Matangi
Mātangi is the name of one among the ten Mahāvidya. Specifically Mātangi is among the three Siddhividyas namely Kamalātmika, Mātangi and Bagalambe. Siddhividya refers to those who give the knowledge necessary to accomplish the native’s task in this world. They are said to be the quickest to attain results from and protect the native in the three lokas of Svarga (heaven/stars), Bhuva (sky/galaxy) and Bhu (earth) lokas respectively, i.e. the physically manifest lokas.
The remaining among the ten Mahāvidyas are said to be Vidyā whereas Kali and Tara are specifically Mahāvidyas, and most mantras and verses have been devoted to these two in the agamas and nigamas. This thus forms a hierarchy where Kamalātmika is the first to be worshiped by the sadhaka and Kali is the last.
Mātangi appeared in the north-western direction when the ten Mahāvidyas initially appeared in front of Shiva. This is the direction of vayu/air representing the strength and protection of 
every individual as air: 1) represents the prana or lifeforce in the body; 2) just as the earth has an atmosphere to protect us against the Suns rays, the body has a shield which protects it from outside circumstances. As a Mahavidya, Mātangi ensures perfect bodily health by giving good prana/lifeforce and gives freedom from disease as well. Astrologically this direction is presided over by the Moon. Whilst the Sun is said to represent Mātangi astrologically and thus ensures good health and spirituality when worshiped, Mātangi as a Mahāvidya reveals the weaknesses which the mind (represented by the moon) has been subject to, and the native overcomes astrological-doshas such as the solar-eclipse, nodes joined the Sun, etc.
Mātangi was born as a daughter from the Ṛṣi Mātanga. He was recognized as a Ṛṣi because the divine mother herself was born to him in the form of Mātangi. He was considered a nonconformist when it came to the idea of caste or varṇa. He was said to be a śudra himself and had no concern of the whole idea of the caste-system. When confronted by his student’s reg. this he illustrated his point by drawing a line in the ground. He then asked one person who belonged to a tribe of hills men to cross over this line. Each time the tribesman crossed over the line his caste had changed, as had his level of awareness and the knowledge he presented. Finally the tribesman reached the caste of a Brahmaṇa and presented a level of knowledge so exhaustive and refined that the students of the Ṛṣi could not compare.
For this reason Mātangi is regarded as the giver of ones varṇa or caste/occupation in the world. Astrologically the Sun represents the king, and as we learn from the traditions of eastern India, the king was responsible for deciding the occupation and thus also the caste of the kingdoms inhabitants. Similarly in the chart we analyze the fourth from the Sun to understand which karma is available for us to perform. Hence, the traditions of east India also regard the Sun as representing the Mātangi Mahāvidya in the charts.
Mātangi herself has about five or six distinct forms. These are: vaishya-matangi, sumukhi-matangi raja-matangi, karna-matangi, ucchiṣṭa chandali and matangi herself. Some believe that the form of Mātangi is worshiped depending on ones caste. Whilst this would seem applicable to maybe Raja-matangi and Vaishya-matangi, this cannot be so for ucchiṣṭa-chandali as it goes against the principle of the castes. I.e. a chandala is one who doesn’t conform to any of the castes, their regulations, rules, etc. and has rejected society in itself. Also most animals come under this grouping. That being so, a chandala would not comply to this if they were performing a mantra and sadhana for Mātangi, as they would have to follow the rules and regulations for performing Mahāvidya sadhana and thus begin to occupy a caste and occupation as a result.
Instead the specific Mahāvidya is worshipped depending on nature of the problems the native faces in life.
A story goes that Mātangi accepts the leftovers or ucchiṣṭa from the Gods, and for this reason she is known by the same name. However, some people also believe that she should be worshiped in the very same way, i.e. with leftovers, which is quite against the principles of worship adopted in ritual practices. It should be learnt that there are many forms of God which appear with the name ucchiṣṭa which literally means ‘having touched the lips’, i.e. ucchiṣṭa ganapati, ucchiṣṭa brahmanaspati, etc. These do not represent impure forms of God, but instead represent those forms from which you will speak their words! In case of Mātangi it is said that her worship will allow one to speak the words of Shiva himself which is of the highest knowledge.
For this reason Mātangi is often depicted with a parrot. In this form the parrot represents the student who is trying to mimic and copy the words of the guru, which are spoken by Mātangi.
Her words are that of the highest truth and she bestows the gift of unfailing speech and truthfulness to the sadhaka. She does this specifically in the forms of Mātangi, Karṇa-matangi and Ucchiṣṭa chandali, but generally this applies to every aspect of her form. This may be necessary in some contexts to take others out of untruth and lead people towards a greater ideal, and due to this she is associated with vaśikaraṇa or the ability to attract, persuade and control the minds of others. She takes on this role in her forms as Sumukhi-matangi, Raja-matangi and Vaishya-matangi. Especially Raja-matangi finds a particularly exhaustive depiction in the merutantra which finds traits of all forms of Matangi within her.
The reason Mātangi was depicted as a Chandala or outcaste is found in the story where Shiva took that same role. Shiva had decided to travel through the mountains without Parvati and he took on the appearance of a tribesman of the Matanga tribe. Parvati followed him in the same guise and Shiva, unaware of her real identity as his wife, became enticed and attracted to her disguise. This resulted in their conjugal union where after Parvati revealed her true identify to Shiva and made a vow to stay in the form that she had partaken. So she was known as Ucchiṣṭa Chandali for 1) having touched the lips of Shiva and 2) having taken the form of a Chandali. Because she was able to attract Shiva, she is associated with the act of vashikarana, and thus the worshipper of Mātangi developes the means to attract Shiva.
It was in this form that the couple established the Gṛṣneśvara Jyotirlinga in the Kanyaka forest, when by accident, whilst Mātangi was mixing sindoor and saffron with her thumb, a beam of light appeared in her palm. This then became known as Kumkumeśvara as it was made from kumkum, or Gṛṣneśvara as Parvati caused a lot of friction when rubbing the mixture with her thumb.
Method of selecting Mantra:
When a planet is debilitated in rasi, navamsa or even the shastyamsa-trimsamsa varga (d30) charts the mahavidya indicating the same is worshiped to overcome the punishment from previous lifetimes of performing adharma. For the Sun its debility indicates treating the patriachs wrongly, and disrespecting the king, government and similar officials. For this we advise the worship of Matangi. This should especially be done towards the period of Leo Narayana dasa.
Similarly when the Sun is eclipsed by the nodes we advise the Matangi worship to overcome the eclipse of the soul itself, and to hear the words of guidance from Guru.
We can also advise Matangi worship or Savitur Gayatri mantra when the Sun causes the combustion of other planets, or joins them in the navamsa. In such cases the native will completely ignore or find little happiness from the planets who are combust by the Sun.
The specific form of Matangi is then left to the intelligent astrologers to decide, but when in doubt the
Send corrections to: visti@srigaruda.com
May 9th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
|| Hare Rama Krushna ||
Namaste Vistiji,
This is a beautiful writeup from you, so full of knowledge! Please NEVER stop teaching Jyotisha to us!
I do not think I have the capacity to understand Devi, let alone Mahavidya. But even a person as ignorant in these matters as I could see that this knowledge that you have generously given us is invaluable. I only hope that you continue to disperse knowledge of various forms and mantras for other Mahavidya forms in the future.
Since you have now made these mantras public, should we take liberty of giving them to the native? In the past you have asked us to send the native to a Mahavidya worshipper (a temple priest, for instance) for Her mantra instead of us giving them ourselves. Does this guideline remain the same in the light of us acquiring these mantras from you?
Thank you.
May Sri Vishnu bless us all,
Reema.
May 9th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
|| Hare Rama Krushna ||
Namaste Vistiji,
And, I forgot to say how beautiful those pictures are (especially the one with the parrot)!
May Sri Vishnu bless us all,
Reema.
May 9th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
HARE RAMA KRSNA
NAMASTE VISTIJI,HOW ARE YOU,HOPE ALL IS WELL,VERY NICE ARTICLE
ON MATANGI,KEEP THE GOOD WORK GOING,TAKE CARE,LORD SHIVA BLESS ALL,NMASKAR
May 30th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Dear Guru Vistiji,
Pranam,
You have explained about devine mother Matangi in a manner that the reader understands the puranas and symbolism of Sri Matangi.
I have a sincere request, as you have mentioned that Sri Matangi represents the Sun in the charts; simillarly to this diety We would also like to know about the Godesses and Gods connected with other planets and their mantras like those recomended for Upapada fast and mantra chanting for the union with the spouce. It will be highly appreciated if you would brief us with these information.
Thanking in anticipation.
Jai Lakshmi Narayan
May Sri Lakshmi Narayan bless you with depest knowledge of Astrology and bliss in your married life.
Regards
Gajanan S Inamdar
June 6th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Hi Visti,
There are more forms of Matangi and many different mantras from Tantric community.
1. A true GURU never reveals a mantras unless untill he finds shishya competent for the mantra.
2. The mantra should be initiated by a competent GURU and then only it has its effect.
3. Let me be very strict here when you have published these mantras on your website. If these mantras chanted without proper procedure it can have real real bad effect on mind.
I can see the knowlede you have published is already available in some books (Dash mahavidya and etc..).
My proposition to you: How can we both work on understanding which mantra and beejakshra vibrates which nadi?
Thanks,
Rakesh
June 14th, 2007 at 5:39 am
OMM MAA TRIPURASUNDARI
Respected Vistiji,
According to one saying KALIYUG is SRESTHA among all four yugas,coz one can get ISWARA immediately by performing a little
SADHANAA in this KALIYUG as directed by the SUPREME LOARD Himself.”DAS MAHAVIDYA” Worship is the best example for this.
I have SUN debilitated in navamsa KUNDALI,can I worship MAA MATANGI for For the Sun its debility indicates treating the patriachs wrongly, and disrespecting the king, government and similar officials.
Please advice me the process of worship to be free
from the above SIN with proper time to start with, coz my leo Narayan Dasa is too far from now.
D.O.B.-4TH MAY 1968,TIME-05:30 AM(As per hand-note by my father indicating the birthtime),BIRTH PLACE-85°51′49.90″E,20°27′52.46″N.
With deep respect,
DEEPAK MODI
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:50 am
Dear Readers, Namaskar
The first mantra given for Matangi above is the MOST advised mantra in all the shastras. Whenever Matangi is mentioned its rare not to find this mantra. The most detailed descriptions of the use of this Mantra is given in Mantra-Maharnava. At the outset I would recommend this for all. This does not make the other mantra obsolete.
If the Sun is causing a problem to planets in the eleventh house then hearing/listening is a problem, and then Karna-Matangi should be advised. I have a case where this was the advise.
If its in the lagna/arudha lagna we may infer that Sumukhi-matangi should be advised to repair the reputation. This leaves us with Rajamatangi for tenth house/career problems and Vaishyamatangi for marriage/seventh house problems.
Ucchista Chandali can then be worshiped to overcome the problems in speech and thus also second house problems. The fourth house is the mother herself in her primary form and thus the first mantra advised above has to be given.
So, first find the root of the sun-problem, then proceed to look for the Matangi-form based on the specific issue. Finally fix the appropriate syllables based on a) in case of combustion the syllables/chandah of the planet who is combust; b) incase of debility, then the syllables/chandah is based on the house where Sun is combust.
Yours, Visti
September 12th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Dear Visti Ji,
Namaste and welcome back. The only two names of the divine with “Ucchista” are the ones of the Mother as you mentioned above, and of Ganesha. My personal feeling about this has always been that the compassionate Mother accepts everything Her children give her, even those, as you mentioned, that the other Gods leave behind. Similarly, Ganesha, in his child-like innocence, accepts everything in the name of love. Of course, I agree with you that the devotee should always worship in full sincerity, and not knowingly transgress the rules of worship. Just my opinion of course.
Thanks,
Lata
September 13th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Dear Lata, Namaskar.
Ever heard of ‘Ucchiste Brahmanaspate’? This is from the Rgveda.
I of course agree with your comments.
Yours sincerely, Visti
September 29th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Param Guru Vistiji,
Namaskar. I have a few questions.
What would be the Matangi mantra for my debilitated LL, Budha who is with Chandra and ketu in 10th(in Rashi chart). In my Shastyamsa, Venus and Sun are in the Lagna, Virgo, where venus is both combust and debilitated. How can I remedy this? Also can you please give a list of Mahavidyas for planets and also if it is relative to the rasi or sign they are in?
My birth details are 28 February 1960, 14.42 hrs(unrectified), Madras, India
Respectfully,
Nalini
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Respected VISTIGI
PLEASE forgive me for my CORRECTION but ref.your POST NO.9.
IT IS- UTTIST not UCCHIST
UTTIST means GET UP
& THIS IS RUG. HYMN FOR GANESH .
Regards.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Dear Satish, Namaskar.
ITRANS: ‘ucChiSTe’. It means neither rug nor to stand up.
Yours sincerely, Visti Larsen
February 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Hi…
recently, when i went to Kanchipuram, i had darshan of Goddess Kamakshi and went to the shop in the temple to buy some pictures of the Goddess…the shop-keeper handed over a small picture of Raja-Syamala Devi and told me to keep it carefully with me…he had no special reason to do that (i was in deep mental depression that time and when he gave me that picture, i was awestruck)…that was the first time i have seen Her picture and it looked beautiful…i have searched in many websites and finally came to know that Her other name was Raja-Matangi…i got the picture framed, lest i lose it somewhere…and today i am posting this message in this website as a part of my attempts to know more…
My question is,is there any particular way for me to worship Her? I am only 20yrs old and i have no idea how to perform tantra…i just know how to offer dhoop, flowers, prasaadam and reading a few shlokas…also, what is the significance of Raja Shyamala Devi???
Please let me know if you have any information…
February 19th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
meant to say relationship = r/ship
February 26th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Guru ji
namaskar
my dob is 23/04/1976, tob 09:35 am Ludhiana (india)
which mahavidya is suitable for me & what its mantra.
sir i want to learn more about this can u plz guide me
thanks
March 5th, 2008 at 8:50 am
guruji
plz guide me
thanks
March 10th, 2008 at 6:20 am
” OM NAMO NARAYANAYA”
Respected Guruji,
This is in continuation to your kind reply to my mail. Guruji, I gone through your valuable spiritual article on Matangi devi. Guruji you had mentioned that debiliation of the Nakshatra lord of the AL would result in difficulty in one’s livelihood and at the same time your goodself had also mentioned that this deblilation would result in one not being accepted in the Community. This two statement is creating a sort of confusion for me.
Further, Guruji in the above article of Matangi devi it is mentioned that Lord Sun is the King and he is who allocates one occupation. In my case the Nakshatra lord of my Arudha Lagna ( Virgo ) is debiliated. The Nakshatra lord being Lord Sun whether one can offer prayers to Lord Rama and Lord Shiva, receiting of Gayatri mantram, and receiting of Aditya Hrudyam as advised by Sage Agasyta to Lord Rama. Further, Guruji since i am Brahmin which mantra of Matangi devi should i receite. Please Guide me.
Pranams,
K.Lakshman
March 10th, 2008 at 10:50 am
‘OM NAMO NARAYANAYA”
Respected Guruji,
Guruji, if the AL has 2 or 3 planets, with different Nakshatra Lords, which Nakshatra lord to be considered for AL’s strength.
K.Lakshman
March 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Dear Members, Namaskar.
Vagdevi
Mantra = mana-trayi or protection of the mind. One doesn’t perform mantra, one recites a mantra and the result is protection of the mind.
Similarly you don’t perform ‘tantra’, instead the resultant effect of worship is tantra, i.e. protection of the body. Therefore reciting of mantras, offering puja, etc. is in itself a means to bring mantra, tantra and yantra, i.e. protection of the mind, body and soul respectively. Thats all you need to do.
Raja Shyamala devi is the same as Raja-Matangi.
Manoj
Tell me what you think based on your chart.
Lakshman
Reg. debilitation of nakshatra-lord of Arudha lagna, I’m sure I said it would create lack of support from the community, not lack of acceptance. Please read my words carefully. The result of the lack of support is difficulty in livelihood.
Debilitation requires mahavidya, and if Sun is debilitated (as written in the article) then Matangi is worshipped, whilst for each other debilitated planet that mahavidya requires worship.
The first mantra among those listed is my advise. You caste has nothing to do with the choice of mantra.
Further, no matter how many planets are joined the AL, we still take the nakshatra lord based on the degree of AL.
Yours sincerely, Visti Larsen
March 19th, 2008 at 6:22 am
guru ji
pranam
sir, i want to know i am running ju mahadasa & sun antra. my ju is asta (combust). can i perform the tara or matangi mahavidya. becouse i can’t get my full payment for my work. supirors of mine all r not satisfied with me besides my best.
thanks
April 15th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Dear Visti, Namaste,
Thank you for this very helpful article.
Would you please clarify how to choose the correct number of syllables to use? You state above “Finally fix the appropriate syllables based on a) in case of combustion the syllables/chandah of the planet who is combust; b) incase of debility, then the syllables/chandah is based on the house where Sun is combust.”
I assume the syllable-count for the combust planets uses their Sanskrit names, like Guru for Jupiter would be 2? My debilitated Sun is in the 9th house with Guru, Buddha, & Shukra combust, so would I add 9+2+2+2 to make the correct mantra?
Thank you, and blessings,
Julli
April 25th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Dear Visti, Pranam
Wonderful explanation thank you. You say several times that debilitation of a planet requires worship of the mahavidya indicated by that planet. What if there are THREE planets debilitated in the navamsa? In my case, Saturn (which is also rasi lagna lord), Mars, and the Sun. In such a case do, Kali, Matangi and Bagulamukhi have to be worshipped seperately, ie. there mantras done seperately or is there a way that the 3 can be combined in one mantra?
thank you
khushee