Karni Mata
करणी माता
Kuldevi, family goddess
A Charan woman revered as an incarnation of Durga; in Charan tradition, of Hinglaj Devi
At a glance
- Main shrine
- Karni Mata Temple, Deshnoke, Bikaner district, Rajasthan
- Worshipped in
- Rajasthan
- Kept by
- Charan, Rajput (Rathore of Bikaner)
About
Karni Mata is a woman of the Charan community who, by tradition, lived in western Rajasthan from 1387 to 1538 and is revered as an incarnation of Durga. Her chief temple is at Deshnoke near Bikaner, famous for the thousands of rats, called kaba, that live in it. She is the patron deity of the Charans and, in the accounts of her cult, of the Rathore ruling houses of Bikaner and Jodhpur. Her dates are those of temple tradition and are not documented history.
Legend and Origin
Tradition: she was born as Ridhi Kanwar in Vikram Samvat 1444 (1387 CE) at Suwap in Marwar, to Mehaji Kiniya of the Kiniya clan of the Charans and Deval Bai, and was called Karni after a first miracle. She married Depaji Rohadiya, moved to Janglu in 1418, and founded Deshnoke in 1419; the encyclopedia article gives her death as 1538 at about 151 years of age, and temple tradition treats that long life as a sign that she was divine. The devotional biography by Kailash Dan Ujwal (1985) and Dingal verses recorded at Deshnoke are the sources of these details, and no document of her lifetime is cited for them. The tradition ties her to the Rathore rulers: she is said to have blessed Rao Jodha, who founded Jodhpur and Mehrangarh in 1459, and to have laid the foundation stone of Bikaner for his son Rao Bika, in 1485 in the Karni accounts (Tod gives 1489 for the city, as the Rathore kul page on this site records). The temple at Deshnoke is said to have been founded about 1530, after her death. The present building was finished in the early twentieth century under Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. Harcourt (1993) and Kothiyal (2016) are the scholarly works the encyclopedia article lists on her cult and on the Charans; I could not read them.
How the Deity Is Shown
At Deshnoke the image of the goddess stands in the inner sanctum, and temple tradition says it was carved from Jaisalmer stone by Banna Suthar and set up in her presence. She is shown with a trident. The temple has a marble front and solid silver doors given under Maharaja Ganga Singh, and a second set of silver doors with panels of her legends. A few white rats are held to be especially holy, believed to be Karni Mata and her four nephews.
How Families Keep the Worship
The priests are Charans, members of her own community. Among them the head priest, the baridari, comes from the Depavat families, which tradition traces to her husband Depaji, and serves a month at a time; the encyclopedia article says he alone enters the inner sanctum. Pilgrims come from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, and many walk, especially at Navratri. The rats are fed milk, sweets and grain, and food that a rat has tasted is eaten as prasad. A rat killed by accident is replaced with one of silver or gold, according to temple rules reported in the encyclopedia article. Among the Charans she is the tutelary goddess, and the Rathore line of Bikaner honours her as its patron; the Rathore kul page on this site names Nagnechiya Mata as the Rathore kuldevi, so the two traditions stand side by side, and a family should ask its own elders which goddess is its kuldevi. Estimates of the number of rats range from about 20,000 to 25,000 in different sources.
Shrines
Karni Mata Temple, Deshnoke
Deshnoke, Bikaner district, Rajasthan
The main shrine, about 30 km south of Bikaner, and the temple known for its rats. The present building dates from the early twentieth century.
Karni Mata Temple, Mathania
Mathania, Jodhpur district, Rajasthan
Described in the encyclopedia article as the first Karni Mata temple, built by Amaraji Barhath.
Manshapurna Karni Mata Temple
Udaipur, Udaipur district, Rajasthan
Built, according to the same article, by Maharana Karan Singh (1620 to 1628) to mark the edge of the city, and rebuilt in 1997.
Karni Mata Temple, Alwar
Alwar, Alwar district, Rajasthan
Said to have been built under Maharao Raja Sawai Bakhtawar Singh (1791 to 1815).
Festivals
Karni Mata fairs
Chaitra and Ashvin Navratri, the first nine days of the bright fortnight
The fair held in March and April (Chaitra) is the larger, and a second in September and October (Ashvin). One travel account names Chaitra Shukla Dashami and Ashvin Shukla Dashami as the high days.
Stories and Legends
Laxman, Yama and the kaba
Temple tradition says her nephew Laxman Raj drowned in a pool at Kolayat about 1467 and that Karni Mata went to Yama, the god of death, to ask for his life. Yama said he could not return him; she brought him back anyway, and said that from then her Charan kin would not go to Yama but would be reborn as rats at Deshnoke before returning to human life. This is why the rats are called kaba, and why the Charans look on them as kin. Another account, told in tourist literature, makes the rats soldiers who ran from a battle and were turned into rats by her mercy. The first is the account that explains why the Charans, who run the temple, see the rats as kin.
The forts of Jodhpur and Bikaner
In the tradition of her cult, Karni Mata backed Rao Ranmal and his son Rao Jodha in the winning of Mandor, laid the foundation stone of Mehrangarh in 1459, and laid the foundation of Bikaner for Rao Bika. These stories are told at Deshnoke and in the biography by Ujwal, and are not found in the chronicles consulted. They are the reason the Bikaner and Jodhpur houses are said to honour her.
Families who keep Karni Mata
Kuls, lineages and surnames that sources tie to this deity. Branches within each may keep another.