Untitled - Katha

26 ◆
The woman twisted her fingers a bit, silent. Then looking
him in the eye said, “A skull.”
“Skull?”
A gasp from the onlookers.
The woman continued, “It looked like a human skull. Quite
large and irregular.”
“Irregular?”
“Yes.”
A wave of whispering washed over the crowd: “It must have
been a skull that had been offered to Ma.”
“Must be a thousand year old offering!”
Someone from the crowd cried out, “Ma Chinnamasta! Ma!
Ma Chinnamasta!”
The others joined him, “Ma! Ma! Ma!”
The woman with the child was on the verge of tears. She was
trembling, fearful that some inauspicious star would cast its evil
spell on her son who had played football with the skull. The
jatadhari rose from his seat. There was a long silence as he gazed
at the Brahmaputra. He turned to the woman, and said in a
soothing tone, “Child! A child can’t be blamed. Ma! Ma! Ma
Chinnamasta! Ma! Ma! Read the seventy sixth chapter of the Kalika
Purana that contains the rules and rituals of worship of the
Goddess Shakti and promotes the vedas.
“The person to be sacrificed must bathe properly. Eat only
boiled vegetarian food the night before, and abstain from
physical association. He is elaborately dressed, with ornaments,
and smears his forehead with sandalwood paste. He must be
seated facing the north, along with the deities, and then
worshipped: Brahma the creator will be worshipped on his navel.
The earth, on his nose. The fire god, Agni, on the tongue.
The Man from Chinnamasta