Yesterday I was at my shelter , the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre tending to a baby monkey which had had acid thrown on it, when a ginger cat jumped on to my shoulder and nibbled my ear. A great feeling of warmth and love swept over me. Puppies, lambs, chicks, baby buffaloes bring on my mother hormones, but cats of all ages do too. 

Many of our superstitions have come from the West: a cat crossing your path is unlucky, for instance. None existed in India before the British came: in fact the Mughals were cat lovers. What is the Hindu attitude towards cats? I am happy to announce that we have not one but two celestial cats: one, Vishnu himself.

Biranchi Mishra, a former director of Orissa Tourism has written to me about a Cat god on Orissa. The place is Nrusimhanath in Bargarh district in Western Orissa. The cat is considered an incarnation of Vishnu as Bidala Nrusimha or Marjara Kesari (Bidala and marjara mean “cat”, and kesari means “lion”).

This is the story as told in Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu.

The Ramayana war was in full spate in Sri Lanka when Rama’s brother Lakshmana was felled by Ravana’s son Meghnatha’s arrow. As he lay dying, Hanuman was sent to get a herb from the Gandhamadana mountain. Since he didn’t have time to search, he brought the entire mountain. Afterwards, instead of putting it back in the Himalayan range, he parked it in Western Orissa.

The mountain became sacred for sages who performed their austerities there. One sage, Udanga, had a daughter named Malati and they lived on the banks of the Godavari river. One day, Ravana passed by, saw the girl and raped her. He threw her into the Godavari River.

The compassionate Godavari brought her to a shore. When Malati awoke she began searching for her father and crying loudly. Indura, the mouse carrier of Ganesh, heard her cries and offered to help her if she would let him have his way with her. The girl had no choice. From Ravana and Indura‘s seed, a demon was born named Mushika Daitya (“mouse demon”) and he was so ferocious that as soon as he came out of the womb he devoured his mother. He then began to perform austerities to please Lord Shiva and obtained the boon that he need not fear from anyone except for Lord Narasimha (Vishnu). Seeing his power and black deeds, the gods appealed to Lord Rama to rescue the universe. Lord Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, chased Mushika Daitya right to the Gandhamadana Hill where the latter prayed to the mountain for shelter and then entered through a crack in the hill. When Lord Rama arrived, Gandhamadana requested him not to enter inside as the mountain would split. Lord Rama then assumed the form of Marjara-Kesari, with the head of a cat and the body of a lion and began guarding the area near the crack just as a cat sits by a hole, waiting for a mouse. Thousands of years later a tribal named Hari Kondh and his wife Yamuna lived near the Gandhamadana Hill and collected herbs. One day, Yamuna was digging when she saw blood coming from the ground. Frightened, she ran to tell her husband. When the couple returned they found milk pouring out. And heard a voice, “I am Narayana in my cat-lion form, waiting to kill the demon Mushika. Take me from the ground and build a temple to protect me.” They dug in that place, unearthed the deity, and informed the Chauhan king Baijal Dev, who built a temple for the deity in the 15th century. 

 Without anything else to offer the Lord, Hari Kondh and Yamuna are said to have given wild oranges to Bidala Nrusingha. To this day these fruits are offered to the Lord and are considered as sacred as water from the Ganga. Located by cascading waterfalls on the Gandhamadana Hills, the deity is a Cat made of black Chlorite stone.  

(An Oriya offshoot of this story says that Ravana was cursed by Udanga that if he raped another woman he would die, which is why Sita was never touched by him.)

The second divinity is the Cat of Shashthi, In the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Goddess Shashthi is an aspect of Durga and the wife of Lord Kartikeya as Devasena or his mother as a Krittika. She is the Goddess of fertility prayed to when you want a child and the protector of children. Her worship is done on the sixth (shashti) day following a child's birth. The cat Marjara is her vahana (mount). 

Jamai Shashthi in Bengal is celebrated in the month of June. It is dedicated to the son-in-law (Jamai) who gets a grand celebration in the house of his in-laws. There is a belief that those who observe Aranya or Skanda Shashthi (Nov-December in South India) will be blessed with children. Women observe a partial fast on the day and perform pujas in a forest. In western India, the cat is worshipped with Goddess Shashthi on that day. 

The best known legend of Shashthi and the cat is a legend about a merchant named Saaya who had a loving wife, sons and daughters in law. The family was blessed with peace and prosperity. The merchant’s wife worshipped all the deities on the correct days.

On the day of Shashthi puja the mother and daughters in law rose early and worked untiringly to make the food and offerings. While waiting for the priest to come and do the puja, the mother in law called the youngest daughter in law to guard the food while they rested.

The daughter in law was pregnant and desired to eat some of the oblations. She did. When the mother in law returned and noticed that the food was missing the daughter in law claimed that a cat had jumped in and eaten them. The mother in law reprimanded the girl and sent her to her room.

Shashthi’s cat was listening and she was very angry at the disrespect shown to her goddess and the falsehoods spoken. So when the daughter in law delivered a son, she stole him. The daughter in law was inconsolable, the rest of the family was aghast. Six babies disappeared.

During the seventh one’s birth, the mother went into the forest, delivered the baby herself, placed him on her lap and kept guard the whole night. She saw the black cat approach and snatch the baby. She ran after it but the baby and cat vanished. The mother fainted.

The cat took all the children to Shashthi and told her the story of how she had been falsely accused of eating the oblations.

Shahsthi was very concerned and went to the girl in the forest who, when she awoke, saw the goddess standing there. The girl started crying and asked her why she was suffering. Shashthi said “You lacked respect for me. You ate the food for my worship and then lied about it.” The girl pleaded for forgiveness. Shasthi returned her seven sons. Worshippers of Shasthi make an image of the cat as well to protect their children. 

Be kind to cats: The males are Vishnu and the females are part of Shashthi. Either way, they bring you blessings.

Maneka Gandhi
 
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