Matangi Mantra
Who Matangi is, the tradition this mantra belongs to, and how it is received from a teacher. The mantra itself is given at initiation and is not printed here.
Who Matangi is
Matangi is the ninth of the ten Mahavidyas, the wisdom goddesses of Tantric Shaktism, and is often called the Tantric Saraswati. She presides over speech, music and learning, and is pictured emerald green, playing the veena, with a parrot beside her and a crescent moon on her brow. Unlike Saraswati she is bound up with what is left over and set aside. In her form as Ucchishta Chandalini she accepts food that others have already tasted; one story has her born from the remains of a meal shared by Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati, and another makes her the daughter of the sage Matanga, won by his austerities. In Sri Vidya she is Raja Matangi, also called Shyamala: the Mantrini, minister of Lalita’s court, who speaks with the queen’s authority.
The minister’s mantra
Her worship reverses the usual rules of ritual. Some texts ask for no fast or purification before it, and allow offerings of food that would be refused anywhere else. In the Sri Vidya lineages, where she is the queen’s minister, her mantra is still received from a teacher as one stage of a longer path and kept within the rules that teacher gives. Musicians, poets and scholars have long sought her out, as the goddess of the word that is spoken and sung rather than merely known.
The mantra itself
This mantra is given at initiation. Tradition transmits it from teacher to disciple with the practice that belongs to it, so we do not publish it in full. A teacher who has the authority to give it will give it with its method.
When Matangi is chanted
Weekday. Friday
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.