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Nepal JyotishTraditional Science
Goddess Names

Harati

The story of how the Buddha honoured the goddess Harati, his mother from a previous birth.

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Harati

In ancient times a yakshini named Harati, in order to feed her five hundred children, used to steal and kill other people's infants from human settlements every day. Hearing the weeping and wailing of the mothers, Lord Buddha, to teach her a lesson, hid her youngest and dearest son beneath his alms bowl.

When her son went missing, Harati searched all three worlds lamenting, but could not find him, and at last, weeping, she fell at Lord Buddha's feet.

The Buddha counselled her: "If you suffered so much when one child went missing, how much must the mothers of the thousands of infants you killed have suffered?"

Harati's awareness awakened, and, repenting, she vowed that from then on she would never kill any child and would protect all the infants of the world. The Buddha returned her son. From that time on, in the Swayambhu precinct, Harati Mata has been worshipped as 'Sheetalamai', the goddess who protects infants and children.

Note: These are traditional Nepali folk tales (kimbadanti), passed down orally through generations. They may or may not reflect actual historical events, but they are told and believed as part of Nepal's cultural heritage.

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