Harsidhhi

What it is

Harsidhhi is a Hindu goddess whose following is concentrated in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and the districts of Maharashtra that border them, rather than spread across India as a whole. She is placed among the aspects of Durga. Many families in the Kshatriya, Brahmin and Vaishya varnas, the broad social classes of Hindu society, keep her as their kuldevi, the goddess who looks after a family or clan, and some Jains honour her too. In Kathiyawad, also called Saurashtra, she is the clan goddess of Kshatriya and Rajput houses. People who work the sea off that coast are said to regard her as the guardian of their vessels. Krishna and Chandragupta Vikramaditya are both named as her kuldevi's devotees.

Where it comes from

The temple story begins with Jagadu, a merchant of Kutch in the thirteenth century, who is credited with raising a shrine to the goddess. The present building stands at the foot of Koyal Dungar, near Miyani, an old port town close to Porbandar. A tale told about it holds that the first shrine stood on the hill above the creek and that the images were later carried down to the base. In Madhya Pradesh, Harsiddhi Devi Mandir at Sagar is known across Bundelkhand and was built by the Bundela rulers.

How it is done

Devotion is described only in outline. Families keep the goddess as their clan deity and honour her in that role, while people on the water turn to her for help. The tale of Jagadu Shah shows the expected shape of such an appeal: six of his seven ships are already gone when he prays to the Devi for a safe place to anchor, and the seventh comes in to shore. At Koyal Dungar the images are kept at the foot of the hill, not on the summit where the legend puts them first.

Tools and materials

Objects at the shrine are few. The temple at the base of Koyal Dungar holds images of the goddess, and the story of how they came down from the hilltop above the creek belongs to the character of the place. Beside her stands a statue of Jagadu Shah, the Kutch merchant credited with building the temple, placed on her right side.

What it is for

Two kinds of need are attached to her. As a kuldevi she is asked to look after a household or a clan, and her worshippers are named by social group: Kshatriya, Brahmin and Vaishya families, Rajput houses of Saurashtra, and some Jains. As a goddess of the coast she is held to keep ships safe. The Miyani legend gives that belief its clearest shape, with Jagadu's fleet lost one vessel after another until he prays and the last ship is brought in to anchor.

Who does it

Worship is organised around family and clan rather than a single order of priests. The Kshatriya, Brahmin and Vaishya varnas, the Rajput houses of Kathiyawad or Saurashtra, Jain worshippers and communities of the Gujarat coast are the groups named as her devotees. Jagadu, a thirteenth-century merchant of Kutch, appears as a patron: tradition credits him with the temple at Koyal Dungar, where his statue is kept beside the goddess. The Bundela rulers hold a comparable place at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, named as builders of her temple there.

Peoples and places

Her map is regional. Gujarat supplies most of the detail: the Saurashtra or Kathiyawad country, the port of Miyani near Porbandar, and the Kutch background of Jagadu. In Madhya Pradesh the Bundelkhand town of Sagar has her temple, and the neighbouring parts of Maharashtra are named alongside Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as places where she is popular. The communities attached to her differ as well: landholding and mercantile varnas keep her as a clan goddess, Jains share in the worship, and coastal people who work the sea look to her for the safety of their boats.

What people believe

Behind the worship lies the Hindu idea that a great goddess may be met in many particular forms, and Harsidhhi is placed among the aspects of Durga. The kuldevi idea gives a family or clan its own guardian goddess. Along the coast that same goddess is thought to hold power over water: the old shrine above the Miyani creek was said to be so potent that a vessel coming into its sight would go down, and Jagadu's prayer is answered only when he turns to her.

Compare and confuse

She belongs within the wide circle of Durga worship, and her name is written in more than one way: Harsidhhi in the heading used here, Harsiddhi in the name of the Sagar temple. The shrines named are Koyal Dungar near Porbandar and Harsiddhi Devi Mandir in Bundelkhand, each presented as a temple of the same goddess in a different part of India.

Questions people ask about Harsidhhi

Good reading and sources

• Harsidhhi on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data