The regal elephant is the mount of Indra, king of the gods as well as of temporal kings. It is the symbol of the power of domination. After the terror of the night appears the reassuring dawn. The demons of chaos and have been defeated; Mātaṅgī, the Elephant-power, establishes the rule of peace, of calm, of prosperity. The day is, however, a dream, a mirage that punctuates the eternal night. As a form of night, Mātaṅgī is therefore the Night-of-Delusion (Moha-rātrī).
Tantra brazenly embraces a theology of transgression, one of the dictums of Tantra is “yair eva patanti taireva siddhyanti” — whatever causes one to fall can also be used to elevate
Tantra challenges the ritual and social orthodoxy of Brahminical Hinduism, the first three hindrances to the spiritual path are lajjā – shame, ghṛṇa – disgust and bhaya – fear. Mātaṅgī which is also a term for an outcaste (caṇḍāla = a person of the “polluted” caste) is thus associated with all forms of what Brahminical society considers as “polluted,” such as left-over food, or food which has been tasted by another, which is considered highly polluting in Brahminical culture, and so Mātaṅgī as a transgressive Goddess has an affinity with ritual pollution. Those who perform the sādhana of Mātaṅgī must offer her left-over food and worship her after eating without washing and must disregard all Brahminical rules and regulations
Even the highly “polluting” menstrual state is said to please this goddess. Ucchiṣṭa Mātaṅgī as the embodiment of the ritual-pollution is the goddess by means of whom, one can directly come to terms with ritual pollution and transform it into a means for spiritual development and unfoldment. As such she is a very empowering and liberating Goddess — meditating upon her we can easily overcome the three obstacles of shame, fear and disgust. She also has a strong association with forests and jungles.
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