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Jyeshta Devi

The document discusses Jyeshta, a Hindu goddess considered the elder sister of Lakshmi and associated with inauspicious things. She was historically worshipped in South India but her popularity later declined. The temple of Jyeshta in Thachanattukara village is unique as the only temple dedicated to her in India. Worshipping Jyeshta is said to avoid losses and bring wealth by driving away misfortune.

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1K views

Jyeshta Devi

The document discusses Jyeshta, a Hindu goddess considered the elder sister of Lakshmi and associated with inauspicious things. She was historically worshipped in South India but her popularity later declined. The temple of Jyeshta in Thachanattukara village is unique as the only temple dedicated to her in India. Worshipping Jyeshta is said to avoid losses and bring wealth by driving away misfortune.

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jabban
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jyeshta
Jyestha is produced at the churning of the ocean according to the enumeration in
the Uttara Khanda of the Padma Purana. She is considered as the elder sister and in
contrast to Goddess Lakshmi. She is associated with inauspicious places and
sinners, poverty, sorrow, ugliness. Women worship her in order to keep her away
from their homes. She was highly worshipped in South India in the 7th-8th century.
However by the 10th century, her popularity declined. Many images exist but she is
hardly worshipped now. She is usually depicted as two-armed clad in blue-black or
red garments. In Hindu mythology she is almost never depicted sitting on a mount,
she is described as riding a donkey in most texts.
The Jyeshta temple in Thachanattukara is a unique symbol of the Indian psyche, which is
inexclusive by nature. Hence it is the Hindu Sphinx to the West. Indias Sanatana Dharma is
in fact a miniature representation of nature where it is All In, Naught Out. In nature
everything has its role and place. So is it in Sanatana Dharma. It accommodates all. It
expands to take up all. It extends from advaita to the most grotesque forms of worship. It
extends from dhyana to animal sacrifice. It ranges from passionate bhakti to arch atheism. It
extends from the worship of Lakshmi to the worship of Jyeshta. The Jyeshta shrine is a fine
symbolism of Indias anima.








A Temple for the Goddess of Anima
By K M Gupta


Some way off the old Calicut-Madras Trunk Road there is a village called Thacha-nattu-kara.
And in this village, there is a temple dedicated to Jyeshta, the goddess of misfortune. It is the
only one of its kind in the whole of India.
Jyeshta in feminine gender means elder sister. She is the elder sister of Mahalakshmi, the
goddess of good fortune. While Lakshmi is the goddess of riches, her elder sister is the deity
of poverty, indigence, odium, reproach and ignominy. Her very name is a term of reproach.
Lakshmi is the idol of the auspicious and the propitious, of all that is desirable in life, whereas
her sister, Jyeshta, is the symbol of all that is detestable, damnable and loathsome.
The two sisters are born rivals. Where one is in, the other is out. So the Indian household is
engaged in a constant fight to keep Lakshmi in and Jyeshta out. Waste, dirt, squalor,
slovenliness, indolence, idleness, disorder, anger and all such undesirable things show the
presence of Jyeshta in the house. Until she is turned out, Lakshmi wouldnt enter and stay. In
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some houses, it is a custom for the lady of the house to open the back door first, send
Jyeshta out and then open the front door and let Lakshmi in.
Once Lakshmi and Jyeshta stood at the doorstep quarrelling over which one of them was
more beautiful. When the householder appeared, the two sisters asked him to be the judge.
The clever householder, wary of displeasing either of them, hedged: You, Lakshmi, are
more beautiful when you enter, and you, Jyeshta, are more beautiful when you exit. Both
were pleased. Lakshmi entered the house and Jyeshta exited proudly.
Lakshmi is Sridevi, the goddess of the blessed and Jyeshta is Moodevi, the goddess of the
accursed and the damned. Then how is it that this persona non grata among the Hindu
pantheon was able to find a house of worship for her in Thachanattukara?
Lakshmi is known to be chanchala unsteady and fleeting. She is also dukhamoola the
cause of misery and misfortune. Lakshmi is the source of happiness only in appearance. In
truth, underneath, she is the source of misery. The fight for Lakshmi moolah, dukhamoola)
debases and often inhumanises man. The world loves and worships Lakshmi because it is
cursed to love and worship appearance. Lakshmi is the goddess of appearance.
Jyeshta is poor and indigent, but she has strength of character. She is not chanchala. She is
not seductive. She discounts appearance. She is steady and unflinching. She has grit. It is
the strength of the soul that gives man real strength and happiness, not moolah. Beneath the
level of appearance, Jyeshta is the giver of real strength and happiness. Actually, the roles of
Lakshmi and Jyeshta are interchanged. In the deep spiritual sense, Lakshmi is Jyeshta and
Jyeshta is Lakshmi. The wise worship Jyeshta, not Lakshmi.
Lakshmi is the goddess of persona and Jyeshta is the deity of anima. Jyeshta has no
worshippers in the world because the world worships only persona or appearance and
glamour and not anima or inner soul.
What will happen if you worship Jyeshta Devi?

You will avoid losses in business and receive money, if you worship Jyeshta Devi.
She is one Goddess capable of providing great wealth which could be enjoyed. This
is possible as she drives out the misfortune that strikes individuals and organizations
on a daily basis. Offer your prayers to the virtually unknown yet very powerful
Jyeshta Devi and protect yourself and your family from "64" types of misfortunes.



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