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Chandraghanta is the third form of Durga, the warrior bride with a bell-shaped moon on her brow, who appeared at her own wedding and returned to kill the bat demon Jatukasura.
Chandraghanta is worshipped on the third day of Navratri. Her name joins chandra, moon, and ghanta, bell, for the crescent on her forehead. She has golden skin, ten arms and a third eye that never closes. Her hands carry a trident, mace, bow and arrow, sword, lotus, bell and water pot. One hand is raised in the gesture of fearlessness. She rides a tiger.
She is Parvati after her penance, now a wife, and ready to fight.
Why did Parvati take a warrior form at her own wedding?
Himavan’s city was lit for the wedding. Lamps lined the streets and the palace was ready. Then Shiva’s procession arrived.
There were ghosts and goblins, ganas with strange faces, and serpents coiled around every neck. Shiva rode at the center, ash on his body, a tiger skin around his waist.
Mena, Parvati’s mother, took one look and fainted. The family fell into panic. Some wanted to cancel the wedding.
Parvati did not wait for anyone to settle the matter. She took a new form. Ten arms rose around her, each holding a weapon. A crescent moon, shaped like a bell, glowed on her forehead. She stood before the procession, calm and fearsome.
The panic stopped. Her family saw that this was no helpless bride. Shiva then took a gentler form, and the wedding went ahead.
What happened after the wedding?
Parvati followed Shiva to Kailash. The home she entered was a bare cave, with dust on the floor and cobwebs in every corner. She put on a broom and cleaned it herself. Days passed, and Kailash began to feel like a home.
Elsewhere, the demon Tarakasura grew restless. He had won a boon that only a son of Shiva could kill him. For years that had seemed safe. Shiva was an ascetic, deep in meditation, with no wife. Now Shiva had married. If a son was born, Tarakasura’s end was born with him. So he looked for a way to trouble the new couple, and he chose Jatukasura.
Who was Jatukasura?
Jatukasura was a bat demon. He did not fight with armies on the ground. He commanded swarms. Where his bats flew, the sky went dark, and sages in the forests could not meditate in peace. Tarakasura sent him to Kailash to attack Parvati.
How did Chandraghanta defeat Jatukasura?
The bats came at dusk. First there was a flutter at the edge of the sky, then a dark cloud, then no sky at all. The swarm covered Kailash. Wings beat in every direction, and the snow peaks vanished into black.
Parvati went to Shiva. He listened and gave her his support. She stepped out alone.
She could not see. The enemy was everywhere, and nothing was visible. She called on Chandra, the moon, and he answered. His light settled on her forehead as a crescent, curved like a bell. Once again she stood as Chandraghanta, ten arms ready, tiger beneath her.
She rode into the swarm and rang her bell. The sound rolled across the mountain. The bats broke formation and scattered. Her weapons flashed, and the dark cloud thinned and fell.
Jatukasura saw his army gone. Proud and furious, he charged her himself. He struck again and again, and she met every blow. Her weapons moved like lightning. Then she raised her trident and drove it through his chest. His roar faded. He fell.
The sky cleared. Moonlight returned to the snow. Kailash was quiet again.
FAQs
Which day of Navratri is Chandraghanta worshipped?
The third day.
What does Chandraghanta mean?
“One who has a half-moon shaped like a bell.”
Who was Jatukasura?
A bat demon sent by Tarakasura to harass Shiva and Parvati on Kailash.
Why did Tarakasura send Jatukasura?
Tarakasura could only be killed by Shiva’s son. Attacking Parvati was a way to stop that son from being born.
Why does Chandraghanta wear a crescent moon?
Tradition links it to Shiva’s form as Chandrashekhara, the moon-crowned one. In the Jatukasura story, the moon also gives her light in the darkness.
What does Chandraghanta ride?
Usually a tiger. Some accounts name a lion or wolves.
At her wedding, she calmed a worried family. On Kailash, she scattered an army. Both times she wore the moon and held her ground.
Neither time did she need a weapon to be understood; the bell and the crescent were enough.
