Mātaṅgī is the ninth of the 10 great vidyās. Mātaṅgī is greenish in color, dark in complexion (thus another of her names, Śyāmalā), and luscious in shape. Her tender limbs have the glow of sapphire. She is a cāṇḍāla kanyā. The sage Mātaṅga was a cāṇḍāla by birth, and the Goddess of Speech manifested as his daughter—so she is sometimes known as the “Outcaste Goddess.” Caste, creed and color are no bar to her upāsanā—Mātaṅgī leads one to cut through all such barriers. (Note that the word cāṇḍāla is also a symbol for the suṣumṇā in the sandhyābhāṣā of the Tantras. So by cāṇḍāla kanyā is meant the Kuṇḍalinī, besides whatever else the name implies.)
“Mātaṅgī is the mantriṇi of Lalitā. She is also the ākarṣaṇa and vaśya pradhāna devatā. Her main purpose is to bring people to Lalitā upāsanā. Lalitā uses Mātaṅgī's mantras to attract devotees to Herself while the devotees think they are attracting Lalitā to themselves. That is the secret of Mātaṅgī.
Indeed, as with Tripura-Bhairavī, the only way to please Mātaṅgī and get her blessings is by attracting people and enjoyments. But her mantra is generally given only by a dīkṣā guru, because—though attraction is generally a desirable thing—its indiscriminate use can create complications. So it will not be revealed here.
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Mātaṅgī is Saraswati. Her upāsanā gives us desires (kāma) as well as fulfilling them. But even though one is involved in these sensory games, one knows they are games and is not bound by them. She leads one naturally to the mandala of the Sri Chakra.
When one has systematically eliminated all notions of multiplicity, then duality alone remains—and this, too, she demolishes in the end. One learns that, in identity, all relations co-exist. So God is your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, husband, lover, friend, enemy, son, daughter, grandsons—all in one, one in all. Thus in approaching the divine, you can use any relationship that is convenient to you; whatever you are comfortable with. Two of the best relationships are identity and as lover—reflecting jñāna and bhakti yoga, respectively.
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Mātaṅgī is also similar to Tārā. The difference is, with Tārā the focus is on unmanifest sound. With Mātaṅgī, it is on intelligible, manifest sound. The primordial throb (ādya spanda)—which originates by the self-volition of the Supreme—starts a series of vibrations that take the “form of nāda (sound). This is the Eternal Word, the source of all manifestation.
This manifestation takes place in the four steps of sound evolution, which Tantrics locate in the nervous system:
- Parā. The first and supreme source, it is still unmanifest, but turned toward manifestation (Tārā). It is the mahā-kāraṇa (great cause) seated at the Mūlādhāra Chakra.
- Paśyanti. The word that perceives. This is the kāraṇa located at the Maṇipūra Chakra.
- Madhyamā. The word in the middle, subtle region between the navel and the throat; i.e., the Anāhata Chakra.
- Vaikharī. The expression of speech herself, Goddess Mātaṅgī.
Mati is the thinking mind; mātā is thought. The unmanifest word perceives itself for manifestation and then reaches the thinking mind for expression (mātaṅga). When the word—fashioned by the heart and formulated by the mind—is expressed, it is Mātaṅgī. As the unmanifest word of pristine purity descends from the Supreme Source, its purity is sullied; its gross expression (varṇa) preserves only part of its original glory—hence the name Ucchiṣṭa Cāṇḍālī.
But by catching the tail end of the word (the articulated speech), one can still get to the source. The worship of Mātaṅgī leads one to the realization of the “residual above”; that is, Lalitā herself.
Source: Excerpt from Guruji’s “Lusaka Notes” on Daśa Mahāvidyās
