Goddess Shashti Devi is worshipped for the welfare of
children. She nurses and protects children. She takes care of infants. Goddess
Sashti is worshipped on the sixth day after the birth of a child to safeguard
it from diseases and to ward off evil. She is again offered prayers on the 21st
day after childbirth and again when first food is given to the baby.
Those couple having trouble in getting a progeny will be
blessed with a healthy child if they worship Shasti Devi for a year (Devi
Bhagavata).
Goddess Shashthi Devi is invoked in a Salagrama stone or in
the root of banyan tree. In some regions, she is painted on the wall of the house
or a sacred place.
Shashti Devi Mantra
Om Sashthyai Devayai Swaha.
Who is Goddess Shashthi Devi?
She is the daughter of Brahma and wife of Skanda or Muruga
(son of Shiva and Parvati).
She is known as Sashti because she is taken to be one-sixth
of prakriti or nature.
Mahabharata and Devi Bhagavata equates her with Devasena,
wife of Skanda or Muruga.
But Sushruta Samhita and Kashyapa Samhita, Ayurvedic Texts,
identify her with Revati and describes her as sister of Skanda.
Shashthi Devi has six faces, she is beautiful, she blesses
devotees with boons, and is she is capable of assuming desired forms.
She was a popular deity during the Kushana period (30 BC to
375 AD)
Information about the deity is found in Brahmavaivarata
Purana, Devi Bhagavata, Mahabharata and Narada Purana.
She is worshipped in some regions on the sixth day of the
waxing phase of moon in Chaitra Month (March – April).
In some regions, she is worshipped only on the sixth day of
the Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of moon) of Jyeshta month.
The Goddess is widely worshipped in Eastern parts of India.
She is also worshipped by Telugu speaking people of Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh. Her worship is also prevalent among certain communities in North
India.