KarmaVaani
Shakta tradition
शीतलाShitala
Shitala Mata · Basoda Devi
The cooling mother who protects from smallpox, fever and summer sickness; she rides a donkey and carries a broom.
- Vahana
- A donkey
- Colour
- Fair
- Arms
- 4
Shitala, the cool one, is a mother goddess of North and East India who protects children from poxes, fevers and the diseases of the hot season. On Shitala Ashtami, a week after Holi, households light no fire and eat food cooked the day before, offering it to her as basoda. Neem leaves, cold water and cleanliness belong to her worship, and her hymn, the Shitalashtakam, is found in the Skanda Purana.
Mantra
वन्देऽहं शीतलां देवीं रासभस्थां दिगम्बराम्। मार्जनीकलशोपेतां शूर्पालङ्कृतमस्तकाम्॥
Vande'ham Shitalam Devim Rasabhastham Digambaram, Marjani Kalashopetam Shurpalankrita Mastakam
I bow to the goddess Shitala, who rides a donkey, bears a broom and a water pot, and wears a winnowing fan upon her head.
How Shitala is shown
A goddess riding a donkey, with a winnowing fan on her head, carrying a broom and a pot of cool water, neem leaves beside her.
- Broom
- Sweeping away disease.
- Winnowing fan
- Separating the harmful from the good.
- Pot of cool water
- Cooling the fever; healing.
- Neem leaves
- The traditional medicine of her worship.
Stories
The fever demon
In one telling, Shitala walks with Jvarasura, the demon of fever, whom she keeps in her control. Where she is honoured with cleanliness and cool food, she holds him back; where she is neglected, he roams. Her festival is held at the turn of the seasons, when fevers once came.
