return to Home Page
or move on to Goddess Circe, next chronologically,
or use Her Cyclopedia Index
Kumbhamata, Mother-of-Pots.
KUMBH1M*T*
[to Whom the fourteenth day of August, day 226, is dedicated]
Geography/Culture: Hindustani.
Description: Goddess of the earth, marriage and {containment}; Womb and generative Pot of life; Tutelary Divinity of villages and small communities; {Matron of potty people; Matron of children's potty training}.
At marriage ceremonies: "...a pile of pots, in which the deities who promote fertility abide..." are collected together and "...by means of magic the Goddess is invited to enter a jar which becomes the central object of worship".
To Whom Sacred: coconuts-shells; gourds; ostrich egg shells; clay; pots, especially water-pots and pots designed to hold the dead; {chamber-pots; lunatic asylums}.
Iconography: She is often represented by, or identified with a pot or vessel.
Geography/Culture: Hindustani.
Description: Tutelary Goddess of potters.
(Pottery making was regarded as a menial occupation).