History & Myth
The history of the worship of Maa ChinnaMasta.
Maa ChinnaMasta, the sixth or seventh Mahavidya, is the Divine Mother of self-sacrifice and altruism. As the provider of life-force, her enigmatic depiction symbolizes and teaches the truth of the Supreme Self — boundless, selfless, self-dependent and nurturing. She teaches her devotees to look within in introspection and to sever their false sense of self in the service of others, since all cumulate as one existence. In the act of self-sacrifice and the awareness of oneness, devotees attain liberation.
Maa Chhinnamasta — also spelt Maa ChinnaMasta, or Maa Chinnamunda (“she with the severed head”), or Trikaya-Vajrayogini (“triple-bodied Vajrayogini”). Maa Chinnamunda is the severed-head form of the goddess Maa Vajrayogini (or Vajravarahi), who is depicted similarly to Maa Chhinnamasta.
Divine Mother Maa Das Mahavidya
The “Das Mahavidya,” or ten great cosmic wisdom forms of Maa Maha Kaali — Maa Kaali, Maa Tara, Maa Tripura Sundari (Maa Shodashi), Maa Bhuvaneshwari, Maa Bhairavi, Maa Bagalamukhi, Maa ChinnaMasta, Maa Matangi, Maa Dhumavati, and Maa Kamala — lead sincere devotees to spiritual advancement through the learning and internalization of each great cosmic wisdom teaching. Sincere devotees can advance on the path of self-realization and liberation from earthly bondage.
Visit the Maa Das Mahavidya temple dedicated to the worship of Maa ChinnaMasta and the ten divine cosmic forms of the Divine Mother. Click here.
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhinnamasta
Origin stories and legends of Maa ChinnaMasta
Maa ChinnaMasta appears in two distinct sets of legends:
- The origin myths of the Das Mahavidyas
- The genesis of Maa ChinnaMasta as an individual form of the Divine Mother
1. Maa ChinnaMasta as a Mahavidya
In chapter 8 of the tenth-century Shakta Mahabhagavata Purana, Lord Shiva extolled the glory of the Das Mahavidyas to sage Narada, and recounted the legend of the emergence of the Das Mahavidyas, the ten great cosmic wisdom expressions of the Divine Mother of the universe.
According to the legend, once Maa Sati — a manifestation of the Divine Mother as the daughter of Daksha and first consort of Lord Shiva — became enraged because her father did not invite her and Lord Shiva to his yagna (fire ritual). In her anger Maa Sati insisted on attending the ceremony to humble her father's pride, despite Lord Shiva's protests.
When Lord Shiva kept refusing, Maa Sati resolved to remind him that she was the very emanation of the Divine Mother herself. With lips trembling with anger and eyes blazing like the fire of destruction, she roared with laughter. As the terrified Lord Shiva attempted to flee, the Divine Mother appeared in one transcendent form in each of the ten directions to restrain him. In whichever direction he turned, Maa Sati stood before him in one of her Mahavidya forms. To his right (in the east) she stood as Maa ChinnaMasta, the fearsome and enigmatic form of the Divine Mother.
2. Maa ChinnaMasta as an individual form of the Divine Mother
In the Prana Toshini Tantra, a compilation of the tantric texts, there is a story of the origin of Maa ChinnaMasta from the Narada Pancharatra. According to the story, one day Maa Parvati, the reincarnation of Maa Sati, went to bathe in the Mandakini river with her attendants Jaya and Vijaya, also known as Dakini and Varnini. There, her two attendants begged her for food out of extreme hunger, praying, “We are overpowered with hunger, O Mother of the universe! Give us food so we may be satisfied, O merciful one, bestower of boons and fulfiller of desires.” On hearing this sincere prayer, the merciful Divine Mother smiled and severed her own head with her fingernails. Her head fell onto the palm of her left hand, and three bloodstreams emerged from her throat: the left and right streams fell into the mouths of her attendants, and the central stream fell into her own mouth. Thereafter Maa Parvati was venerated as Maa ChinnaMasta.
In the Svatantra Tantra portion of the Prana Toshini Tantra, Lord Shiva narrates the myth of Maa ChinnaMasta's emergence. In the Krta Yuga, Maa Mahamaya was engaged in mahavrata with Lord Shiva on Kailasa. At the time of Lord Shiva's seminal emission, the Divine Mother appeared fierce, and from her body two shaktis emerged as her attendants Dakini and Varnini. One day the Divine Mother went to the bank of the Pushpabhadra river with her two attendants. At noon, her hungry attendants requested food. Hearing this, the smiling and auspicious Divine Mother looked in all directions and severed her head, feeding Dakini with the left bloodstream, Varnini with the right, and drinking the central stream herself. After playing in this way, she replaced her head and reverted to her original form, returning home at dusk. This happened on the day of Viraratri — and so, according to the story, Maa ChinnaMasta emerged on Viraratri.
