Bagalamukhi Jayanthi is the festival ascribed to Sri Bagala Mukhi Devi, the eighth of the ten manifestations of Sri Dasha Maha Vidya. The other manifestations are Kali, Tripura Sundari (Sadoshi), Bhuvaneshwari, Tripura Bhairavi, Chinnamastha, Dhumavathi, Mathangi, Tara and Kamala.
Bagalamukhi Jayanthi occurs on the Shukla Paksha Ashtami of Vaisaka month. It occurs on Wednesday, 15th May 2024. The exact duration of the Ashtami Tithi has to be ascertained from the respective regional calendars.
Bagalamukhi Jayanthi – Legend
There are a few legends pertaining to the celebration of Bagalamukhi Jayanthi.
Storm
During Sathya Yuga, once there was a huge storm in the world. The entire world was under siege. Bhagwan Maha Vishnu sought the help of Bhagwan Shiva. Bhagwan Shiva told Him that only Sri Shakthi could help to solve the situation.
Haridra Sarovar
As directed by Bhagwan Shiva, Bhagwan Vishnu did penance on Sri Shakthi to save the world. He did the penance at the banks of Haridra Sarovar lake. The other Devas also had sincerely prayed to Sri Shakthi for the protection of the world.
Appearance
Sri Shakthi had appeared in the form of Sri Bagalamukhi and gave darshan to Sri Vishnu and other Devas. She also had controlled the storm and restored normalcy to the world.
Sri Bagalamukhi form
Sri Bagalamukhi appears yellow in colour. She is referred to as Bagla, Bagala, Vagla and Pithambari Maa. Her attire is always yellow. She is considered as the Goddess of wisdom and She keeps the world under control.
As the Thanthrik Goddess, She is called as Sthambana Devi as She is said to paralyze the enemies. She is also called as Siddha Vidhya.
She is called as Dwi-buja as She has only two hands. She holds a club in Her right hand. In some pictures She is depicted as pulling the tongue of the Demon Madan by way of punishment.
She is known as Beer Raati as She is considered to be similar to one of the weapons of Sri Brahma.
She is depicted either as riding a chariot or sitting.
Bagalamukhi Jayanthi – Rituals
Fasting is observed for the day. Special Pujas and Yagnas invoking Maa Bagalamukhi are conducted. As Her favorite color is yellow, yellow colored Puja items such as turmeric, yellow rice and yellow color flowers are used.
The person doing the Puja is expected to wear yellow clothes and sit on a yellow clothed seat for doing the Puja.
The manthras dedicated to Sri Bagalamukhi Devi are to be recited.
It is believed that worshipping Sri Bagalamukhi relieves the person from all sorts of problems caused by others. It is also believed that the effects of mars influence get minimized with the observation of Puja to Sri Bagalamukhi.
