Dhumavati, literally “the smoky one” is one of the Mahavidyas, a group of ten Hindu Tantric goddesses. Dhumavati represents the fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother. She is often portrayed as an old, ugly widow, and is associated with things considered inauspicious and unattractive in Hinduism, such as the crow and the Chaturmas period. The goddess is often depicted carrying a winnowing basket on a horseless chariot or riding a crow, usually in a cremation ground.
The Dhumavati Tantra describes her as an old and ugly widow. She is thin, tall, unhealthy, and has a pale complexion. She is described as restless and wicked. Unadorned with jewellery, she wears old, dirty clothes and has dishevelled hair. Her eyes are fearsome, her nose long and crooked, and some of her long fang-like teeth have fallen out, leaving her smile with gaps. Her ears are ugly and rough; her breasts hang down. In one of her trembling hands, she holds a winnowing basket, while the other makes a boon-conferring gesture (varada-mudra) or knowledge-giving gesture (cinmudra). She rides in a horseless chariot bearing an emblem of a crow and a banner. She is astute and crafty, though. Always hungry and thirsty, Dhumavati initiates quarrels and invokes fear.
In the Prapancasarasara-samgraha, Dhumavati is described as having a black complexion and wearing ornaments made of snakes. Her dress is made of rags taken from cremation grounds. She holds a spear and a skull-cup (kapala) in her two hands. The spear is sometimes replaced by a sword. Another description in the same text says Dhumavati is aged with a wrinkled, angry face and cloud-like complexion. Her nose, eyes, and throat resemble a crow’s. She holds a broom, a winnowing fan, a torch, and a club. She is cruel and frowning. Her hair appears dishevelled and she wears the simple clothes of a beggar. Her breasts are dry. Her hair is grey, her teeth crooked and missing, and her clothes old and worn.
Sometimes, Dhumavati rides a crow and holds a trident. She may be depicted wearing a garland of severed heads, with red-coloured limbs and matted but dishevelled hair. Sometimes, she carries the buffalo-horn of Yama, the god of death, symbolizing her association with death.
Dhumavati has fierce, warlike attributes too. In the Shakta pramoda, she crushes bones in her mouth, creating an awful noise. She also makes the fearful and warlike noises of drums and bells. She wears a garland of skulls, chews the corpses of the demons Chanda and Munda, and drinks a mixture of blood and wine.
Though there are standard descriptions of Dhumavati’s form, some paintings deviate from it. For example, an 18th-century painting by Molaram depicts Dhumavati sitting on a chariot pulled by two black scavenger birds with curved beaks. The painting follows the usual attributes like the winnowing basket, boon-giving gesture, but also depicts her young and beautiful with full breasts and adorned in gold finery, a stark contrast to her usual form. An early 20th-century painting from Varanasi depicts her riding a crow, holding a trident, a sword, a winnowing fan, and a bowl in her four arms, dark-complexioned, with sagging breasts, wearing white clothes and with cremation flames in the background. She is again adorned in gold finery and wears a gold-hewn lower garment, unusual for a widow’s dress. Another 18th-century Nepali manuscript depicts a complete deviation from her traditional descriptions. She is completely nude with high breasts, wears a pearl necklace and headband, stands on a peacock with legs apart, and holds a mirror while looking at her reflection. A ring of fire surrounds her, possibly conveying cremation flames.
Dhumavati is always considered a widow, and thus, is the only Mahavidya without a consort. Though associated with Shiva, having eaten him, he has since left her. Having destroyed the male element (Purusha) in the universe, she is left with nothing, but she is still Shakti, the female element with latent energy. Dhumavati’s insatiable hunger and thirst is highlighted in many texts, and has been interpreted as the manifestation of her unsatisfied desires.
As a widow in a horseless chariot, Dhumavati is portrayed as a woman going nowhere in life and society. She is “all that is unlucky, unattractive and inauspicious”. She appears in the form of the poor, the beggars, the lepers, and the diseased. She dwells in the “wounds of the world”, deserts, ruined houses, poverty, tatters, hunger, thirst, quarrels, mourning of children, in wild and other uncivilized, dangerous places. Dhumavati represents all the dreaded miseries of life.
The presence of the crow, a carrier of death, in her iconography as well as her textual description of having crow-like features associate her with death and inauspiciousness. Another motif in her iconography linking her with death is the presence of a cremation ground and cremation pyres in the background. Her thousand name hymn says that she lives in the cremation ground, sits on a corpse, wears ashes, and blesses those who haunt the grounds. The Prapancasarasara-samgraha relates that she wears a dress taken from a corpse. Dhumavati is the embodiment of tamas guna, associated with ignorance and darkness. She likes meat and wine, both tamasic in nature. The Pranatosinitantra associates her with tamas, when classifying the mahavidyas based on guna.
Dhumavati is sometimes regarded as an older form of Kali, in which she represents timelessness and unmanifest life-force. Another tradition identifies Dhumavati with Smashana-kali, “Kali who lives in the cremation ground.” She is considered a terrible aspect of the Goddess and included among the Kalikula (“family of Kali”) goddesses. Dhumavati’s nama stotras (hymn with names of the deities) identify her with Parvati, Sati, and glorify her as a slayer of demons.
The festival of Dhumavati Jayanti or ‘Dhumavati Mahavidya Jayanti’ as it is popularly known is celebrated as the day when Goddess Dhumavati incarnated on Earth. It falls on the ‘ashtami’ (8th day) during the ‘Shukla Paksha’ (the bright fortnight of moon) in the ‘Jyestha’ month of the Hindu calendar. For those following the English calendar, it corresponds to the months of May-June with dates varying every year.
The mantra of Dhumavati is “Dhum Dhum Dhumavati Svaha”, containing a repetition of her seed syllable Dhum. This mantra used in the worship of Dhumavati, sometimes with her yantra, is believed to create a protective smoke shielding the devotee from negativity and death. She is also referred as ‘Kalahpriya’ for offering the solutions for this world’s Kalah (problems). It is believed that even a glimpse of Goddess Dhumavati on the day of Dhumavati Jayanti, showers divine blessings on the observer.