.
The distress of the brāhmaṇas and the voice from the sky
A great gathering took place in Dharmāraṇya. Many brāhmaṇas from the region had come to perform many weddings at the same time, with thousands of couples. When Karṇāṭaka heard the Vedic mantras from inside the city, he rose in fury and sent out his spies. After he heard their report, he flew toward the gathering in the sky, with eyes red as blood. By daitya-māyā he seized the couples and carried them upward. The brāhmaṇas and vāṇikas cried out in distress, and the people of the city fell into confusion and despair.
At that moment an ākāśavāṇī (a divine voice from the sky) spoke: “Do pūjā to Śrīmātā. She destroys all daityas and removes all trouble. She alone will protect you.”
The brāhmaṇas and vāṇikas at once took heart and gathered the best offerings they could.
The pūjā of Śrīmātā
The brāhmaṇas and vāṇikas came before Śrīmātā with pañcāmṛta (the five sacred foods), incense, lamps, sandal paste, flowers of many kinds and many kinds of naivedya (food offering). The food offerings were pāyasa (sweet milk rice), vaḍiyālu (dried fritters), modaka (sweet dumplings), fried grains and offerings mixed with sugar. They gave Śrīmātā’s mūrti a great bath with pañcāmṛta, and waved camphor lamps before her in nīrājana. Then they stood before her with mind, speech and body joined in devotion.
The brāhmaṇas offered a stotra (hymn of praise) to Śrīmātā, called the Vipra-Śrīmātā Stotra. In it they call her Brahma-putrī (daughter of Brahmā), Jagad-mātā (mother of the world), Caitanya-rūpā (the form of consciousness) and Mahā-māyā. They call her the source of hunger, thirst, sleep, peace and every other state. They ended with a plain request: “This terrible daitya torments us every day. O Mahā-dyuti, slay him.”
Mātaṅgī appears
Śrīmātā was deeply moved by the devotion of the brāhmaṇas. Her eyes narrowed and her brows drew together in great anger. Flames poured from her face, from her mouth, eyes, nostrils and ears. From the great fire of that holy anger Mātaṅgī was born. She was dark in colour, with a terrible face, red garlands and red clothes, and eyes rolling with power.
Mātaṅgī took her place in the Nyagrodha (banyan) tree near the temple. She had eighteen arms, and in them she held these weapons and things:
- a bow and arrows
- a khaḍga (sword)
- a ḍāla
- a paraśu (axe)
- a churikā (knife)
- a triśūla (trident)
- a pānapātra (drinking cup)
- a gadā (mace)
- a snake
- a vajra (thunderbolt)
- the bow of Bhagavān Śiva
- a pāśa (noose)
- an akshamāla (rosary)
- a madya-kumbha (pot of wine)
- a śakti (spear)
- an ulūkhala (pestle bowl)
- an ugra kaichī (fierce pair of scissors)
- a kapāla (skull bowl)
The great battle
A great battle began between Mātaṅgī and Karṇāṭaka. The brāhmaṇas, vāṇikas and ṛshis watched in wonder as it raged. Both fought with the full range of divine weapons.
Karṇāṭaka struck Mātaṅgī with a gadā of steel. She struck back with her fists and knocked him senseless. He rose and hurled a śataghnī (a weapon that kills a hundred) at her, and she cut it down. She pierced him through the heart with her triśūla. Then he used daitya-māyā and became invisible.
Mātaṅgī was filled with divine madhu (wine). She roared through all three worlds: “Where have you hidden? Come and fight, O Karṇāṭaka!”
Karṇāṭaka now took the form of a youth of sixteen, with the beauty of Kāmadeva and eyes like lotus petals. He came to Mātaṅgī and said, “Accept me as your husband.” Mātaṅgī laughed. She said that her sister Śyāmalā was looking for a brāhmaṇa husband, and she led him toward Śyāmalā. Karṇāṭaka saw that this was a trap and rushed at Śyāmalā. Śyāmalā and Mātaṅgī together fought him in a battle that lasted three months.
On Māgha kṛshṇa tṛtīyā (the third day of the dark half of Māgha), at midday, in the middle of a mighty final attack, Mātaṅgī hurled Karṇāṭaka down. His head fell like a mountain peak, and the earth and the seas shook.
The name Karṇāṭaka
During the battle Karṇāṭaka tried several times to escape through Mātaṅgī’s body. Once she swallowed him, and he slipped out through her nose. She swallowed him again, and he came out through her ear.
Mātaṅgī herself gave him his name because of this. He came out of the karṇa-randhra (the ear cavity), and karṇa means ear. She said, “Because you came out of the karṇa-randhra, you are called Karṇāṭaka. Let the wise know this.”
The land of Karṇāṭaka and the Yāksha-vrata
After his final defeat Karṇāṭaka was not destroyed at once. He was driven south. As he fled, he spoke to the people of Dharmāraṇya: “In the month of Māgha, for my satisfaction, let everyone here keep a vrata (vow). Let no one eat sesame (nuvvulu) in that month. Honour me with tridhara dhānya and mūlakamu. Men should eat only once a day. I will bless your homes.”
This is the beginning of the Yāksha-vrata.
Karṇāṭaka then went south and settled along a great coastal region. From then on that land has been called Karṇāṭaka.
The joy of the brāhmaṇas and the pūjā of Mātaṅgī
The brāhmaṇas and vāṇikas rejoiced at Karṇāṭaka’s defeat. Gandharvas sang and apsaras danced. The community offered Mātaṅgī the naivedya of the great festival: pāyasa, vaḍiyālu, modaka and sweets made with milk.
They began a yearly pūjā of Mātaṅgī on Māgha kṛshṇa tṛtīyā, with bhakshya and bhojya (foods to chew and foods to eat) and all the worship described above.
Mātaṅgī offered the brāhmaṇas a vara (a boon). They asked her to stay among them always and to protect all married couples. Mātaṅgī agreed. She said: “No rākshasas, daityas, bhūtas, pretas, śākinīs, grahas or any other beings will trouble you while I am here. I will protect all married couples from harm.”
She also said that in every wedding and every auspicious event, just as Gaṇeśa is honoured first, Śrīmātā should be honoured first. Without her pūjā, she said, every rite will meet obstacles.
Sources
- Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 17–18