Goddess Bhramacharini Matha
The second form of Goddess Durga among nine forms is deity Brahmacharini who is worshipped on the second day of Dussera Navarathri festival. Brahmacharini means one who is virgin and one who practices spiritual austerity with deep meditation. Brahma means Tapa where a unmarried girl doing penance.
Goddess Durga in Brahmacharini form resembles as holding a rosary in her right hand and a water pot (Kamandalu) in her left hand. She wears Rudraksha as her most adorned ornament. Goddess Brahmacharini Matha symbolizes for love and loyalty, in housed with lots of knowledge and wisdom. Rudraksha is HER most.
Brahmacharini Matha enlightens everyone who worship her with great powers and divine grace. The second form of goddess Durga as Brahmacharini Matha is capable of providing unending benefits. Even during the most critical periods of struggle the mind remains unshaken and one does not deviate from the path of duty and gets success and victory always and everywhere by worshipping deity Brahmacharini Matha.
There is story behind the incarnation of Goddess Durga in the form of Brahmacharini Matha. After her end of life when she was in Sati, daughter king Daksha, Lord Shiva went into deep meditation. Then Goddess Durga took birth as the daughter of Himvan as Hemavati. The main motive on this birth was to get united with her husband God of all gods Mahadev so that Lord Shiva and Shakti will form cosmic play. And for this Parvati another name of Durga with the instructions of Devrishi Narada, she practiced very hard penances in order to obtain Lord Shiva as her divine consort. On this form of Brahmacharini she did very critical meditation for millions of year by eating only on fruits and beet-roots for one thousand years and another one hundred years she did meditation only by eating leafy vegetables. And some days she meditate without eating under the open sky bearing rain and extreme heat. After 3000 yrs. she ate only leaves fallen on land and continued her penance for atleast thousands of yrs. without eating even leaves, then she was called as ‘Aparna’.
Many of the gods and sages were impressed by her hard meditation and named her as Brahmacharini. And with the hardship of penance for several thousand years Brahmacharini Matha look extremely lean and thin and was reduced to skeleton form and caused great disturbance in the whole universe. Then Lord Brahma addressed Matha and said that till now no one has ever practiced such severe penance. It’s only you could do and your desire to get united to Lord Shiva and get married will be fulfilled.
Thus how goddess Brahmacharini Matha is worshipped on her second form of Goddess Durga on the second day of Navrathri. She looks very gorgeous in this from.