Mahishi

Written By: Shri Dayanand Jha, Mahishi, Saharsa, Bihar

Maa Ugratara: Mahishi, being an important site related to Goddess Tara, the second Mahavidya of Hindu cult is often here allude to the sadhana performed by Lord Buddha (a manifestation of Lord Vishnu) and Vasistha, a Buddhist Tantric scholar and monk. At Mahishi, Tara is threefold viz. Ugratara, Ekjata and Neelsaraswati.

Mahishi was an important centre of tantric worship. Buddhism by this date was completely assimilated into Brahminism and Buddha was taken as an Avatara. It is therefore natural to find Buddhist deities along with Hindu deities in this area.

In a recent work “A History of Indian Literature – Hindu Tantric and Sakta literature” published from Germany, following has been mentioned:

“Mithila (Tirhut), the land adjacent to Bengal, presents a similar situation. An ancient and influential Sakta Tantric tradition has existed in that country and continues even today…poets like Vidyapati composed ballads and songs about the Goddess and the Maithili Tantric literature has certainly influenced Bengali Tantric literature…Maithili literature is closely related to Bengali both linguistically and culturally, this is especially true when it comes to Tantra.”

An authentic work on Tantra named “The Ten Great Indian Powers” by Shri S. Shankarnarayan says that the worship of Tara is at least as old as the Vedas. It has been prevalent in Kashmir, Mithila and Tibet, the popular land of Buddhism.

Mahishi had a temple of Ugratara, where people went for Sadhana during the Navratra. This is the only temple in Bihar, dedicated to Ugratara. The temple contains an image of Ugratara (Khadirvani Tara) probably imported from Tibet through Nepal. It is a black stone sculpture about 1.6 m in height. She is in an intensely pleasant mood. It has two images of Ekjata and Neelasaraswati on either side. The image is highly ornamented. A small stone pillar has been fixed on the backside of the deity. A painted snake-hood figure has been kept on the pillar.