Shri Ramnath Panchista
Shree Kamaxi
The Goddess Kamaxi is a form of Tripura Sundari, who is the universal Mother Goddess. In the Lalita Sahasranama, we find a 1000 names assigned to the Goddess Tripura Sundari, and one of them is Shree Kamaxi, which means, “One with beautiful eyes”, or “She whose eyes awaken desire.”
Legend has it that she had to absorb the power of all the Shaktis in order to give a boon to Shree Kama, the God of Love. She is “Raja Rajeshwari,” and an embodiment of the Universal power – Parashakti. She has Shree Parvati, Shree Laxmi, and Shree Saraswati as her 3 eyes and just a glimpse of her lotus feet bestows salvation.
How the Goddess came to Lotli is told in an interesting piece of history. Shri. Agnimukh Sharma, a Saraswat from Lotli, had gone on a religious pilgrimage. In Kaur, (Kanchi), he could not tear himself away from the Temple of the Goddess Kamaxi. He overstayed, though he normally did not wait in one temple town for more than 3 days. On the 9th night, he dreamt that he would find an idol of the Devi in the holy tank where he bathed.
As promised, so did it happen; and Agnimukh Sharma set back for Goa, elated. On his way back at Latal, he found a beautiful statue of Shree Kalbhairav, the commander of the 60,000 ganas of Shree Kamaxi. Carrying the idols of Shree Kamaxi and Shree Kalbhairav, he reached Raia, just on the outskirts of Lotli. Resting the night, at his sister’s house in Raia, he was careful to hang the bag with the idols on a peg on a wall, the Shastras saying that if a holy Idol touches the ground, it has to be consecrated and worshipped at that place.
Unfortunately, (but fortunately for the villagers of Raia, as we shall see), Agnimukh Sharma’s nephew picked the bag down to satiate his curiosity, probably wondering what his uncle might have brought for him from distant places.
The idol of Shree Kamaxi touched the ground, where by tradition it had to be installed. Pragmatic like any Saraswat, Agnimukh Sharma accepted it as the will and wish of the Goddess. The village community built a beautiful temple over the idol, and later during the Portuguese atrocities, when Shri Ramnath went to Ponda, Shree Kamaxi crossed over the Zuari river to Shiroda, where she is passionately worshipped to this day.
Back in Raia, Agnimukh Sharma, returned to Lotli, with a coconut, which he had placed at the feet of the Shree Kamaxi idol. He carried with him the idol of Shree Kalbhairav. Meanwhile, in Lotli, some traders from the village had returned from a trading trip to Someshwar. Their watercraft, on the return trip, was weighed down with gopichandan as ballast. Miraculously, an idol of Shree Kamaxi was found amongst the gopichandan. With joy and fervor, both the deities were ceremoniously installed.
Thus Agnimukh Sharma had his dream of having Shree Kamaxi with Shree Kalbhairav in his village. Shri. Narayan Bhaskar Nayak and Shri. Shridharanand Pai Angle in their books on the Devasthan, speak of Vanshe as the location of this temple. Shri. Rui Gomes Pereira suggests Camurlim on the Raia-Lotli border. Our compromisso mentions the place as Raia.
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