Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 79

Before the beginning, there was no beginning. No sun, because there was no sky for it to rise in. No earth. No water. No time, because there was nothing to change. Only darkness, everywhere, in every direction, if there had been directions. And then, the tradition says, someone smiled. This is Dharma Katha, Season Two, Navratri. Episode seventy-nine, day four. In episode seventy-seven we met Chandraghanta, the Goddess of the third night, golden and ten-armed, with a half-moon like a bell on her forehead. Tonight, the fourth of the nine forms of these nights. Her name is Kushmanda. And her story goes back further than any story we have told this season. It goes back to before there was anything to tell stories about.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 77 first.

Source note. Label: tradition, with one verse and one passage of Purana. Kushmanda as the fourth of the nine Durgas is from the Devi Kavacham's list, quoted in episode sixty-nine. The meaning of her name, the story of the smile and the cosmic egg, her dwelling in the sun, her dhyana verse, surāsampūrṇakalaśam, and her eight-armed image, were read on brhat.in; brhat renders surā as nectar, and readings differ. The smile story is Navadurga tradition; I have not found it in this form in a single Purana. The Devi Gita passage is Devi Bhagavata Purana, book seven, chapter thirty-two, its opening verses, given here in my own words from the translation by Swami Vijnanananda, read on a mirror of sacred-texts.com; its Sanskrit is not quoted. The Taittiriya Upanishad line is from its third part, the Bhriguvalli, section six, read on shlokam.org. The heart centre, the ash gourd and the offerings are later and living tradition, and vary. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verses.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.