Khodiyar Mata

Khoḍiyār is a Hindu folk goddess worshiped in Gujarat and rajsthan states in India. The suffix Mata or Maa (meaning “mother”) is generally added to her name, similar to other Hindu goddesses.

In the late 8th Centuary in the Maitraka kingdom, a Caran named Mamadiya Gaḍhvī lived near the capital of Vallabhi. He had close relations to the king but no children. The merchants of the kingdom were jealous of Mahmūd, so they told the royal priest (purohit) to tell the queen that to look upon an infertile man runs the risk of becoming infertile oneself. The queen thus convinced the king to banish the bard from the royal court.

Mahmūd then went to a Śiva temple in the wilderness to fast and pray for children. On the 8th day Śiva appeared and granted Gaḍhvī seven daughters and a son. Several years later the girls were playing on a hill when they suddenly had a thirst for the blood and hunger for the flesh of buffaloes, which happened to be at the bottom of the hill. The girls raced down and tore the largest buffalo apart and ate his flesh and blood. The girls become infamous as they ate more and more buffaloes.

The king of Vallabhi did not practice buffalo sacrifice but instead used buffaloes to fight in sport with other kings with the stakes being land. Once the king’s finest buffalo was missing, and the king and his soldiers eventually found the seven sisters gorging themselves on the buffalo. The king ordered the girls to be burned alive, but a voice from heaven said “‘You unjustly chased our father for his barrenness: now, your own line will have no issue'”. The king begged for mercy and he was given the option of having children if he “‘married among the people'”.

When the girls grew up they left home together, but the youngest named Khoḍiyār was lame and could not keep up with the others. She fell upon the ground and prayed to the goddess Jagadamba to take her to her realm. However, goddesses told her from heaven that she was given a limp for a purpose, and they she had all the goddess’ divine powers and would become the greatest of the sisters.