Matangi

Matangi

Mātaṅgī is the ninth Mahāvidyā — the outcaste goddess, goddess of polluted-speech, of the "Untouchable" margins, of leftover-food as prasāda. She is worshipped with ritually impure substances, inverting Brahminical purity norms. In her domain, caste dissolves.

Mātaṅgī's radical theology: she is worshipped with left-over food (ucchiṣṭa), substances Brahminical custom considers polluting. The ritual reversal is deliberate — it teaches that the goddess dwells precisely where Brahminical fear-of-pollution dare not look. She has been identified with Saraswati in some traditions (as goddess of learned speech) and with the Buddhist outcaste saint Mātaṅga (from the Gautama-Buddha's period). Dalit-theological movements of the 20th century have engaged with Mātaṅgī as a theological resource against caste.