Chamunda

Chamunda Devi
Devanagari	चामुण्डा
Sanskrit transliteration	Cāmuṇḍā
Affiliation	Devi, Matrika
Abode	Cremation grounds or fig trees
Mantra	Om Jai Chamunda Devi
Weapon	Trident and sword
Consort	Shiva
Mount	Owl or corpse

Chamunda (Sanskrit: चामुण्डा, Cāmuṇḍā ; Kannada: ಚಾಮುಂಡ ), also known as Sachchi Mata, Chamundi, Chamundeshwari, (ಚಾಮುಂಡೇಶ್ವರಿ) and Charchika, is a fearsome aspect of Devi, the Hindu Divine Mother and one of the seven Matrikas (mother goddesses). She is also one of the chief Yoginis, a group of sixty-four or eighty-one Tantric goddesses, who are attendants of the warrior goddess Durga. The name is a combination of Chanda and Munda, two monsters whom Chamunda killed. She is closely associated with Kali, another fierce aspect of Devi. She is sometimes identified with goddesses Parvati, Chandi or Durga as well. The goddess is often portrayed as living in cremation grounds or fig trees. The goddess is worshipped by ritual animal sacrifices along with offerings of wine and in the ancient times, human sacrifices were offered too. As the times have changed, meat, and wine are no longer offered. As of today it has been known that animal sacrifices have been discouraged by texts such as the Ramayan. Originally Devi Chamunda was discovered in Hinduism and later entered the Jain pantheon too. Though in Jainism, the rites of her worship include vegetarian offerings, and not the meat and liquor offerings.

Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar says that Chamunda was originally a form of Devi worshipped by the Munda peoples of the Vindhya range of central India. These tribes were known to offer goddesses animal as well as human sacrifices along with ritual offerings of liquor. These methods of worship were retained in Tantric worship of Chamunda. He proposes the fierce nature of this goddess is due of her association with Vedic Rudra (identified as Shiva in modern Hinduism), identified with fire god Agni at times.

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