Bahucarā Mātā

Greaterwell-documentedHinduSouth Asian FolkGujarat, IndiaRajasthan (by association)

Bahucarā Mātā is a regional Hindu goddess venerated principally at Becharaji in Gujarat, India. She is associated in the sources with chastity and fertility (in a maiden aspect), with granting favours especially of male children, with curing diseases, and with being patroness of the hijra community.

Origin

Sources describe Bahucarā Mātā as an incarnation of Hinglaj and note her Charan origin; she is presented in regional accounts as a local/ community-linked goddess in Gujarat (and by association Rajasthan). The materials supplied identify her connection to Hinglaj and to Charan-associated regional devotional formations, and record her principal cult-centre at Becharaji in Mehsana district, Gujarat.

Appearance

The provided sources emphasize Bahucarā Mātā's maiden aspect and her identity as a goddess of chastity and fertility but do not supply a reliable, detailed iconographic or physical description in the quoted excerpts. Local devotional material and shrine practice are attested (for example a Gujarati devotional booklet titled Śrī Bahucarā Ārādhanā acquired in Becharaji), but the archival description does not reproduce image details or statue/icon specifications.

Abilities

Reported and attested functions in the available sources are that Bahucarā Mātā grants favours—explicitly noted as 'especially to male children'—and 'cures diseases.' She is also widely described as the patroness of the hijra community, indicating a cultic and social role in which she protects and is venerated by gender-variant devotees. A contemporary devotional translation (reported in a secondary review) is said to 'hint at the goddess power to change the gender of her devotees'; this suggestion appears in a review of a translated devotional work and is therefore recorded here as a tentative element reported in secondary commentary rather than as a fully documented primary ritual claim.

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Community Record

Sources
  1. [1]
    Bahuchara Mata - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Bahuchara Mata'.wiki
  2. [2]
    Bahucarā Mātā (Wikidata). Wikidata item Q803672 label/identification.other
  3. [3]
    Śrī Bahucarā Ārādhanā (Archival entry). Archive catalogue record for a locally produced Gujarati devotional booklet acquired in Becharaji.other
  4. [4]
    Book review: A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses (enfolding.org). Online book review noting that a translated devotional work 'hints at the goddess power to change the gender of her devotees.'other
  5. [5]
    Goddess Bahuchara (Goddesses and Gods blog). Blog post listing name variants and summarizing aspects.folk
well-documented