Khodiyar

Khodiyaar Maa
Affiliation Devi, Parashakti
Mantra Ai shri khodiyar
Consort Shiva

Khodiyar Maa (Maa meaning mother in many Indian languages) is a warrior Hindu Goddess born in Charan caste around 700 A.D. She was daughter of Mamad Ji Charan. [1]

In Gujrat Charans are also known as Gadhvi.

Mamad Ji Charan had good relations with the then ruler Maharaj Shilbhadra. The ruler's ministers envied this exceptional relationship and hatched a plan to get rid of Mamad Ji. They were not very successful at persuading the ruler, but they succeeded in persuading the ruler's wife, the queen.

One day, the doorkeepers did not let him go into the palace. When Mamad Ji asked for the reason, he was told that a childless man is not worthy of the king's presence. Mamad Ji returned home and wanted to ask Lord Shiva for help. When Lord Shiva did not appear, he decided to give his life away as a final sacrifice. Just when he was about to kill himself, Lord Shiva appeared and took him to the Snake Kingdom - Nagaloka to see the King of Snakes - Nagadev.

After hearing his story of humiliation, the Nagadev's daughters decided to help too. When Mamad Ji came home, with his wife he prepared, as advised by the Nagdev's daughters, eight cradles in expectation of a great event. Later due to the boon of Lord Shiva and Nagdev he was blessed with seven sisters and a son. One of the daughters was Khodiyar Maa. They were raised as fearsome warriors and always wore black cloths in memory of their native place, the Naglok. Therefore they were given the names as cobra sisters or Nagnechi in local language and were also the tuteilary deity of royal house of earstwhile Marwar state. After showing many miraculous powers, people consider her to be a Goddess and she has temples and shrines too in all of north western part of Indian subcontinent. Her vehicle is the crocodile and she has many other names such as Khodal, Trishuldhari, Maavdi.

Goddess is considered as a daughter of Charan. Her temples are found all over Gujarat, Rajasthan and Mumbai, but the most important four are - Matel Near Wankaner, Rajpura village near Bhavnagar, Galdhara near Dhari and tataniya dhara (bhavnagar).

Khodaldham is massive under-construction temple of "maa khodiyar" approx area of 50 vigha.[2] It is located near Kagvad [Gujarat, 360370], off Jetpur-Virpur road section on NH27. It is located close to Khambalida Buddhist caves.

Temple at Matel near Wankaner is huge and people gather on the riverbank near the temple to see a crocodile, the Goddess' mount. The place is located about 17km far northerly to Wankaner, and 26km southeasterly to Morbi.

Sprawling Khodiyar Mataji temple at Rajpara village (Rajpara Dham) is equally popular. It is located about 18 km westerly to Bhavnagar city. There is a lake near the temple known as Tataniya Dharo, and for the same reason goddess is also known as Tataniya Dharawali.

Galadhara Shree Khodiyar Mandir near Dhari, Gujarat is equally massive and popular.

A Gujarati film Jai Khodiyar Maa, was once a box office hit and Hemant Chauhan has a garba CD with the same title.

Khodiyar Surname

Many Hindu Castes mainly Charan and Patel, who worship Khodiyar Mata as their Kuldevi also use Khodiyar as their surname. Chudasama, patidar sarvaiya, Rana clans sometimes used Khodiyar as their surname as they worship Khodiyar Mata, as their Kuldevi.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.khodiyarmandir.com
  2. ↑ http://khodaldhamtrust.org
  3. ↑ Kadia Kshatriya Itihas Published by Nutan Prakashan (1895) in Gujarati.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.