Ashapura Mata

Legend and Origin

Chauhan tradition: the Chauhans of Sambhar honoured their family goddess as Asapuri, 'the one who fulfils hope'. The bardic account of the clan's birth at Mount Abu, as Tod translated it, has the goddess promise to hear the first Chauhan's prayer as Asapurna. Dasharatha Sharma, summarising the Prithvirajavijaya, notes the Sapadalaksha king returning to Sakambhari at Navaratri to worship his family goddess Asapuri. In the story told of Lakshmana, who left Sambhar and made himself ruler of Nadol, his tutelary goddess told him in his distress how to win a herd of horses, and he is said to have built her temple at the entrance of his palace. Later tradition at Nadol names that goddess Ashapura; she is said to have taken the name when his wish was granted. Published accounts date the Nadol temple to Lakshmana's time in the tenth century, and the Songara Chauhans of Jalor are said to have carried the worship to Modran. Kutch tradition: Ashapura of Mata no Madh is the household goddess of the Jadeja rulers of Kutch, and the Wikipedia article on the village, which cites the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (1880) for this part, calls her also the patron deity of Kutch. Temple accounts say the shrine was first raised by two Karad Vania ministers, Ajo and Anagor, and the dates given are the fourteenth century or around 1300 CE; a devotional travel account instead tells of a Karad Vania merchant from Marwar in the fifteenth century who was told in a dream to build it. The same article says the image is said to have come from Jashod in Marwar. No inscription or document is cited for any of these dates, so they are tradition rather than recorded history.

How the Deity Is Shown

At Mata no Madh the modern encyclopedia account, which cites the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency (1880), describes the goddess as a red-painted stone about six feet high that narrows to a point and roughly resembles a human form. A modern pilgrim's account describes a red stone image with a crown and seven pairs of eyes, in a sandstone temple with a tall spire. The sources consulted do not describe the image at Nadol.

How Families Keep the Worship

Among the Jadeja rulers of Kutch, the royal family went to Mata no Madh every Navratri, and after the capital moved to Bhuj, the family kept that visit; on Ashtami the royal family performs the puja (devotional travel account). The modern encyclopedia account says seven male buffaloes were once sacrificed at the shrine at each Navratri, and that animal sacrifice there has been stopped. Kapadi sadhus, described as celibate ascetics, are the priests at Mata no Madh, and the next head of the line is chosen by guru succession. In Chauhan tradition the Nadol temple is the clan's shrine and families from other parts of Rajasthan and neighbouring states go there; the Chauhan kul page on this site records that branches differ, and some Chauhan families name Shakambhari or another goddess instead. Among the Hada Chauhans of Hadoti, a modern reference work lists her as kuldevi; Tod's account of the Hara branch places its tutelary shrine at Satur near Bundi, and we have not found a source that settles whether the two are the same goddess. This page does not give family-specific rites, because the published accounts do not set them out.

Shrines

Festivals

Stories and Legends