37 Facts About Shashthi

Shashthi or Shashti is a Hindu goddess, venerated in Nepal and India as the benefactor and protector of children.

Shashthi's is the deity of vegetation and reproduction and is believed to bestow children and assist during childbirth.

Shashthi's is often pictured as a motherly figure, riding a cat and nursing one or more infants.

The worship of Shashthi is prescribed to occur on the sixth day of each lunar month of the Hindu calendar as well as on the sixth day after a child's birth.

In some early texts where Shashthi appears as an attendant of Skanda, she is said to cause diseases in the mother and child, and thus needed to be propitiated on the sixth day after childbirth.

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Shashthi is portrayed as a motherly figure, often nursing or carrying as many as eight infants in her arms.

Shashthi is pictured in a Kushan-era Vrishni triad from the Mathura region, surrounded by Skanda and Vishakha.

Folk worship representation of Shashthi is a red-coloured stone about the size of a human head, typically placed beneath a banyan tree such as those usually found on the outskirts of villages.

Shashthi is commonly represented by planting a banyan tree or a small branch in the soil of a family's home garden.

From her origins as a folk goddess, Shashthi was gradually assimilated into the Brahmanical Hindu pantheon, and ultimately, came to be known in Hinduism as the Primordial Being and Great Mother of all.

Shashthi's is identified with goddesses Shri, Lakshmi, Sinivali, and Kuhu in this text.

Shashthi is historically associated with a variety of other deities.

However, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE, a shift occurred in which Shashthi was increasingly depicted as a malevolent deity associated with the sufferings of mothers and children.

The Yajnavalkya Smriti, composed during Gupta rule between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE, describes the rites of Shashthi Puja in which Shashthi is worshipped on the sixth day after childbirth to ensure the protection of the newborn baby.

In Banabhatta's 7th century work Harshacharita, Shashthi is called Jatamatr, while the Kadambari by the same author calls her Bahuputrika, meaning "having many children".

Shashthi's declared to Priyavrata that she was Devasena, the daughter of Brahma and wife of Skanda.

Shashthi's further said that she was Shashthi, foremost of the Matrikas of Skanda, and had the power to grant children to devotees.

Shashthi's held the child in her hand and resurrected the infant, then began to leave for her heavenly abode, taking the child with her.

Shashthi's returned the child to the king, naming him Suvrata and declaring that he should become famous as a great, virtuous, and learned ruler.

Priyavrata decreed that Shashthi should be worshipped on the sixth day of every month, as well as the sixth and twenty-first days after childbirth, and on all occasions auspicious to a child.

Shashthi's would be worshipped in the form of a Shaligrama stone, a Purna Ghata under a banyan tree, or an image of her on a wall.

Bengali folk-tale about Shashthi tells of the youngest of seven daughters-in-law in a prosperous household who was a glutton that used to secretly steal food and then blame a black cat, which was thrashed as punishment.

The black cat happened to be the vahana of Shashthi and complained about the mistreatment to the goddess, who pledged to avenge it.

Shashthi's managed to catch the cat in the act of robbery and wounded it with her bracelet, but the cat escaped with the child, leaving a trail of blood.

Shashthi explained the reason for the mother's ordeal and told her to ask pardon of the cat.

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The goddess explained the reason of her suffering, and after the mother had begged the cat for forgiveness and had sworn to worship Shashthi on anointed days, all seven of her children were returned to her.

Shashthi furthermore appears as an ally of Manasa in a famous Bengali folk-tale describing Shashthi's activities during the Nag Panchami festival of Manasa.

Shashthi's is worshipped as a bestower of children to the childless, and regarded as the foremost goddess for blessing children.

Today, Shashthi continues to be worshipped on the sixth day of each of the twelve lunar months of the Hindu calendar, as well as on the sixth day after childbirth in the lying-in chamber where the birth has taken place.

Shashthi is worshipped in a different form in each of these lunar months as the deities Chandan, Aranya, Kardama, Lunthana, Chapeti, Durga, Nadi, Mulaka, Anna, Sitala, Gorupini or Ashoka.

In North India, Shashthi is worshipped at childbirth and puberty, and during marriage rites.

The birth of a living child is considered the blessing of Shashthi, while the birth of a stillborn infant or the early death of a child are considered manifestations of her wrath.

Shashthi's is invoked after childbirth on the sixth day of each month until the child reaches puberty, especially when the child is sick.

In Bengal and South India, Shashthi is worshipped on the sixth day after childbirth and on Aranya-Shashthi, the sixth day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Jyeshtha.

The vrata performed on the day of Jamai-Shashthi is prescribed to be performed by pregnant women at least once on any Monday, Tuesday, Friday or Saturday in the month of Jyestha.

In North India, Shashthi is worshipped in the form of the banyan tree, which is sacred to her.

Shashthi is prescribed to be worshipped the sixth day of each of the two lunar fortnights occurring each month; as part of the vrata rites, the worship occurring on the bright fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada is the most important of these and holds the same status in Orissa as the Aranva-Shashthi ritual in Bengal.