Dharma Katha

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 95

At the very end of the war, the demon king looks at the Goddess and sneers. You are proud, Durga, he says. But you are a cheat. You do not fight by your own strength. You fight with all these others around you. Kali, the Mothers, Shiva's messenger, your lion. Where is your pride now? And the Goddess answers him with one of the most famous lines in the whole Devi Mahatmya. And then, as he watches, every one of those other goddesses walks into her body and disappears.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 91 first.

Source note. Label: Purana, with quotations. The story is the Devi Mahatmya, chapters nine and ten, retold from the text and translation on devimahatmyam.aurobharati.in: the king's question; the brothers' attack; the duel with Nishumbha and his weapons; Shumbha's eight arms; the conch, bow, bell, Kali and Shivaduti; Shumbha's swoon; Nishumbha's ten thousand arms; the being from his heart; the Mothers' slaughter of the army; Shumbha's taunt; the Goddess's reply and the goddesses entering her; the duel, the fight in the sky, and Shumbha's death; and the world restored. The verses quoted are chapter nine, verse thirty-five, and chapter ten, verse five, as numbered there. Speeches are shortened and paraphrased. The reflection on Ashtami is my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verses.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 94

Imagine a child, taken for the first time to a Kali temple. She looks up at the image. Black skin. A garland of severed heads. A skirt of severed arms. A long red tongue. A sword in one hand, a head in another, dripping. And her grandmother, beside her, joins her palms and says, with complete tenderness: Ma. And the child asks the question that so many of us have asked, in one way or another. Why do we call her Mother? Mothers are gentle. Why is she like that?

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 92 first.

Source note. Label: retelling and reflection, with one quotation. The gods' question about why the Goddess uses weapons, and their answers, that her enemies, purified by her weapons, reach the higher worlds, that by dying in battle they escape a long hell, and that her nature subdues the wicked while showing mercy even to enemies, are from the Devi Mahatmya, chapter four, verses eighteen, nineteen and twenty-one, read with their translation on devimahatmyam.aurobharati.in. The line quoted, citte kṛpā samaraniṣṭhuratā ca, is the second half of verse twenty-two there. The description of the Kali image is of the common Bengali form. The other answers are common teachings and my own reflection; they are offered, not prescribed. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verse.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 93

On the morning of Saptami, before dawn, all across Bengal, people walk down to the river carrying a banana plant. Not a cut leaf. A whole young plant, with eight other plants bound to it. A priest chants. Drums play. And at the water's edge, in the half-dark, the plant is bathed, as carefully as a person would be bathed. Then it is dressed in a new white sari with a red border. Vermilion is touched to its leaves. And it is carried back, veiled, like a bride, and set down beside the image of Ganesha in the pandal.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 90 first.

Source note. Label: tradition. The Navapatrika, or Nabapatrika, and the Kola Bou bath on Saptami are living Bengali tradition, and they vary by household and region. The common list of nine plants and their goddesses, the binding with the aparajita creeper and yellow thread, the pre-dawn bath, the red-bordered white sari and vermilion, and the placing beside Ganesha, follow published accounts, including India Currents and hindu-blog.com; drikpanchang.com gives a somewhat different list of plants. The popular belief that the Kola Bou is Ganesha's wife, and the view of scholars that she is Durga herself in plant form, are both reported in those accounts. The agricultural origin of the rite is a scholarly suggestion, not settled fact. The reflections are my own.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 92

If you saw her coming down the road at night, you would run. She is black as a moonless sky. Her hair is loose and wild, or bound in a single rough braid. She rides a donkey. Around her neck is a necklace that flashes like lightning. She has three eyes, and when she breathes, the tradition says, flames come from her nostrils. In one hand, a curved iron weapon studded with thorns. In another, a sword.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 89 first.

Source note. Label: tradition, with one verse. Kalaratri as the seventh of the nine Durgas is from the Devi Kavacham's list, quoted in episode sixty-nine. The dhyana verses, beginning ekaveṇī japākarṇapūrā and ending kālarātrir bhayaṅkarī, and her iconography, the donkey, the thorned iron weapon, the sword, the lightning necklace, the breath of fire, the gestures of fearlessness and blessing, and the name Shubhankari, were read on brhat.in; only the second verse is quoted. The meanings of her name are standard. The link to Kali and to the Raktabija story is common devotional tradition. The crown centre and the offering of jaggery are later and living tradition, and vary. The reflections are my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verse.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 91

The whole world is full of him. Everywhere the gods look, there is Raktabija. The same face, the same size, the same weapons, a thousand times over, ten thousand times, and every time one of the Mothers strikes, the blood falls, and more of him rise out of the ground. The gods are terrified. The battle that seemed won is being lost, one drop at a time.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 87 first.

Source note. Label: Purana, with quotations. The story is the Devi Mahatmya, chapter eight, verses fifty-two to sixty-three, retold from the text and translation on devimahatmyam.aurobharati.in: the world filled with Raktabija's offspring, the Goddess's laughter, her instruction to Chamunda, the drinking of the blood, Raktabija's mace causing her no pain, his fall, the gods' joy and the Mothers' dance. The instruction quoted is verse fifty-four there; the words before it, Chamunda, open your mouth wide, are verse fifty-three, given in translation. Speeches are shortened and paraphrased. The link between Kali's tongue and this story is a popular explanation, not stated in the text. The inner reading of Raktabija is a common teaching, given with my own reflection. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verses.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 90

In Bengal, tonight, a mother is waiting at the door. She has been waiting all year. Her daughter married a man who lives far away in the mountains. A strange man, people say. He smears himself with ash, he wanders with ghosts, he has no house to speak of. The mother worries about her girl all year long. Is she eating? Is she warm? Does he treat her well?

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 58 first.

Source note. Label: tradition. Durga Puja in Bengal is living tradition, and its rituals vary between households, communities and pandals. The rites of bodhan at the bel tree on the evening of Shashthi, and adhivas and amantran, follow published descriptions, including drikpanchang.com. The understanding of Durga as Uma visiting her parents with her four children, and the Agamani and Vijaya songs, with their composers Ramprasad Sen, Kamalakanta Bhattacharya and others, follow common accounts, including Banglapedia and the Wikipedia article on Agamani-Vijaya; the lines in Menaka's voice are paraphrases of the songs' common themes, not quotations from a particular song. The remark about the genre not lasting long is from Banglapedia. The reflections are my own.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 89

Somewhere in the forest there is a hermitage, and in it an old sage who has been praying for a very long time. He is not praying for heaven, or for power, or for a long life. He is praying for a daughter. And not any daughter. He wants the Goddess herself to be born in his house. This is Dharma Katha, Season Two, Navratri. Episode eighty-nine, day six. In episode eighty-five, we met Skandamata, the Goddess of the fifth night, seated on a lion with her son the war god in her lap. Tonight, the sixth of the nine forms. We have already heard her name twice today: in the Devi Mahatmya, in the middle of the battle with the Mothers and Raktabija, and on the lips of the cowherd girls of Vraja, bathing in the Yamuna at dawn. Tonight, Katyayani herself.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 85 first.

Source note. Label: tradition and Purana, with one verse. Katyayani as the sixth of the nine Durgas is from the Devi Kavacham's list, quoted in episode sixty-nine. The story of the sage's austerities and the Goddess born as his daughter is Navadurga tradition, as given on brhat.in. The account of the gods' energies gathering in Katyayana's hermitage is attributed to the Vamana Purana in published summaries, including the Wikipedia article on Katyayani; I have not read the Purana's chapter directly. The Taittiriya Aranyaka gayatri is mentioned without quotation because its readings differ. The dhyana verse, candrahāsojjvalakarā, and her iconography were read on brhat.in. The meaning of Chandrahasa is standard. The forehead centre and the honey offering are later and living tradition, and vary. The reflections are my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verse.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 88

It is the first month of winter in Vraja, the cowherd country along the river Yamuna. Before sunrise, while it is still cold enough to see your breath, a group of girls leaves the village. They are holding hands. They are calling to each other by name, and singing as they walk. They are going to the river to bathe, and then to make a small image of the Goddess out of the riverbank's own earth, and to worship her.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 87 first.

Source note. Label: Purana, with one quotation. The story is the Bhagavata Purana, book ten, chapter twenty-two, retold from the text and translation on vedabase.io: the vow in Margashirsha, the simple food, the dawn bath, the earthen image of the Goddess and its worship, the mantra, the girls walking hand in hand singing, the clothes on the kadamba tree, the girls' words and Krishna's, the joined palms, the return of the clothes, the girls' feelings, the roasted-seed teaching and the promise of the coming nights. The mantra quoted is verse four there. Speeches are shortened and paraphrased. The ages of Krishna and the gopis and the allegorical reading are from the traditional commentaries in general terms; specific commentators differ. The link to the Raslila is traditional. The present-day Katyayani vow and the use of the mantra for marriage are living tradition. The reflections are my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verse.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 87

The battlefield is so loud you cannot hear yourself think. The Goddess twangs her bowstring, and the sound fills the space between earth and sky. Her lion roars. She rings her bell. And then Kali opens her enormous mouth and roars, and her roar drowns out all the rest. And into that noise come seven more. Seven women, each riding a different animal, each carrying a different god's weapon. A swan. A bull. A peacock. Garuda, the great eagle. A boar's face. A lion's mane. An elephant.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 84 first.

Source note. Label: Purana, with quotations. The story is the Devi Mahatmya, chapter eight, verses one to fifty-two, retold from the text and translation on devimahatmyam.aurobharati.in: Shumbha's mobilisation and the clans named; the bowstring, the lion, the bell and Kali's roar; the emergence of the gods' shaktis, with their mounts and weapons; Shiva's words; the emergence of Shivaduti and Shiva sent as messenger; the message; the name Shivaduti; the name Katyayani in verse twenty-nine; the Goddess cutting their weapons playfully; the Mothers' attacks; and Raktabija and his multiplying. The verses quoted are chapter eight, verses fourteen and forty-one there. Lists are shortened, and speeches paraphrased. The note on the Matrikas' older worship and their number is general historical and traditional knowledge. The reading of Raktabija as an inner enemy is a common teaching, given with my own reflection. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verses.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 86

In a living room in Chennai, a staircase has appeared where there was no staircase yesterday. It is made of planks, or of steel shelves, or of cardboard boxes, covered in white cloth. Nine steps, or seven, or five. And on every step, dolls. Hundreds of them. Gods and goddesses at the top. Saints and sages below them. Then kings and queens, and musicians, and a wedding procession, and a vegetable seller with her basket, and a cricket team, and a row of animals, and a little park with a mirror for a pond.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 82 first.

Source note. Label: tradition. Golu, Bommai Golu, Bommala Koluvu and Bombe Habba are living household traditions in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, and they vary greatly by family. The odd number of steps, the usual order with the Goddess at the top and daily life at the bottom, the wooden bride and groom, called Marapachi Bommai and Pattada Gombe, given to a bride to begin her own Golu, and the links to Vijayanagara and the Wodeyars of Mysuru, follow common published accounts, including the Wikipedia article on Golu. The visiting, the songs, the thamboolam and the sundal are widely described customs. The ladder-of-life reading is a common explanation, not a rule. The reflections are my own.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.