Shakambhari Mata
शाकंभरी माता
Kuldevi, family goddess
A form of Durga and Parvati, the goddess who feeds the world with vegetables; the family goddess of the Chahamana (Chauhan) kings of Sambhar
At a glance
- Main shrine
- Shakambhari Mata Temple, Sambhar, Jaipur district, Rajasthan
- Worshipped in
- Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
- Kept by
- Rajput (Chauhan)
About
Shakambhari is the goddess who, in the Puranas, feeds a starving world with vegetables and fruit. In Rajasthan she is the family goddess of the Chahamana (Chauhan) rulers, whose early capital Sakambhari is modern Sambhar, and the Chauhan tradition of Ashapura is a form of her. Her main shrines are at Sambhar and at Sakrai near Udaipurwati. Chauhan branches differ, and other families keep her too.
Legend and Origin
Puranic account: in the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Shiva Purana (Uma Samhita), the demon Durgamasura caused a drought by making the sages forget the Vedas. The goddess appeared with vegetables, fruits, flowers and roots, wept rivers of tears at the people's suffering and gave them medicine; she is Shakambhari or Shatakshi, 'she who bears vegetables'. Chahamana account: the Prithvirajavijaya, a court poem of the twelfth century, tells that the king Vasudeva was given the Sambhar salt lake by a vidyadhara (a supernatural being) whose father Shakambhara had been so devoted that Parvati lived in the local forest under the name Shakambhari. The poem is the source of this legend. The Bijolia inscription of Someshvara says only that the lake was born of Vasudeva and does not mention the goddess, and R. B. Singh (History of the Chahamanas, 1964) discusses the legend. Dasharatha Sharma, summarising the Prithvirajavijaya, mentions the king of Sapadalaksha returning to Sakambhari at Navaratri to worship his family goddess Asapuri; Chauhan tradition takes this to be the same goddess, and the page on Ashapura Mata records it. At Sakrai, devotional sites call the main image self-manifested and give the age of the temple as about 2500 years, or say a King Chauhan built it in 692 CE; neither date is sourced, and a popular tale says she turned the treasures that caused strife into salt.
How the Deity Is Shown
In the Puranas she is shown as a four-handed goddess holding a lotus, arrows, a great bow and vegetables; the first form seen is dark blue with a hundred eyes. At Sakrai there are two eight-armed images of goddesses on lions, slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura: Brahmani in marble and Rudrani in local stone, with vermilion on the face. At festivals the goddess is decorated with fruits and vegetables.
How Families Keep the Worship
Among Chauhan families she is the family goddess of the Chahamana line of Sambhar, and the Chauhan kul page on this site records that branches differ: some name Ashapura, some Shakambhari, and the Hara branch in Tod's account has a different shrine, at Satur near Bundi. Offerings at Sakrai are said to be vegetarian only. A chunari procession from Udaipurwati to the shrine is held at the festival, and a daily meal is served to pilgrims. In Karnataka a Shakambhari form is worshipped at Badami (Banashankari), which is a different tradition, and the goddess at Saharanpur is not tied to Chauhan families in the sources found.
Shrines
Shakambhari Mata Temple, Sambhar
Sambhar, Jaipur district, Rajasthan
Beside the salt lake from which the Chahamana capital Sakambhari took its name. A popular account puts the first temple at about 1300 years or more; I found no source for that date.
Shakambhari Mata Temple, Sakrai
Sakrai, Rajasthan, near Udaipurwati
In the Aravalli hills near Udaipurwati; sources give the district as Sikar or Jhunjhunu. Two eight-armed images, Brahmani and Rudrani, stand in the shrine.
Shakumbhari Devi Temple, Saharanpur
Saharanpur, Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh
A separate and well-known shrine of the same goddess, with its own pilgrimage; I found no source tying it to the Chauhans.
Festivals
Shakambhari Navaratri and Purnima
Pausha, the eight days of the bright fortnight ending on the Purnima (full moon), usually in January
The last day is Shakambhari Purnima; puja is done at homes and temples. The Saharanpur temple is named in the encyclopedia article on the festival.
Navratri and the Sakrai fair
Ashvin and Chaitra; the Sakrai fair on Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami
A devotional site says pilgrims come from far away in both Navratris and that a fair is held at Sakrai on Bhadrapada Shukla Ashtami; no other source for the fair date was found.
Stories and Legends
Vasudeva and the Sambhar lake
In the Prithvirajavijaya, as the encyclopedia article on Vasudeva retells it, the Chahamana king Vasudeva found a vidyadhara asleep in his bed and gave back a magic pill that had fallen from the being's mouth. The vidyadhara was the son of Shakambhara, whose devotion had brought the goddess Parvati to live in the forest as Shakambhari. To repay the king, he told Vasudeva to plant his sword at sunset and ride home without looking back, and water followed him and made the Sambhar salt lake, which would stay with his descendants. It is a legend, and the Bijolia inscription says only that the lake was born of Vasudeva.
Durgamasura and the vegetables
The Devi Bhagavata Purana tells of a drought in which the demon Durgamasura had made the sages forget the Vedas. The goddess appeared with vegetables, fruits and roots, and wept rivers of tears over the suffering of the world, and she killed the demon. This is the story behind her names Shakambhari and Shatakshi, the hundred-eyed. It is the Puranic account, and the Chahamana legend of Vasudeva is separate from it.
Families who keep Shakambhari Mata
Kuls, lineages and surnames that sources tie to this deity. Branches within each may keep another.