Dharma Katha · Season 2: Navratri · Episode 72

She has nothing on her feet. Of the nine forms of the Goddess honoured in these nights, most ride something: a bull, a lion, a tiger, a donkey. Most carry weapons. Brahmacharini walks. Barefoot, dressed in white, with a string of beads in one hand and a small water pot in the other. That is all. This is Dharma Katha, Season Two, Navratri. Episode seventy-two, day two. In episode seventy-one, Parvati climbed the mountain and gave up, one by one, her necklace, her silks, her bed, her food, and at last even the fallen leaves, until she was called Aparna, and Shiva, defeated, said: I am your servant, bought by your austerities. Tonight we meet the form of the Goddess that holds that story still, the second of the nine Durgas. Brahmacharini.

Missed the previous story? Listen to Episode 71 first.

Source note. Label: tradition, with reflection. The name Brahmacharini as the second of the nine Durgas is from the Devi Kavacham's list, quoted in episode sixty-nine. The dhyana verse, dadhānā karapadmābhyām, is a widely used devotional verse, read on brhat.in, where her iconography of rosary, water pot, white dress and bare feet is also given. The connection with Parvati's austerity is from the Navadurga tradition and the Shiva Purana's Parvati Khanda; the brahmachari disguise is from Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava, canto five. The meaning of brahmacharya is from its classical use; the link to a subtle centre of the body and the customary offerings are later and living tradition, and vary. The observation that a brahmachari came to test a brahmacharini is my own. A Sanskrit reader should confirm the verse.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.