Cittira Varna Jwala — The Resplendent Goddess of the Margali or Margazhi Month
In the Shaiva Agamic and Tantric traditions of Tamil Nadu,
time itself is understood as divine. Each of the twelve Tamil months is
presided over by a specific goddess, and together these twelve forms are
venerated as the Dvadasa Masa Devis — the twelve monthly goddesses. This
tradition finds its roots primarily in the Tamil Shaiva recension and is
elaborated in sacred texts such as the Sritattvanidhi and the Veppampattu
Masa-Kali Lakshanam. These texts prescribe the precise iconographic form,
colour, ornaments, posture, and attributes of each monthly goddess, preserving
a remarkable synthesis of time, nature, and the divine feminine.
The ninth Tamil month, Margazhi — known also as Margali and Margasirsha in Sanskrit — falls in the heart of winter, roughly spanning
mid-December to mid-January. It is among the most sacred months in the Tamil
Shaiva and Vaishnava calendars alike. The presiding goddess of this month is
Cittira Varna Jwala, whose very name announces her nature — she of brilliant,
multi-hued radiance, blazing like sacred fire even in the depths of winter
cold.
The Sacred Form of Cittira Varna Jwala
The iconography of Cittira Varna Jwala is carefully defined
by tradition. She is depicted as two-armed, seated upon Mahisha, the buffalo,
which serves as her vahana or sacred mount. Her right hand is raised in Abhaya
mudra, the gesture of fearlessness and protection, assuring her devotees that
she dispels all dangers. Her left hand holds a cup-shaped vessel, suggesting
both offering and nourishment — the act of receiving devotion and returning
grace.
She wears a crown upon her head, marking her sovereignty
over the month she rules. Her right leg is placed in ardha padmasana, the
half-lotus position, a posture of meditative calm and inner composure. Her left
leg hangs freely downward in the relaxed posture of ease and divine
accessibility, known as lalitasana in its broader form. This combination of the
composed right leg and the freely hanging left conveys a balance between
transcendence and immanence — the goddess who is both beyond the world and intimately
present within it.
The Buffalo Mount and Its Deeper Meaning
The buffalo, Mahisha, as a vahana carries a significance
that goes beyond a mere vehicle. In the broader framework of Shakta and Shaiva
symbolism, the buffalo represents tamas — the quality of inertia, heaviness,
and the forces that bind the soul to gross existence. When a goddess is seated
upon Mahisha, she is not aligned with these forces but is their master. She
transcends and controls that which weighs down. In the context of Margazhi, a
month associated with inner reflection, sacred waking before dawn, and deep
tapas, this symbolism becomes especially potent. The devotee too is invited to
rise above the heaviness of sleep and comfort and to seek the light that the
goddess herself embodies.
Cittira Varna — The Meaning of Her Name
The name Cittira Varna means one who possesses variegated,
brilliant, or many-coloured radiance. The word Jwala means flame or blazing
light. Her name thus captures the paradox of Margazhi itself — a month of cold
darkness, yet one associated with the inner fire of devotion, the flames of the
sacred lamp lit before dawn, and the illuminating grace of the divine. The
Tiruppavai of Andal and the Tiruvasagam of Manikkavasagar both speak to the
heightened spiritual atmosphere of this month, the former in the Vaishnava
tradition and the latter in the Shaiva — each pointing to Margazhi as the time
when the boundary between the human and the divine grows thin and luminous.
Seasonal Transformation and the Goddess
The appearance and attributes of Cittira Varna Jwala are
understood to reflect not only a fixed divine form but also the character of
the season itself. Margazhi marks the cusp between the deepest winter cold and
the gradual turning toward warmth. It is a month of transition, where the year
is reborn in spirit before it is reborn in nature. The Abhaya gesture of the
goddess speaks to her protection of those who undertake austerity and devotion
during this demanding season. Her cup vessel speaks to the nourishment —
spiritual and physical — that sustains the devotee through the cold. Her
blazing name and multi-hued form speak to the festival lights, the kolam drawn
on cold mornings, and the lamps that burn from before dawn across Tamil
households and temples.
Worship and Spiritual Significance
The veneration of the Dvadasa Masa Devis, including Chithira Varna Jvala, represents a sophisticated understanding within the Shaiva Agamic
tradition that the divine feminine is not confined to fixed temples alone but
pervades all of time. Every month is a living expression of Shakti in a
particular mode. To be aware of the presiding goddess of the month one lives in
is to cultivate a constant orientation toward the sacred. The Sritattvanidhi,
which systematically records the iconographic prescriptions for such deities,
stands as a testament to the precision and depth with which the tradition has
preserved these forms across centuries.
Margazhi, as the month of Cittira Varna Jwala, calls every devotee to wakefulness — to rise before the sun, to sing, to light the lamp, and to seek the protection of the blazing goddess who sits unmoved upon the back of the restrained buffalo, her right hand promising fearlessness, her left hand offering the cup of divine grace.