Modheshwari Mata ( gu, મોઢેશ્વરી) is an aspect of the ''

devi Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The conc ...

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi ...

Mahakali Mahakali () is the Hindu goddess of time and death in the goddess-centric tradition of Shaktism. Similar to Kali, Mahakali is a fierce goddess associated with universal power, time, life, death, and both rebirth and liberation. She is the co ...

. She is the clan deity of the

Modh Modh is an Indian caste. Its members are people who use the name and originate from Modhera in Gujarat. Culture In that state and in Rajasthan, Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh created Brahmins who were masters in Vedas, so that they can ...

community of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

Mythological story

It is believed that the demon Karnat was creating havoc in the region by disturbing the

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

s and

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, taking care ...

s during their prayers. Seeking protection from the demon, the Brahmins and Vaishyas went together to the goddess Parvati Mata. On hearing their grievances, she became angry and a flame emerged from her mouth, which gave birth to an aspect of her known as Goddess Modheshwari. The Goddess slayed the demon and bestowed her blessings upon the Modh community. She promised to always protect those who worship her. This incarnation of the goddess has eighteen arms, each having a weapon; the most prominent being the trident.

Iconography

The goddess is depicted as having eighteen arms, each having a weapon, including a

trishula The ''trishula'' () is a trident, a divine symbol, commonly used as one of the principal symbols in Hinduism. In Nepal and Thailand, the term also often refers to a short-handled weapon which may be mounted on a ''daṇḍa'' "staff". Unlik ...

khaḍga The khanda ( sa, खड्ग) is a double-edge straight sword originating from the Indian subcontinent. The Maratha warrior clans venerated the khanda as a weapon of great prestige. It is often featured in religious iconography, theatre and ar ...

talwar The talwar (), also spelled ''talwaar'' and ''tulwar'', is a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian subcontinent. Etymology and classification The word ''talwar'' originated from the Sanskrit word ''taravāri'' ( sa, तरवारि) ...

kamandala Kamandalu (Sanskrit: कमण्डलु, ) or kamandal or kamandalam is an oblong water pot, originating from the Indian subcontinent, made of a dry gourd (pumpkin) or coconut shell, metal, wood of the Kamandalataru tree, or from clay, usually ...

shankha A Shankha (conch shell) has religious ritual importance in Hinduism. It is the shell of any suitable sea snail which had a hole made for the performer's embouchure. In Hindu history, the shankha is a sacred emblem of The Hindu preserver god Vi ...

, gada, pash,

danda In Indic scripts, the daṇḍa (Sanskrit: दण्ड ' "stick") is a punctuation mark. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke. Use The daṇḍa marks the end of a sentence or line, comparable to a full stop (period) as commonly u ...

damaru A damaru ( sa, डमरु, ; Tibetan ཌ་མ་རུ་ or རྔ་ཆུང) is a small two-headed drum, used in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. In Hinduism, the damaru is known as the instrument of the deity Shiva, associated with Tan ...

Clan deity

She is the clan deity of the

community, which consists of four groups: Brahmin

Modh Brahmin's Modh is an Indian caste. Its members are people who use the name and originate from Modhera in Gujarat. Culture In that state and in Rajasthan, Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh created Brahmins who were masters in Vedas, so that th ...

, Patel

Modh Patidar Modh is an Indian caste. Its members are people who use the name and originate from Modhera in Gujarat. Culture In that state and in Rajasthan, Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh created Brahmins who were masters in Vedas, so that th ...

Modh Vaishya Modh is an Indian caste. Its members are people who use the name and originate from Modhera in Gujarat. Culture In that state and in Rajasthan, Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh created Brahmins who were masters in Vedas, so that th ...

and

Modh Kshatriya Modh is an Indian caste. Its members are people who use the name and originate from Modhera in Gujarat. Culture In that state and in Rajasthan, Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh created Brahmins who were masters in Vedas, so that th ...

all of whom were residents of the Modhera region ( Modhera). The Modh people reside in modern-day

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. A common surname of Modh Brahmins is

Trivedi Trivedi is a Northern and Western family name from India reflecting the mastery over three of the four vedas (including the Vedic Branch he was born into). In Sanskrit Trivedi means 'one that knows the three Vedas’, from tri = 'three' + veda ...

.Modeshwari Mata is Kuldevi of Prime Minister

Shri Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from V ...

Temples

Among the ancient temples of Goddess Modheshwari, one is located at Modhera,Gujarat State Gazetteers: Mehsana - Page xxiv which gets its name from the goddess. The temple is located near the ruins of famous

Sun Temple A sun temple (or solar temple) is a building used for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, dedicated to the sun or a solar deity. Such temples were built by a number different cultures and are distributed around the ...

, where another original place of worship is situated below the step-well. Another ancient temple is located at Chanasama in

Patan Patan may refer to several places in Afghanistan, India and Nepal: Afghanistan *Patan, Afghanistan India * Patan district, in the state of Gujarat * Patan, Gujarat, the main city of the eponymous district * Patan was the ancient capital of Gujara ...

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

of Gujarat. There are notable temples of the devi in Ahmedabad,

Bharuch Bharuch (), formerly known as Broach, is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since time ...

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state befo ...

Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

Jhabua Jhabua is a town and a municipality in Jhabua district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Jhabua District. Recently the district has got international recognition because of its endemic hen species ...

Khedbrahma Khedbrahma () is a town and a taluka headquarter in Khedbrahma Taluka of Sabarkantha district, Gujarat, India. It is situated on the banks of Harnav river. The town is connected with mythological history and has been pilgrim site for centurie ...

Sinhore Sihor is a town, a municipality in Bhavnagar district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. Placed along the river Gautami, this erstwhile capital of the Gahlot, Gohil Rajputs, surrounded by hills is situated about 2 ...

Tera TERA is a shielded twisted pair connector for use with Category 7 twisted-pair data cables, developed by The Siemon Company and standardised in 2003 by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) with the reference IEC 61076-3-104. The ...

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain ...

and

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capita ...

.Temples of Modheswar
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Hindu goddesses Mother goddesses Forms of Parvati