Inviting Mother Goddess Amba for puja in Gujarat during various rituals like marriage, house warming, thread ceremony etc is known as Mata Tedya. She is invited and a puja is performed to bless her children. Here is look at how to invite Goddess Amba to home to home and perform the puja.
Amba, the primary form of the Mother Goddess, has sixth four dhamas (abodes). The origin of this belief goes back to the time when Daksha Prajapati held a big ceremony but purposely did not invite Shiva, his son-in-law. This insult hurt his daughter Sati so much that she killed herself, and as the distraught Shiva carried her body, 64 pieces of if fell over sixty four places. Depending on their location, families claim allegiance to a particular dhama, and there are temples built to honor Amba in these places.
Of these, Amba in her form of the family deity is invited to all weddings and sacred thread ceremonies, and during Navratri, the nine-day festival honoring Her.
How To Invite Mother Goddess Amba For Puja
Mata (Divine Mother) is invoked through worship. There is no murti (statue or idol) in this ceremony. Amba is represented on a low wooden stool on which a small heap of wheat is place. Upon the wheat is placed a kumbha (water pot), and on this rests a coconut. The coconut is covered with a small piece of cloth and decorated with flowers and pieces of jewelry. The whole seat has a canopy made by tying banana leaves to the four legs of the stool. Once this is ready, the women of the household offer pushpa (flowers), light dupas (lamps), and carry the Mother into the puja (worship) room upon their heads (each woman has her own bajath), while other family members go ahead of them, spreading carpets or saris on the floor for them to walk on, to prepare the way and not let the Mother feel any rough spots.
The family elder (matriarch or patriarch) ma perform the ceremony, or priests may be invited to do so. The puja lasts from one to four hours. Blessings of Mother Goddess Amba are invoked, and each participant renews the inner connection that each soul has with the Divine energy.
When the Mata Tedya is performed on the occasion of a wedding, Mother Goddess Amba has to be escorted back before the bride departs for the home of her husband or the new bride enters the home of her husband. This is done by reversing the entrance ceremony. The women of the house again carry the Goddess in her bajath (seat) upon their heads; their path is again lined by family members with carpets or saris, and the process goes to a river or lake and makes offerings. Grain, coconut, and money are offered to temples, or, in recent times, to charities of people’s choice.