Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Part 2

Author(s): Dashrath Sharma
Publisher: Agarchand Nahta Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 121

Eastern India only. Sädhakas have appeared on the scene almost everywhere, and the Maithila Sadhakas and Panditas, like those of Bengal and other places, have "only prepared compendia and developed the practical side of it to a considerable extent" for the benefit of humanity at large.
It is interesting to note that the Sakti devatã (the Mother-Goddess) is worshipped and reverenced and the Saktipīthas (the seat of the Mother-Goddess) are established in almost all parts of India : Kāmakhyā is worshipped at Kāmarüpa; Vindhyavāsini on the Vindhya hills; Yogamāyā and Pūrņamāsī at Vịndāvana; Annapürnā, Sainkatā, Tripurābhairavi, sixtyfour Yoginis, Kālabhairavi, Durgā, Śstalā, Mangalā and other Devis at Kāśí; Guhyesvari in Nepal; Gāyatri and Sāvitri in Rajputana; Lalitā at Prayāga; Ugratārā in Mithilā (Tirhut); Jayakāli in Calcutta; Jvālāmukhi’ and Chinnamastā in and near Jalandhar; Kșirabhavāni near Kashmir and other Devis in almost all parts of India. Vimala, Sarasvati, Bhuvanesvarī, Kali and Lakşmi are worshipped and paid obeisance to in Utkala, the seat of Lord Jagannātha 3 To say that Raghunandana Bhattacārya of Bengal was the first to prescribe for the worship of Durgā, as provided for in the Tantra, would be quite wrong and misleading, for we know that previous to him many other thinkers in Mithilā, Bengal and elsewhere had done so. Vidyāpati. Śridatta, Harinātha Upād hyāya, Vidyādhara, Ratnākara, Bhojadeva, Jimātavāhana, Halāyudha, Vācaspati Miśra, Madhavācārya and even Sankarācārya had admitted the authority of the
Tantra while explaining philosophical doctrines. Vācaspati Miśra, the celebrated Maithila thinker and commentator on the six Darśanas, has in his commentary on the Patañjali-Darśana recommended Dhyana of Devatās as prescribed in the Tantras. Moreover, many well-known books written in Mithilā and elsewhere, before the age of Raghunandana, contain provisions for Durga-Pūjā, such as the Durga-bhakti-tarangini, Samvatsarapradipa, Kalakaumudi, Jpotisānava, Smytisāgara, Kalpa-taru, Kętya-masārņava, Kytyaratnakara, Kytyatattvārņava, Durgabhaktiprakaśa, Kala-nirnaya, Pūja-ratnakara and others pertaining to the worship of Durgā and Kāli.5
The Bengali practice of worshipping earthen images of Durgā or Kāli with great pomp and ceremony is followed all over eastern India. It is true that this practice does not receive the same favour, as in Mithilā and Bengal, in other parts of India but it is also true that she is everywhere worshipped in ghatas (earthen
1. Bhattacharya, 7, Avalon. 5 ff, Also, C. S. B. Dasgupta, Obscure Religious "ults,
13ff. 2. Jvālāmukhi, Candi. Tārā, Kāli, Durgā etc. are also worshipped in Mithilā at
different places. (Vide-U. Thakur, op cit, p. 31 fn 5). 3. For further details, see Avalon, 63-54, U. Thakur, Op. cit, pp. 31-32 4. Cf. Avalon, 67. 5. For other details, see Ibid., 65ff, U-Thakur, pp. 31-32.
८४: अगरचन्द नाहटा अभिनन्दन-ग्रन्थ