The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Santoshi Ma
came from very low caste communities. It
is certainly true that devotees of low social
status would have been forbidden even to
enter temples, much less worship the
images in those temples, and thus a religious
path emphasizing the Name and
interior religious experience, which are
accessible to everyone, might have
seemed a more viable option. In the same
way, the socially oppressed might find the
notion of an alternative, egalitarian community
immensely attractive. Yet to
reduce the sant tradition to a simple reaction
by marginal social groups cannot
explain why one of its major figures is
Eknath, a brahmin. Such reductionist
analyses ignore the sant movement’s real
thrust, namely the passionate search for
the divine that permitted no compromises
and no excuses. For further information
see Karine Schomer and W. H.
McLeod, The Sants, 1985.
Santal
Tribal (adivasi) community in northern
India, particularly in the border districts
of Bihar and West Bengal. As with most
tribals in India, many are very poor and
make a precarious living as cultivators.
Santoshi Ma
(“the mother who satisfies”) Goddess
who is one of the most fascinating
Hindu deities, and whose recent explosive
popularity illustrates both the flexibility
of the Hindu pantheon, and the
way that Hindu religion reflects and
responds to changes in Indian society.
Santoshi Ma’s popularity was largely
inspired by a film released in 1975, Jai
Santoshi Ma (“Victory to Santoshi Ma”).
The film first details the birth of Santoshi
Ma as the daughter of the god Ganesh,
but then cuts to the earthly problems
suffered by one of her devotees (bhakta),
Satyavati. Satyavati is a new bride having
problems adjusting to her marital
home, particularly because of tensions
with her wicked sisters-in-law. By the
end of the film, through Satyavati’s
steadfast devotion to Santoshi Ma, all of
her problems are resolved.
This film did not invent Santoshi Ma,
although it was largely responsible for
spreading her worship. The prescriptions
for Santoshi Ma’s religious vow
(vrat) had existed before the film was
made, and both the rite’s charter myth
and the film focus on the problems of a
new bride and their eventual resolution
through her steadfast devotion to
Santoshi Ma. Santoshi Ma’s ultimate
source is a mystery, but her iconography
suggests that she is an amalgam of other
female deities. She is seated on the lotus,
a feature associated with the goddess
Lakshmi; she wields the sword associated
with the goddesses Kali and Durga, as
well as the trident associated with the
god Shiva. She shows the attributes
associated with both married and
unmarried goddesses: Like the married
goddesses, she is nurturing and caring
to her devotees, playing the role of the
benevolent Indian mother, and like the
independent unmarried goddesses, she
is powerful and and potentially dangerous—one
of the film’s climactic scenes
shows her utterly destroying a temple
after Satyavati’s sister-in-law intentionally
ruined the sanctified food (prasad)
meant for her devotees. Yet she is also
believed to have the power to grant her
devotees’ requests, no matter how large.
Through her nurturing, benevolent
character coupled with power, she
crosses the usual boundaries associated
with Hindu goddesses.
Part of the popularity of Santoshi
Ma’s vrat comes from its simplicity,
cheapness, and promise of benefits. The
observance is usually kept by women
with the aim of attaining concrete goals
for themselves and their families: getting
a job, passing an exam, conceiving a
child, or arranging a marriage. The rite
involves weekly fasting (upavasa) and
worship. One of the social factors cited
in Santoshi Ma’s explosive popularity is
the steadily growing uncertainty in
Indian (and South Asian) life, which
makes very ordinary things difficult
to attain and necessitates the use of
all possible resources. In this context,
an inexpensive rite that promises
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