Sharika Devi
शारिका देवी
Kuldevi, family goddess
A form of Durga; worshipped at a rock marked with the Sri Chakra
At a glance
- Main shrine
- Sharika Devi Temple, Hari Parbat, Srinagar, Srinagar district, Jammu and Kashmir
- Worshipped in
- Kashmir Valley
- Kept by
- Kashmiri Pandit
About
Sharika Devi is the goddess of Hari Parbat, the hill north of the old city of Srinagar, which takes its name from her (Sarikaparvata, now Hara Parvat). She is a form of Durga and is worshipped as a rock marked with the Sri Chakra. Stein records her worship there from ancient times. Lawrence in 1895 found some Kashmiri Pandit households worshipping Sharika or Jwala and others Ragnya (Kheer Bhawani).
Legend and Origin
Marc Aurel Stein, in his notes to Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th century), says the goddess Sarika, a form of Durga, has been worshipped on this hill since ancient times and gave it its name; the modern Hara-parvat is the regular Kashmiri form of Sarikaparvata. He notes that Hara is the Kashmiri name of the goddess and also of the sarika bird (the maina), and that visitors from the plains turned it into Hari Parbat, the hill of Vishnu, by popular etymology. The Sarikamahatmya, he writes, tells how Durga took the shape of a sarika bird and carried the hill to its place to close a gate of hell; the same legend is alluded to in the Kathasaritsagara (11th century). Lawrence gives a Kashmiri version in which Parvati drops a mountain on the demon Jaldeo, the Jalodbhava of the Nilamata Purana, and Hari Parbat is the mountain. Ambardar's account for the Kashmir Pandit Network has the goddess in bird form drop a pebble on a demon that grows into the hill, on Ashadha Navami.
How the Deity Is Shown
She is worshipped at a large upright rock whose natural markings are taken as the Sri Chakra, the mystic diagram of the Tantras. Stein calls it a Svayambhu tirtha. Ambardar says the rock is smeared with vermilion and decorated with silver foil and flowers, and describes the goddess as Jagatamba Sharika Bhagwati in an eighteen-armed form. A second stone shrine of Hari on the north-east of the hill is also smeared with vermilion.
How Families Keep the Worship
Among the Kashmiri Pandit households that keep her, she is worshipped at the hill and, as Lawrence records, offerings of meat and rice were taken to her on Chaitra Navami, and the liver and heart of sheep were offered at her shrine; he notes that households who worship Sharika or Jwala may eat meat, unlike those who worship Ragnya. Lawrence also writes that some Pandits went daily to her temple and walked barefoot round the hill, mostly the older men. Ambardar describes the offering on Har Navum as rice cooked with turmeric, oil and salt (taher charvan) with cooked goat liver, and a night of hymns. Which goddess a household calls its kuldevi varies by family and branch, and the rites kept at home are the family's own.
The Shrine
Sharika Devi Temple, Hari Parbat
Srinagar, Srinagar district, Jammu and Kashmir
On the western side of the hill, at a large upright rock. Ambardar says it is reached by 111 stone steps from Devi Angan.
Festivals
Har Navum (the goddess's birthday)
Ninth day of the bright half of Ashadha (Har), around June or July
Ambardar gives this as the birthday of the goddess, marked by a night of hymns and the taher charvan offering.
Har Ashtami
Eighth day of the bright half of Ashadha (Har)
Lawrence (1895) calls Har Ashtmi sacred to Sharka Devi. Ambardar adds Har Satum, the seventh, as a day of congregational prayer.
Navreh and Chaitra Navami
Chaitra, from the first to the ninth day of the bright half
Lawrence records that meat and rice were taken to Sharka Devi on Chaitra Navami. Ambardar also lists Navreh, the Pandit new year, among the special days of prayer at the hill.
Stories and Legends
The bird and the hill
Stein summarises the Sarikamahatmya: Durga took the shape of a sarika bird and carried the hill to where it stands, using it to close a gate of hell. Another telling has the goddess as a bird dropping a pebble on a demon that grows into the hill. Lawrence's version has Parvati crushing the lake demon Jaldeo under a mountain. These are the versions Pandit tradition keeps; they differ on the demon and on the pebble or the mountain.