Part – II

Ire of gods and sorrow of souls

Section 1: Punishments of goddesses

Goddess of Osiyan

Past and present

Chamunda is an alteration of Ta Munda meaning Goddess Munda or Moon. Her worship was common all over the Vedic land once. Munda men were widespread    between India and Germany through Middle East soon after the Neanderthal disappeared around 30, 000 years ago. Moon is Mond, and crescent is Mondsichel in German. The former is male and the latter female. Accordingly, people worshipped god and goddess Moon both between India in east and Germany in west. Vedic men too adopted the god and goddess images of moon from pre-Vedic cult of Munda people. Atharvasheersham or crown of Atharvan people is an Upanishad dedicated to the prayers of goddesses.  A stanza in its composition prays goddess Chamunda as nine-letter decorated deity.

Worship of goddess Chamunda is popular in Rajasthan, although we also see a temple in far south on a massive Chamunda Hill of Mysore, Karnataka.   The goddess is principal deity of Jodhpur Palace in Rajasthan, but her best known shrine is on a hillock at Osiyan, some 30 Km north of the town.