She is often portrayed as an old, ugly widow, and is associated with things considered inauspicious and unattractive in Hinduism, such as the crow and the chaturmasya period.

The goddess is often depicted carrying a winnowing basket on a horseless chariot or riding a crow, usually in a cremation ground.

Dhumavati is described as a great teacher, one who reveals ultimate knowledge of the universe, which is beyond the illusory divisions, like auspicious and inauspicious.

Dhumavati is described as a giver of siddhis (supernatural powers), a rescuer from all troubles, and a granter of all desires and rewards, including ultimate knowledge and moksha (salvation).

Dhumavati's worship is considered ideal for unpaired members of society, such as bachelors, widows, and world renouncers as well as Tantrikas.

In her Varanasi temple, however, she transcends her inauspiciousness and acquires the status of a local protective deity, where she is also worshipped by married couples.

Although she has very few dedicated temples, her worship by Tantric ritual continues in private in secluded places like cremation grounds and forests.

[4] Both Alakshmi, the sister and antithesis of Lakshmi (Shri), the goddess of wealth, luck and beauty, and Dhumavati are described as old, carrying a broom and having a crow banner.

[12] Another oral legend tells that Dhumavati was created by the warrior goddess Durga in the battle against demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.

[13] The Pranatosini-Tantra version stresses Dhumavati's destructive aspect and hunger, which is satisfied only when she consumes Shiva, who himself contains or creates the universe.

She wears a garland of skulls, chews the corpses of the demons Chanda and Munda, and drinks a mixture of blood and wine.

For example, an 18th-century painting by Molaram depicts Dhumavati sitting on a chariot pulled by two black scavenger birds with curved beaks.

An early 20th-century painting from Varanasi depicts her riding a crow, holding a trident, a sword, a winnowing fan, and a bowl in her four arms, dark-complexioned, with sagging breasts, wearing white clothes and with cremation flames in the background.

She is completely nude with high breasts, wears a pearl necklace and headband, stands on a peacock with legs apart, and holds a mirror while looking at her reflection.

She dwells in the "wounds of the world", deserts, ruined houses, poverty, tatters, hunger, thirst, quarrels, mourning of children, in wild and other uncivilized, dangerous places.

[4] Like Alakshmi, Dhumavati rules over the four months of the rainy season, when even solar light is obscured by the evil water spirit.

[25] Beyond name and form, beyond human categories, alone and indivisible, as the great dissolution, she (Dhumavati) reveals the nature of ultimate knowledge, which is formless and knows no divisions into good or bad, pure and impure, auspicious and inauspicious.

Dhumavati is often said to appear at the time of Maha-pralaya, the great dissolution of the cosmos and is equated with the dark clouds that rise during Pralaya.

[31] As an ancestor or Grandmother spirit, she embodies a great teacher and guide, granting knowledge of the ultimate truth of life and death.

Without the revealing of this negativity of life, it cannot be transcended and the secret truths would remain hidden under the smoky veil of illusion.

[36] Dhumavati's nama stotras (hymn with names of the deities) identify her with Parvati, Sati, and glorify her as a slayer of demons.

In several places, Dhumavati is described as a giver of siddhis (supernatural powers), a rescuer from all troubles and granter of all desires and rewards, including ultimate knowledge and moksha (salvation).

[21][26] Dhumavati's worship is prescribed to ward off all the negativity that she stands for and to transcend the smoke screen to acquire true knowledge.

It is said that her worship creates a feeling of wanting solitude and distaste of worldly things, which is considered as highest characteristics of a spiritual quest.

This mantra used in the worship of Dhumavati, sometimes with her yantra, is believed to create a protective smoke shielding the devotee from negativity and death.

[15] Her worship involves clearing one's mind of all thoughts and leaving back the known, meditating on the unknown silence beyond, and the Void that Dhumavati represents.

He should blacken his teeth and wear black clothes and observe regulations, such as eating little, sleeping on the ground, and subduing his senses.

Another Tantric text mentions the worshipper should burn a crow in a cremation flame and, while repeating the goddesses' mantra, spread the ashes in the enemy's house, which will lead to his destruction.

They should also perform a homa ("fire sacrifice"), wearing wet clothes and a turban, repeating the goddess' mantra in a cremation ground, forest, or any lonely place.

[35] At the Varanasi temple, which claims to be a Shakta pitha, Dhumavati's idol rides a chariot and holds a winnowing fan, a broom, and a pot, while the fourth hand makes the fear-not gesture (abhaya-mudra).