Tapati

Tapati
Tapi River
Affiliation Devi, River Goddess
Abode Suryaloka
Mantra Om Suryaputri Ma Tapi Namah
Symbol Water
Mount Fish
Personal information
Parents Surya and Chhaya
Siblings Shani, Bhadra, Yami, Yama, Ashvins

Tapati (Sanskrit: तपती, tapatī) is a goddess found in Hindu mythology in Hinduism. She is also known as the goddess of river Tapati, mother-goddess of the south, the home of the southern sun where she brings the heat to the earth. As per the Hindu texts, Tapati was a daughter of Surya (the Sun god) and Chhaya one of the wife's of surya.[1] She is possibly derived from an old indo-iranian hearth or fire deity, with the theonym "Tabiti" being recorded by Herodotus in his description of Scythian religion, being the queen of the Scythian pantheon.[2][3][4]

Tapati name literally means the "warming", "the hot one", "burning one".[5][6] It had been said that no one in three worlds had match her in beauty having perfect features, severe self-discipline in terms of being religious.[7]

History

Tapati mentions are originally & majorly found in the Mahabharata twice a dozen times, as a wife of Samvarana having a son named Kuru (the founder of the Kuru dynasty and the Kuru Kingdom). The story of both the characters has also been found in other Hindu texts such as Srimad-Bhagavatam & Purāṇam. As per texts the Tapati's place of residence was on the banks of river Tapati .[8][9]

In Mahabharata, Arjun asked Gandharva about the origin of the name Tapatya, so the Gandharva said sun had a beautiful daughter Tapati, whom he was concerned to marry off. An early Kaurava king Samvarana worships the sun and was elected as her husband. One day out for hunting the king saw her and fell in love and proposed a marriage but she referred him to her father for his approval.

After that the king started to worship the sun and took the help of sage vasistha and sent him before the sun, vasistha then requested sun to approve the marriage of samvarana and tapati and the sun has agreed on it.[10]

Significance

As per the Hindu texts Tapati was famous for her devotion and neither goddess, nor demon, Apsara and Gandharva equalled her in beauty. It was also said the no one could matched her in beauty, dispositions and a knowledge of the vedas.[11]

Mode of Worship

Since the river Tapati likely was named after Tapati, people worship her both in the form as a goddess and as an important river with many qualities in it as per the Hindu texts.[12]

Relatives

As per the Hindu texts, Tapati has the following relatives Surya as her father and Chhaya as her mother, she was a wife of Samvarana and the mother of kuru, she was a younger sister of Yami and Bhadra and had two brothers Shani and Yama [13][14]

Representation in art

There seems to be multiple plays performed on both the legend characters story Kaurava king Samvarana and Tapati such as Tapatisamvarana play, Kuttiyattam drama tradition in Kerala.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Hewitt, J. F. History and Chronology of the Myth-Making Age. Рипол Классик. ISBN 9781143716454.
  2. ↑ West, M. L. Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
  3. ↑ Macaulay, G. C. (1904). The History of Herodotus, Vol. I. London: Macmillan & Co. pp. 313–317.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ Gandhi, Maneka (2004). The Penguin Book of Hindu Names for Girls. Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143031697.
  6. ↑ Coulter, Charles Russell; Turner, Patricia (2013-07-04). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. ISBN 9781135963903.
  7. ↑ "The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Chaitraratha Parva: Section CLXXIII". www.sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  8. ↑ "Tapati - AncientVoice". ancientvoice.wikidot.com. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  9. ↑ "Kuru - AncientVoice". ancientvoice.wikidot.com. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  10. ↑ Buitenen, J. A. B. van; Buitenen, Johannes Adrianus Bernardus (1973). The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226846637.
  11. ↑ Historical and Descriptive Account of British India: From the Most Remote Period to the Conclusion of the Afghan War. Oliver & Boyd. 1844.
  12. ↑ Singh, Mahesh Prasad; Singh, J. K.; Mohanka, Reena (2007). Forest Environment and Biodiversity. Daya Publishing House. ISBN 9788170354215.
  13. ↑ "Tapati - AncientVoice". ancientvoice.wikidot.com. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
  14. ↑ Dalal, Roshen (2014-04-18). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin UK. ISBN 9788184752779.
  15. ↑ Verma, Archana (2011-01-18). Performance and Culture: Narrative, Image and Enactment in India. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443828321.
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