Dhumavati

Dhumavati is the seventh of the ten Mahavidyas, the goddess of smoke, shown as an old widow in worn white clothes, riding a chariot whose banner bears a crow and carrying a winnowing basket. She stands for poverty, loss, the end of things and also for the wisdom that comes after, and she is honoured in the Shakta and Tantric traditions. Dhumavati Jayanti falls on the eighth day of the bright half of Jyeshtha.

The Shakta tradition, in texts such as the Pranatoshini Tantra and the Shakta Pramoda, tells a story of her origin. According to one telling, the goddess Parvati felt a great hunger and asked Shiva for food. When he did not answer quickly, she swallowed him whole. Shiva then asked her to release...