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{{short description|Hindu goddess}}
{{Redirect|Yogmaya|the temple|Yogmaya Temple}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Hindu
| image = Narayani Dham idol.jpg
| caption = Shrine of the goddess Narayani, [[Lonavala]]
| deity_of = Goddess of Illusion<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Goddess_in_India/IVsoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=yogamaya+goddess+of+illusion&pg=PT83&printsec=frontcover | isbn=9781594775376 | title=The Goddess in India: The Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine | date=September 2000 | publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>
| affiliation = [[Shaktism]], [[Vaishnavism]]
| birth_place = [[Gokul]]am
| parents = [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]] (father), [[Yashoda]] (mother)
| dynasty = [[Yadava|Yaduvamsha]]
| name = Yogamaya
| abode = [[Vaikuntha]], [[Vindhyas]]
| festivals = [[Vaikuntha Ekadashi]]
| other_names = Mahamaya, [[Durga]], Vindhyavasini, Narayani, Bhadrakali, Ambika, Ekanamsha, Sharada
| texts = [[Bhagavata Purana]]
}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2019}}

'''Yogamaya''' ({{Lang-sa|योगमाया|lit=illusory potency|translit=Yogamāyā}}), also venerated as '''Vindhyavasini''', '''Mahamaya''', and [[Ekanamsha]], is a [[Hinduism|Hindu]] goddess.

In [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] tradition, she is accorded the epithet '''Narayani''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=Purnendu Narayana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIBBAAAAYAAJ&dq=yogamaya+narayani&pg=PA247 |title=A Study of the Bhagavata Purana: Or, Esoteric Hinduism |date=1901 |publisher=Freeman & Company, Limited |pages=247 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Parthasarathy |first1=V. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyAoAQAAIAAJ&q=yogamaya+narayani |title=Devi: Goddesses in Indian Art and Literature |last2=Parthasarathy |first2=Indu |date=2009 |publisher=Bharatiya Kala Prakashan |isbn=978-81-8090-203-1 |pages=133 |language=en}}</ref> and serves as the personification of [[Vishnu]]'s powers of illusion.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beck |first=Guy L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0XqbG0LKBUC&dq=yogamaya+vishnu&pg=PA170 |title=Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity |date=2012-02-01 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-8341-1 |pages=170 |language=en}}</ref> The deity is regarded as the benevolent aspect of the goddess [[Durga]] in the [[Bhagavata Purana]]. She is regarded by [[Shaktism|Shaktas]] to be a form of [[Adi Shakti]]. In [[Hindu texts|Hindu literature]], she is born in a [[Yadava]] family, as the daughter of [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]] and [[Yashoda]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knapp |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIqyv8A9XBAC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT32&dq=yogamaya+yashoda&hl=en |title=Hindu Gods & Goddesses |date=2012 |publisher=Jaico Publishing House |isbn=978-81-8495-366-4 |pages=32 |language=en}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
Yogamaya refers to “the internal potency of [[Vishnu|Bhagavan]], that arranges and enhances all his pastimes” in the [[Bhagavad Gita]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2017-04-30 |title=Yogamaya, Yogamāyā, Yoga-maya: 13 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/yogamaya |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>

The goddess Vindhyavasini gets her name from the [[Vindhya Range]], literally meaning, "she who resides in Vindhya".

==Legend==
At the time of the birth of [[Krishna]] as the eighth child of [[Devaki]] and [[Vasudeva]], Yogamaya had been born at the same time at the house of [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]] and [[Yashoda]], as instructed by [[Vishnu]]. Vasudeva replaced Krishna with this daughter of Yashoda. When [[Kamsa]] tried to kill this infant, believing that she was his prophesied killer, she escaped from the grasp of Kamsa, and turned into her form of [[Durga]]. She informed the tyrant that his killer had already been born elsewhere, and subsequently vanished from the prison of [[Mathura]].
[[File:Episodes Surrounding the Birth of Krishna.jpg|thumb|280x280px|The goddess Yogamaya emerges as Kamsa kills Yashoda's daughter]]
{{blockquote|The child, Yoga-māyā-devī, the younger sister of Lord Viṣṇu, slipped upward from Kaṁsa’s hands and appeared in the sky as Devī, the goddess Durgā, with eight arms, completely equipped with weapons|source=[[Srimad Bhagavatam]], Canto 10,Chapter 4, Verse 9<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/4/9/|website=vedabase.io/en/|language=en|access-date=24 February 2020|title=Śb 10.4.9}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|O Kaṁsa, you fool, what will be the use of killing me? The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has been your enemy from the very beginning and who will certainly kill you, has already taken His birth somewhere else. Therefore, do not unnecessarily kill other children|source=[[Srimad Bhagavatam]], Canto 10,Chapter 4, Verse 12<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/4/12/|website=vedabase.io/en/|language=en|access-date=24 February 2020|title=Śb 10.4.12}}</ref>}}

Thereafter, she is believed by local lore to have chosen to reside at the Vindhyachala mountains, where her temple is located at present. Some believe she was reborn as [[Subhadra]] to help [[Krishna]] for establishing [[dharma]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Krishnan|first=S. A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2ZEDwAAQBAJ&q=is+subhadra+yogmaya&pg=PA70|title=Abhimanyu: The Warrior Prince|date=2017-05-20|publisher=SA Krishnan|language=en}}</ref>

== Shaktism ==
Authors Constance Jones and James D. Ryan opine that Vindhyavasini is mentioned in the [[Devi Mahatmya]], an important text that presents various incarnations or forms of the Supreme Goddess of [[Shaktism]] ([[Mahadevi]]). She is also mentioned in an early 19th-century local text called Vindhya Mahatmya. In both, she is understood to be the Ultimate Reality in its totality. She is also assimilated with [[Parvati]], conceived of as "ultimate divinity".{{Sfn|Jones|Ryan|2006|p=489}}

== Vaishnavism ==
{{Vaishnavism}}
Yogamaya is regarded to be the embodiment of either the internal or the external potency of Vishnu, or his avatar of Krishna, in [[Vaishnavism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knapp |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIqyv8A9XBAC&dq=yogamaya+krishna+birth&pg=PT32 |title=Hindu Gods & Goddesses |date=2012 |publisher=Jaico Publishing House |isbn=978-81-8495-366-4 |language=en}}</ref> The goddess, also referred to as ''Vaishnavi Mahamaya'', assumes a number of manifestations like [[Durga]], Ambika, Kshemada, and [[Bhadrakali]], according to the [[Vishnu Purana]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Varadpande |first=Manohar Laxman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XrFh2S8nlEC&dq=yogamaya+power+vishnu&pg=PA15 |title=Mythology of Vishnu and His Incarnations |date=2009 |publisher=Gyan Publishing House |isbn=978-81-212-1016-4 |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref>

In the Bhagavata Purana, the asura [[Hiranyaksha]] mocks [[Varaha]] and references Vishnu's ''Yogamaya'':<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2022-07-24 |title=Hiraṇyākṣa's Fight with Varāha [Chapter 18] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-bhagavata-purana/d/doc1127066.html |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=Are you employed by our enemies for destroying us? You kill Asuras by Māyā and thus conquer them by fraudulent means. Oh dunce, I shall wipe out the sorrows of my friends by killing you, whose strength lies in yoga-māyā, but have little personal bravery.|title=[[Bhagavata Purana]]|source=Chapter 18}}

According to a 17th century literary poem called the ''Mukundavilasa'', when [[Bhumi (goddess)|Bhudevi]] and [[Brahma]] petition Vishnu to intervene in earthly affairs due to the oppression of [[Kamsa]] and [[Shishupala]], he recruits a number of deities to assist him in his Krishna avatar: [[Lakshmi]] is to be born as [[Rukmini]], Bhudevi is to manifest as [[Satyabhama]], [[Shesha]] is to incarnate as [[Balarama]], and Yogamaya is tasked to be born as the daughter of Yashoda.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unni |first=N. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GbK-jb7i_KcC&dq=yogamaya+rukmini&pg=PA25 |title=Nilakantha Diksita |date=1995 |publisher=Sahitya Akademi |isbn=978-81-7201-803-0 |pages=25 |language=en}}</ref>

In the narratives of Krishna, the deity employs the phenomenon of ''Yogamaya'' in order to spend time with the cowherd women of [[Gokul]]am, the [[gopi]]s. During his blissful dalliance with the gopis, it is Yogamaya who creates spiritual doppelgangers of each gopi at their houses so that they can also act as chaste wives to their husbands, while also dwelling on the deity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schweig |first=Graham M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k4ZeDwAAQBAJ&dq=yogamaya+potency&pg=PA130 |title=Dance of Divine Love: India's Classic Sacred Love Story: The Rasa Lila of Krishna |date=2018-06-26 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-19017-4 |pages=136 |language=en}}</ref>

In the [[Bhagavad Gita]], when [[Arjuna]] wonders why Krishna's pastimes and true form are not visible to mortals, he responds by stating that his manifestations are not visible to all men, and that he is veiled by his illusory potency.<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2020-05-08 |title=Verse 7.25 [Bhagavad-gita] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/shrimad-bhagavad-gita/d/doc419992.html |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>

When the [[asura]] [[Jalandhara]] wages a war against [[Shiva]] to abduct [[Parvati]], Vishnu employs Yogamaya to employ an illusion to maintain his presence at [[Vaikuntha]] for the sake of his wife, [[Lakshmi]], and slyly claims the chastity of the asura's wife, [[Tulasi in Hinduism|Vrinda]]. This allows Shiva to prevail in his war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pintchman |first=Tracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KcEotmV2MAC&dq=yogamaya+goddess+lakshmi&pg=PA81 |title=Guests at God's Wedding: Celebrating Kartik among the Women of Benares |date=2005-08-25 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-6595-0 |pages=81 |language=en}}</ref>

Due to Yogamaya's service to Vishnu, the deity offers her the occasion of ''[[Vaikuntha Ekadashi|Ekadashi]]'' (the eleventh day of every month) for veneration in her honour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rinehart |first=Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMPYnfS_R90C&dq=yogamaya+vishnu&pg=PA142 |title=Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-905-8 |pages=142 |language=en}}</ref>

==Temples==
[[File:Ma Vindhyavasini.jpg|thumb|Shrine of Vindhyavasini, near Mirzapur]]

Yogamaya's temple is located at [[Vindhyachal]], 8 km away from [[Mirzapur]] on the banks of river [[Ganges]], in [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vindhyachal Dham |url=https://mirzapur.nic.in/tourist-place/vindhyachal-dham/ |access-date=3 July 2020 |website=District Mirzapur, Government of Uttar Pradesh}}</ref> Another shrine is located in Bandla, Himachal Pradesh, also called Bandla Mata Temple.<ref name="a">{{cite web |title=Welcome To Official Website Of Maa Vindhyavasini Devi |url=http://www.maavindhyavasinidevi.com/english/mythology.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326202759/http://www.maavindhyavasinidevi.com/english/mythology.html |archive-date=2012-03-26 |website=www.maavindhyavasinidevi.com}}</ref><ref name="b">http://vindhyachaltemple.com/</ref><ref name="c">{{cite web |title=Vindhyavasini Devi Temple - Vindhyachal Attraction and Place to See & Visit: Must See India |url=http://www.mustseeindia.com/Vindhyachal-Vindhyavasini-Devi-Temple/attraction/13840 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926185352/http://www.mustseeindia.com/Vindhyachal-Vindhyavasini-Devi-Temple/attraction/13840 |archive-date=2008-09-26 |website=www.mustseeindia.com}}</ref> A huge crowd visits the temple, especially during [[Navaratri]] in the Hindu months of [[Chaitra]] and [[Ashwin|Ashvin]]. In the month of [[Jyeshtha]], the Kajali competition, is held here.<ref name="b" /><ref name="c" /> The temple is one of the most revered [[Shakti Peethas]] of India. The Vindhyavasini Devi is also known popularly by name of Kajala devi. The goddess Kali is adorned in the form of Vindhyavasini Devi.<ref name="b" /><ref name="c" />

There is a temple of [[Saraswati]] named Ashtbhuja Temple, 3 km away on a hillock, and a temple of goddess [[Kali]] in cave called Kali khoh temple. The pilgrims prefer to visit these three temples, which is a part of rite called Trilokan [[Parikrama]].<ref name="b" /><ref name="c" />

The goddess is known as "Bijasani devi" central India, and the Bijasani Mata temple is present on the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border.

There is also a temple dedicated to this goddess in [[Pokhara]], [[Nepal]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Galen Rowell |author2=John Everingham |author3=Jim Goodman |title=Pokhara in the shadow of the Annapurnas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=620MAQAAMAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=Book Faith India |isbn=978-974-89765-4-9 |page=29 }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Shaktipeeth|Shakti Pitha]]
*[[Rukmini]]
*[[Yashoda]]
*[[Subhadra]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}5.↑ [https://hindi.jaytebharat.com/539/maa-vindhyavasini-devi/ Mahatmya of Maa Vindhyavasini]

===Bibliography===
*{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC|first1=Constance|last1=Jones|first2=James D.|last2=Ryan|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2006|isbn=9780816075645}}

{{Authority control}}
{{HinduMythology}}

[[Category:Hindu goddesses]]
[[Category:Vishnu]]
[[Category:Vaishnavism]]
[[Category:Durga]]

Yogamaya - Revision history

Jantapost at 18:32, 13 March 2026

ImportMaster: robot: Create/update articles in Category:Hindu gods.