Momai

What it is

Momai, also written Momai Mata, is a Hindu goddess whose worship centres on Gujarat and above all on the dry Kutch region; Gujarati speakers call her મોમાઈ માં. She is known too as Dashama. Among the Rabari she is the highest goddess, and the Sorathia branch of that community uses the name mammai for her. A kuldevi is a deity a family or clan takes as its own, and a long roll of Kutch clans and former ruling houses list her in that role. She is shown with four arms, riding a camel: sword and trident above, lotus and armour below.

Where it comes from

The village of Momai Mora, close to Rapar in Kutch, is pointed out as the place where she is said to have first appeared. That claim belongs to tradition rather than to record. The site holds her temple and draws pilgrims, and a large festival is held there each year on the eve of Navratri. Her following is bound up with the former Kutch State and its ruling and warrior clans, and she is closely linked with the goddess Ashapura.

How it is done

Devotion to Momai takes two shapes. At home she is a kuldevi, and her picture hangs in Rabari houses, where she is remembered as the family's own goddess. In public her temple at Momai Mora receives pilgrims, with the yearly gathering on the eve of Navratri as its high point. A separate observance, the Dashama Vrata, runs for ten days. A vrata is a vow, a set stretch of restraint and worship undertaken for a stated aim. Women keep this one, asking prosperity and good fortune for the household.

Tools and materials

Her image is the chief object of devotion: a goddess with four arms riding a camel. Sword and trident occupy the upper right and left hands, while the lower pair holds a lotus and armour. The camel sets her apart from goddesses shown on a lion or a tiger. A mantra, Om Aim Hrim Klim Momaimaa Namo Namah, is attached to her. In Rabari homes a picture of her serves as the focus, so the image itself, not a set of instruments, carries the worship.

What it is for

For families that call her kuldevi, Momai is the goddess of the lineage, the one a clan takes as its own. The ten-day vrata kept by women is aimed at prosperity and good fortune for the whole household. Pilgrims travel to Momai Mora to stand at the place where she is said to have appeared. Devotion to her also marks belonging: a clan's identity is expressed through the goddess it names, and a great many Kutch clans and former rulers name her.

Who does it

The vrata is largely women's practice; they are the ones described as keeping it for the family's sake. Beyond that, devotion sits with households and clans rather than with a professional priesthood. Her picture is found in nearly every Rabari home in Kutch, and the Sorathia Rabari call her mammai. Clans take her as kuldevi, among them Bhanushali, Jadeja, Chavda and other Ahir groups, Parmar, Sodha, Tank and Odedra (Mer), plus the Udesh gotra of the Rajpurohit community, Bardai Brahmins and several Mistris sub-clans.

Peoples and places

Her heartland is Kutch, the dry district of Gujarat; the ten-day vrata is reported from Gujarat and Diu. The Rabari hold her as their foremost goddess, and the Sorathia among them use a name of their own for her. The former ruling and warrior clans of Kutch appear on the list of her devotees, as do Bhanushali, several Ahir groups, Rajpurohit, Bardai Brahmins and many Mistris sub-clans. Devotion therefore runs across quite different communities, held together by clan rather than by district alone.

What people believe

A kuldevi is a goddess bound to a family line. She is inherited rather than chosen by an individual, and each clan looks to its own. Momai holds that place for a great many Kutch lineages, which makes her both one regional goddess and a set of separate family deities under a single name. The Rabari place her at the summit of their pantheon. She is also linked with Ashapura, another goddess of the region. Her four-armed form carries weapons above, a lotus and armour below.

When it is done

Two observances stand out. At Momai Mora a large festival falls on the eve of Navratri each year. The Dashama Vrata runs ten days and is usually kept in July or August, on amavasya, the night when no moon is seen, in the month of Ashadha; some keep it instead in Chaitra, which falls in March. A festival called Punj is also listed for her. The vow's length and its lunar timing place it among the cycles women in Gujarat follow through the year.

Compare and confuse

Dashama is the same goddess under a second name, and the ten-day observance is named for that form. The Sorathia Rabari's mammai is a further local label. Momai is closely associated with Ashapura, another goddess of the same region, though the two are distinct. The differences here are of community and language rather than of identity.

Today

Her picture hangs in nearly every Rabari household in Kutch, and clan after clan still lists her as kuldevi, from the old ruling houses to the Mistris sub-clans and the Udesh gotra of the Rajpurohit community. Momai Mora remains a pilgrimage village near Rapar, with its yearly gathering on the eve of Navratri. The ten-day vrata continues in Gujarat and Diu, kept mostly by women.

Questions people ask about Momai

Good reading and sources

• Momai on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data