Author: Saptarshee Bhattacharjee
Publication: Assam Tribune
Date: February 12, 2005
The advent of Saraswati Puja always
reminds me of the popularity it has among the school and college going
students since my early childhood. I was always eager to see the idols
placed in decorative pendals with the odour of incense and brightness of
flowers. It was like Devi Saraswati emerging with all whiteness among the
fog to remind us of the purity she enjoys in our hearts.
With passage of time and closeness
of my grandmother late Dr Nirmalprabha Bardoloi, I got attracted towards
the indological research very deeply. Though I am a student of Biotechnology,
I always feel inclined towards the deep, mysteries lying around us. Coming
back to the topic, I am always fascinated by the different forms and shapes
of the idols with numerous hues, colours, symbols to name a few. My grandmother,
whom we used to call `Aimoni' is a new name having numerous literary, creative
works in addition to three indological treatise on Devi, Shiva and Surya,
of which I was the co- author of the last one. Though she is no more, she
always told me to prepare materials for a book on Ganesha cult.
I came across a book on Ganesha
written by an European author at Centre for Asiatic and Oriental studies,
Kolkatta around spring of 2001. It was a small and concise book. There
I saw an article on the relation between Ganesha and Matangi, the 9th great
wisdom goddess of India. At that very moment, a thought struck my mind,
the concept of Matangi and Saraswati, its relation with each other. Matangi
was consort of Ganesha in that book, on the other hand, Saraswati was the
consort of Brahma and yet outward expression of Matangi. Saraswati is one
of the most popular goddesses in entire India with a living tradition of
thousand years from the time of Vedas. In fact, one of our great rivers
was Saraswati, that disappeared in the golden sands of time. According
to Tantra, Kali, Tara, Bhairavi, Saraswati and Matangi resembles in many
dimensions. Kali is also Neel Saraswati, Neel Saraswati is also Tara, Saraswati
is also Matangi and Matangi is also Saraswati with a darker aspect of Kali.
Saraswati is revered as the Goddess
of wisdom, knowledge, music and intellect. On the other hand, like Saraswati,
Matangi also plays a vina and rules over music or audible sound in general,
not just the spoken word. She is the manifest form of song. She is the
vibratory sound, Nada, that flows in the subtle channels, Nadis down through
our entire body and mind. Matangi is the form of Saraswati directed towards
inner knowledge. She is her dark, mystic, ecstatic or wild form. In fact
white lotus is accustomed with Saraswati and Dark blue lotus is close with
Matangi. Lotus stands for wisdom in Indian tradition. Saraswati is often
a Goddess of only ordinary learning, art and culture. Matangi rules over
the beyond ordinary, which takes us across the limits of the conventional.
Matangi is an outcast, as she is called Ucchista Chandali who goes against
the norms of society, while Saraswati represents the knowledge and virtue
of the sanskritised or classical classes which never depart from the propriety.
Matangi allied with the transforming energy of Kali foms that portion of
Saraswati, which intrigues our mind in finding a comprehensive relation
between the fair and darker side. In fact the timing of Saraswati Puja
marks the transformation of dark, colder side towards warmer, sunshine.
Though the Dhyana Mantra of Matangi
describes about the relation of a daughter to sage Matanga, it actually
literally means a thought or an opinion. She is the word as the embodiment
of thought. She is the Goddess of the spoken word and of any outward articulation
of inner knowledge, including all forms of art, music and dance. As earlier
mentioned, Matangi is the last of the three Goddesses who relate to the
divine word, the other two being Tara and Bhairavi. Neel Saraswati is the
tantric buddhist form of Tara of deep learning and eloquence. Tara stands
for illumined word, Bhairavi stands for unmanifest form of speech and Matangi
for spoken word. Matangi can also represent the middle form of speech,
which governs the ideas that we are putting into words and thereby our
thinking process. The highest role of Matangi is that of Para-Vaikhari
or the supreme words manifest through audible speech, the truly direct
revelation of the highest knowledge in human speech from which all true
scriptures and knowledge arises. As such Matangi encompasses all levels
of speech.
In our local traditions, we always
relate Saraswati to the throat and tongue, the speech, the word. When glancing
through the pages of a book on Kundalini Tantra, I came across the Vishuddhi
Chakra, the throat chakra of the seven important whorls in our cosmic or
ethereal body. Vishuddhi chakra is known as the `purification center'.
The Sanskrit word shuddhi means `to purify', and in this chakra the purifying
and harmonising of all opposites takes place. Also called as `nectar and
poison center', here the nectar which drips down from Bindu Visarga is
said to be split into the pure form and the poison. The poison is discarded
and the pure nectar then nourishes the body and mind. Like the Swan, which
can differentiate the milk mixed with water, likewise this Chakra can differentiate
the range of purity. Matangi resides in the throat chakra, the center of
speech. Speech is the audible perception of the alphabets arranged in a
certain manner. The sixteen petals of the Vishuddhi chakra has one Sanskrit
vowel (A to Ah) in each petal. In the pericarp of this lotus is a circle
which is white like the full moon, representing the element of akasha.
Within this moon shape is a snow white elephant, also symbolic of the akasha
element. By meditation on Vishuddhi chakra, the mind becomes pure like
akasha. The elephant that resides in the Throat chakra resembles Ganesha
with a special relation with Matangi, the darker side of Saraswati. Matangi
also resides on the tip of the tounge, the place wherein speech is articulated
and wherein we are able to taste the essences of things. Along with Ida,
Pingala and Sushumna, there is a special nerve or channel of the subtle
body called Saraswati that runs from the Third Eye to the tip of the tounge,
which relates to her. This is the stream of inspiration from the mind to
its expression through speech. The divinity, the creativity gets crystallized
when Matangi flows through this channel as bliss or Sat chit ananda.
The seed syllable of Saraswati and
Matangi is the same i.e. Aim. It is seed syllable of wisdom, learning,
teaching and inner voice of the eternal guide. The meditational approaches
of Matangi is quite familiar with the emergence of Saraswati, the goddess
of alphabets, words and speech. Chanting of vowels from the Throat Chakra
to the Root Chakra i.e. Mooladhara through all the alphabets is like the
emergence of gross matters from pure essence, the akasha, the space nature
of throat. The essence of purity is Saraswati, the consort of Lord Brahma,
the creator of the universe. Though Throat Chakra is silvery white, its
ruling deity is Sadashiva and Matangi, the darker side of Saraswati. The
essence of deeper side in all the creatures, in all the gross matters of
this universe.
The black and white sketches on
a canvas always have an appealing side in the inquisitive eyes. It always
have a deep impact on our life, our essence. Saraswati, the whiter part
is itself the words and thoughts. Matangi, the darker side in her transcendent
meaning is the silence of the self nature, which is the real essence and
power behind all words and thoughts. Matangi is the next step of Sarswati,
the speech and art energised towards transcendence, to obtain the ultimate
goal, the bliss, the Sat Chit Ananda or verily called Nirvana.