शाकम्भरि जगद्वन्द्ये शशांकललितालके । नमस्तुभ्यं-नमस्तुभ्यं शङ्कातङ्कानि संहर ॥
O Pārvatī ! You are Śākambharī, revered by the entire world, O You whose beautiful locks are adorned with the moon ! Salutations to You, salutations to You , destroy all fears, anxieties, and afflictions.❞ ~Śiva Rahasya Mahāitihāsa
Mā - Śatākṣī 🫶🌸✨
🌸Bhagavatī Śākambharī is an incarnation of Devī Pārvatī and the beloved consort of Lord Śiva. Her detailed māhātmya is described in the Devī Bhāgavatam, Śiva Purāṇa, and Skanda Purāṇa.
🌸 Firstly, Devī Śatākṣī, Devī Śākambharī, Devī Durgā, and Devī Pārvatī are not four distinct deities; rather, they are one and the same.
❝Devī Śākambharī is none other than Devī Śatākṣī herself. She herself is described as Durgā. She is called Umā because she constitutes half of Lord Śiva’s body; She is Satī because of her observance of pātivratya.And she herself is indeed proclaimed as Pārvatī by the noble one.❞ ~bhāṣya on the Durgā Saptashatī
🌸 In ancient times, the demon Durgama (दुर्गमाख्यो महादैत्यः) , son of Ruru (जातो रुरुपुत्रो महाखलः) and descendant of Hiranyaksha (हिरण्याक्षान्वये जातो) , sought to destroy the gods by taking away the source of their power, the vedas (देवानां तु बलं वेदो नाशे तस्य सुरा अपि) .
After performing severe penance for a thousand years in the Himalayas, he pleased Brahmā and obtained a boon granting him the Vedas, all sacred mantras, and power to defeat all the deities. Lord Brahmā gave him the boon.
As a result, Rishi Munis forgot the Vedas, rituals and sacrifices ceased, and chaos spread across the world. Deprived of sacrificial offerings, the gods became weak and after that Durgama to attack Amarāvatī, the city of the Indra where all the deities resides.
🌸 Unable to defeat Durgama, the gods hid in mountain caves and prayed to the Umā Devī. Since Vedic rituals had stopped, rain ceased, causing a hundred year drought, famine, and mass death. To end this suffering, they went to the Himalayas and worshipped Bhagwati Parāmbikā Pārvatī, seeking her protection.
🌸 Pārvatī Stutī - composed by Devtas -
दयां कुरु महेशानि पामरेषु जनेषु हि । सर्वापराधयुक्तेषु नैतच्छ्लाघ्यं तवाम्बिके ॥
❝O wife of Maheshwar, show compassion to these ignorant and helpless people. Ambikā, though we are filled with every kind of offense, it does not befit Your nature to abandon them.❞
कोपं संहर देवेशि सर्वान्तर्यामिरूपिणि । त्वया-यथा-प्रेर्यतेऽयं करोति स तथा जनः ॥
❝O Mahādevī, withdraw Your anger, O You who exist as the indwelling controller within all beings. A person acts only according to the way he is impelled by You.❞
नान्या गतिर्जनस्यास्य किं पश्यसि पुनः पुनः । यथेच्छसि तथा कर्तुं समर्थासि महेश्वरि ॥
❝We have no other refuge. Why do You delay again and again? O Great Goddess, You are fully capable of doing whatever You wish.❞
समुद्धर महेशानि संकटात्परमोत्थितात् । जीवनेनविनास्माकं कथं स्यात्स्थितिरम्बिके ॥
❝O Maheshānī, rescue us from this exceedingly great calamity that has arisen. O Ambikā, without sustenance and life, how can our existence continue?❞
प्रसीद त्वं महेशानि प्रसीद जगदम्बिके ।अनन्तकोटिब्रह्माण्डनायिके ते नमो नमः ॥
❝Be gracious, O Maheshānī! Be gracious, O Mother of the Universe! O sovereign Lady of countless millions of universes, salutations to You again and again.❞
नमः कूटस्थरूपायै चिद्रूपायै नमो नमः । नमो वेदान्तवेद्यायै भुवनेश्यै नमो नमः ॥
❝Salutations to Her whose nature is immutable and transcendent; salutations again and again to Her whose essence is pure consciousness . Salutations to Her who is knowable through Vedānta, and salutations to Mā Bhuvaneśī.❞
नेति नेतीति वाक्यैर्या बोध्यते सकलागमैः । तां सर्वकारणां देवीं सर्वभावेन सन्नताः ॥
❝We bow in every way to that Goddess, the cause of all, who is realized through all the scriptures and by statements such as “neti neti”.❞
-Devi Bhāgwatam 7.28.26–32
🌸 Hearing the cries of the devas, ṛṣis, munis, and all beings, Mā Pārvatī was filled with motherly compassion, and she manifested the form of Śatākṣī, the Goddess with innumerable eyes.
इति सम्प्रार्थिता देवी भुवनेशी महेश्वरी। अनन्ताक्षिमयं रूपं दर्शयामास पार्वती ॥
❝Thus prayed to, the Devī , Bhuvaneśvarī, Maheśvarī, Pārvatī, revealed a form consisting of innumerable eyes.❞
-Devi Bhāgwatam 7.28.33
🌸Mā Bhuvaneśwarī appeared with thousand radiant eyes and filled with compassion. From those eyes she shed streams of water across the worlds, causing a continuous rainfall for nine nights (नवरात्रं महावृष्टिरभून्नेत्रोद्भवैर्जलैः) .
Her tears restored rivers, oceans, plants, and all living beings. The gods emerged from hiding, and together with the sages they praised her as the supreme Goddess. They named her Śatākṣī (त्वया यतो धृतं देवि शताक्षी त्वं ततो) and prayed for relief and the restoration of the Vedas.
-Śatākṣī Stutī composed by Devtas ✨
नमो वेदान्तवेद्ये ते नमो ब्रह्मस्वरूपिणि ॥
❝Salutations to You, who are known through the Vedānta, and salutations to You who are the very form of Brahman. ❞
स्वमायया सर्वजगद्विधात्र्यै ते नमो नमः । भक्तकल्पद्रुमे देवि भक्तार्थं देहधारिणि ॥
❝Salutations again and again to You who, by Your own Māyā, create the entire universe.O Goddess, You are the wish-fulfilling tree for devotees, and You take a body for the sake of Your devotees.❞
नित्यतृप्ते निरुपमे भुवनेश्वरि ते नमः। अस्मच्छान्त्यर्थमतुलं लोचनानां सहस्त्रकम् ॥
❝Salutations to You, O Bhuvaneśvarī, who are ever content and beyond comparison. For the sake of our peace, You have assumed this incomparable form with a thousand eyes.❞
त्वया यतो धृतं देवि शताक्षी त्वं ततो भव । क्षुधया पीडिता मातः स्तोतुं शक्तिर्न चास्ति नः ।।
❝Since, O Goddess, You have thus manifested , therefore may You be known as Śatākṣī. O Mother, afflicted by hunger, we have no strength even to praise You.❞
कृपां कुरु महेशानि वेदानप्याहराम्बिके।
❝O Maheshānī, show mercy upon us, Ambikā, please grant us even the Vedas.❞
-Devi Bhāgwatam 7.28.41–45
🌸 The Goddess gave food from her own hands to the devas and Brahmins, nourishing them with fruits, roots, grains, and other sustenance until new crops grew, and she came to be known as Śākambharī.
काम्यानन्तरसैर्युक्तान्यानवीनोद्भवं ददौ। शाकम्भरीति नामापि तद्दिनात्समभून्नृप ।॥
She bestowed desirable foods endowed with various juices and newly sprouted vegetation. O King, from that very day she came to be known as ‘Śākambharī’.
Meanwhile, the demon Durgama, enraged, marched with a vast army of ten hundred akṣauhiṇīs, blocking the divine forces and surrounding the devas and sages, causing panic among them.
The Goddess created a protective circle for them and faced him alone, leading to a fierce battle filled with volleys of arrows, fire, and thunderous bow sounds across the battlefield.
Then Many Devī’s appeared from the body of Girijā to accompany her. They were :
कालिका तारिणी बाला त्रिपुरा भैरवी रमा ।
बगला चैव मातङ्गी तथा त्रिपुरसुन्दरी ॥
कामाक्षी तुलजा देवी जम्भिनी मोहिनी तथा।
छिन्नमस्ता गुह्यकाली दशसाहस्त्रबाहुका ॥
The battlefield resounded with drums, conches, and musical instruments as the Goddess’s destroyed the demon’s army. Then Durgama himself entered the fight, engaging the divine powers in a fierce battle. Within ten days, all his armies were completely destroyed.
On the eleventh day, the demon, adorned in red and riding a chariot, launched a final assault against the Goddess. A terrible battle followed. The Goddess swiftly struck him down, killing his horses and charioteer, destroying his weapons, piercing his limbs and chest with arrows.
Wounded and vomiting blood, Durgama died before the Supreme Goddess, and his Tej merged back into her. With his death, peace was restored across the three worlds.
🌸 Devatā-kṛta Śākambharī Stuti :
जगद्भमविवर्तेककारणे परमेश्वरि। नमः शाकम्भरि शिवे नमस्ते शतलोचने ।।
❝O Supreme Goddess, the cause of the transformation and appearance of the universe, salutations to You, O Śākambharī! O beloved of Śiva , salutations to You, O Śatālocanā (one with a hundred eyes).❞
सर्वोपनिषदुद्घष्टे दुर्गमासुरनाशिनि । नमो मायेश्वरि शिवे पञ्चकोशान्तरस्थिते ॥
❝Salutations to You, O Māyeśvarī, O auspicious Goddess who is proclaimed in all the Upaniṣads and who destroys the demon Durgama. You reside within the pañca-kośas.❞
चेतसा निर्विकल्पेन यां ध्यायन्ति मुनीश्वराः । प्रणवार्थस्वरूपां तां भजामो भुवनेश्वरीम् ॥
❝We worship that Bhuvaneśvarī, whose nature is the meaning of the sacred syllable Praṇava, and whom great sages meditate upon with a mind free from all modifications.❞
अनन्तकोटिब्रह्माण्डजननीं दिव्यविग्रहाम् । ब्रह्मविष्ण्वादिजननीं सर्वभावैर्नता वयम् ॥
❝We bow in every way to that Goddess with divine form, the mother of countless millions of universes, and the origin of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and all other deities.❞
कः कुर्यात्पामरान्दृष्ट्वा रोदनं सकलेश्वरः । सदयां परमेशानीं शताक्षीं मातरं विना ॥
❝Who, indeed, would not weep upon seeing the suffering of ignorant beings, except the compassionate Supreme Goddess Śatākṣī, the Mother of all?❞
-Devi Bhāgwatam 7.28.69–73
🌸 Devī said :
दुर्गमासुरहन्त्रीत्वादुर्गेति मम नाम यः। गृह्णाति च शताक्षीति मायां भित्त्वा व्रजत्यसौ ॥
❝Because I am the slayer of the demon Durgama, I am called ‘Durgā’. Whoever also understands Me as ‘Śatākṣī’ breaks through Māyā and attains Me.❞
-Devi Bhāgwatam 7.28.79
So yah, Devi Bhāgwatam describes the story of Devi Durgā/Śākambharī/Śatākṣī. Devī Umā fulfilled the vow she had taken in the form of Kauśikī.
ततः शतेन नेत्राणां निरीक्षिष्यामि यन्मुनीन् ।
Being praised by the sages, I (Kaushiki) shall manifest on earth, assuming a form endowed with a hundred eyes.
कीर्तयिष्यन्ति मनुजाः शताक्षीमिति मां ततः ॥
People will call this form of mine as Śatākṣī (one who is endowed with hundred eyes) .
शाकम्भरीति विख्यातिं तदा यास्याम्यहं भुवि ।
Then I shall become renowned on earth by the name ‘Śākambharī’.
तत्रैव च वधिष्यामि दुर्गमाख्यं महासुरम् ॥
I shall slay the great demon named Durgama.
दुर्गा देवीति विख्यातं तन्मे नाम भविष्यति ।
And My name will become famous as ‘Durgā Devī’.”
~Durga saptshati
Śrī Mātre Namaḥ ☘️🌼✨❣️