The following Shaktinis are considered to be the ancient female women Shakti Devotees and most of them are considered to be the wise and learned female sages, and after their death, they were believed to have become Star Goddesses who shines brightly on the skies.
- MA MAHASHAKTINI DEVI
Ma Mahashaktini Devi was born in a Kashmiri Hindu family in the year 722 A.D. From her young age, Shaktini, was interested in spirituality, and eagerly learnt the Hindu Spiritual texts from a famous Kashmiri scholar.
She was married at her teenage, but her husband was died very soon after their marriage.
After the death of her husband, Shaktini returned to her parental home at Verinag, and there she had rigorously performed meditation on Lord Shiva. After a few years, she met her spiritual Guru, Pandit Shivsagar of Srinagar. The Guru guided her properly and taught spiritualism and Hindu Philosophy to her.
After some time, Shaktini constructed an Ashram for performing penance on the banks of River Jhelum. Due to her spiritual powers, lot of people were become her devotees, and they had trained Yoga, Meditation and learned the divine matters from her. Since Shaktini wants to peacefully meditate, she came to Srinagar and resided in a Shiva Temple at Chotta Bazar, and there she spread her spiritual message to her devotees. After some time, she shifted her place to Durganag, and constructed an Ashram.
She reached the heavenly abode in the year 785 AD, and still Kashmiri Hindus are worshipping her, and getting her blessings.
- MA SAVITARINI
Ma Savitarini(5th century AD) was a staunch devotee of Ma Shakti Devi, and she was born in a village in Maharashtra. Her bhakti is considered similar to Ma Avvaiyar and Karaikalammaiyar. She was born to a pious Brahmin parents, and her father had served as a Veena player under the then king of Maharashtra. She learned music and Dance from her father, and became a great vocalist. Due to her previous good karma, Ma Savitarini considered Ma Shakti Devi as everything for her. She saw her form in all the objects, and when she ate food, she saw Ma Shakti in rice, and when she slept in the bed, there also she saw the form of Shakti Devi.
Though her parents were very much satisfied with her bhakti on Ma Shakti Devi, but the local villagers began to call her as “MAD GIRL”. Whenever she met any people, she used to touch their feet, and would call them as MA SHAKTI, SHAKTI, for several times, since she saw the face of Ma Shakti Devi on the face of everyone.
In order to test her pure bhakti, once Ma Shakti Devi took the form of a young girl, and she wore rich clothes and costly ornaments on her body. Then she reached the home of Savitarini and began to call her by mentioning her name. When Savitarini was arrived at the spot, the young girl smiled and suddenly she touched her hands. Without knowing about the true form of the young girl, Savitarini shouted at her, and began to run away from her home. The young girl stood before her, and she revealed her true form to her, as MA Shakti Devi. Young Savitarini then felt very happy, and she also felt ashamed for her act, and asked apology to the Holy Mother.
Ma Shakti Devi smiled at her, and removed the fear from her mind, and asked her to continuously worship her. After reaching her teenage, once when she was singing a nice song on Ma Shakti Devi in the Shakti Devi temple, suddenly a bright spark was formed from the shrine of Shakti Devi, and she was disappeared in that, and attained the lotus feet of Ma Shakti Devi.
- DURGASHRINI
Durgashrini(4th century AD) was a princess and a poet at the present day Maharashtra. She was the wife of Sri Svetambar, the noble son of King Shivaraj. Her family had given full support to her towards worshipping Ma Durga Devi. At the end of her life, she and her family had attained salvation. Durgashrini wrote lot of poems in praise of Ma Durga Devi, and some of the verses from her poems are as follows:
Oh! Devi Durga! You are the kind and the affectionate mother for the entire universe, and you are the consort of the great Lord Shiva! You have got great powers, and protecting the entire universe!
Oh! Devi Durga! You have destroyed the powerful demons and maintained peace and prosperity in the universe!
Oh! Devi Durga! You are containing many names, and by chanting your names, we would be relieved from our sins, and we would get SALVATION!
Oh! Devi Durga! You are bestowing boons to us! And you are living in our hearts for ever! You are helping us throughout our life!
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who is called by various names, who looks very beautiful like a fresh lotus flower, and who also contains divine weapons on her hands in order to destroy the bad behaviour from us.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who is the daughter of king Vasudeva,
and the sister of Lord Krishna,
And let the holy mother removes the thorns on our path, and guide us in our life.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who is the greatest goddess,
and the one who gives good knowledge, courage and wisdom to her devotees.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who holds the sacred conch on her beautiful hands, and the Chakra and mace, similar to her brother Lord Vishnu, and the one who used to wear yellow coloured dresses.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who dwells in the four Vedas,
and the one who gives the creation powers to Lord Brahma.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who is the controller of the entire universe, and the one who permanently stays in the souls of her sincere devotees.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
Who is the holy consort of Lord Shiva, and who acts as a witness for our activities.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga,
whose festival is celebrated for nine days as Navaratri festival in a grand manner.
My humble Salutations to Ma Durga, let her give enough strength to all of her devotees in this earth, and let her shower her full grace on them.
Those who regularly recite these wonderful Stotra of Ma Durga, would get all of their desires fulfilled,
and would attain the divine world.
“JAYA, JAYA DURGA DEVI SARANAM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR