The 1975 film Jai Santoshi Maa elevated Santoshi Mata, a little-known "new" goddess to the pan-Indian Hindu pantheon. The screenings of the film were accompanied by religious rituals by the audience. Some of the audience entered the theatre barefoot, as in a Hindu temple, and small shrines and temples dedicated to the goddess, started springing up all over North India. The film attained cult status and years after its release, special matinee Friday screenings were organized for women, who observed the goddess' Friday vrata (ritual fast) and engaged in her worship. The success of this low-budget film and media reports of the "sudden emergence of a modern celluloid goddess" resulted in scholarly interest in Santoshi Mata.

Santoshi Mata emerged in the early 1960s with the establishment of five widely spread temples in North India. Her iconography also was crystallized in this period and slowly spread through poster art. Her cult spread among women through word of mouth, pamphlet literature, and poster art. It was the wife of Vijay Sharma, the director of Jai Santoshi Maa, who urged her husband to "spread the goddess's message".

As her film brought her to life, Santoshi Ma quickly became one of the most important and widely worshiped goddesses in India, taking her place in poster-art form in the altar rooms of millions of Hindu homes. [...] Yet it is hard to conceive that Santoshi Ma could have granted such instant satisfaction to so many people had she not been part of a larger and already well-integrated culture of the Goddess. Her new devotees could immediately recognize many of her characteristic moods and attributes, and feel them deeply, because she shared them with other goddesses long since familiar to them. Santoshi Mata's iconography took elements from the familiar form of the Hindu goddesses. Santoshi Mata's characteristic posture standing or sitting on a lotus mirrored that of the goddess Lakshmi (Shri). The weapons she held—the sword and the trident—are traditional attributes of the goddess Durga. The story of Santoshi Mata and Satyavati from Jai Santoshi Maa borrows from older Hindu legends like those of sati Anusuya, who humbled the pride of the jealous goddess triad and of an ardent devotee—of the goddess Manasa—who has to face opposition from her family and other goddesses to worship her patron Manasa.

There was nothing "new" about Santoshi Mata, rather she was just another model of the prototype Hindu Divine Mother. One could identify Santoshi Mata with the lion-riding goddess, Sheravali.

Although a temple dedicated to Santoshi Mata existed in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, before the release of the film Jai Santoshi Maa, before 1967, the temple was dedicated to the goddess also known as Lal Sagar ki Mata—The Mother of the Lal Sagar Lake ( Santoshi ), on whose banks the temple is situated. However, Lal Sagar ki Mata unlike the vegetarian Santoshi Mata, was offered animal sacrifices. With rising popularity of the film, Santoshi Mata images and shrine were incorporated in Hindu temples and in some cases, ( The idol in this temple is swayambhu )Santoshi Mata was installed as the presiding deity like in Jodhpur, deposing other goddesses from that status.

The Santoshi Maa vrata was gaining popularity among women in North India i…

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The Santoshi Mata vrata or devotional fast is to be observed on 16 successive Fridays or until one's wish is fulfilled. The devotee should perform a puja (worship) of Santoshi Mata and offer her flowers, incense and a bowl of raw sugar and roasted chickpeas (gur-chana). The devotee wakes up early morning, remembering the Goddess. Only one meal is taken during the fast day, and devotees avoid eating bitter or sour food and serving these to others, as sour or bitter food is somewhat addictive and hinders satisfaction. When the wish is granted, a devotee must then organize an udyapan ("bringing to conclusion") ceremony, where eight boys are to be served a festive meal.

In this type of worship, the devotee has to follow other strictures such as avoiding quarrels and hurting anyone. By means of this vrata one can live with harmony because the bad habits in human life like ignoring faith in God, stating falsehoods, behaving arrogantly, etc., can be removed. This vrata teaches the devotee to spread love, sympathy and happiness.

There are many temples throughout India and abroad where the principal deity is Mata Santoshi.

North India: Harinagar, Delhi (NCR)

South India: Jai Nagar, Trichy (Tamil Nadu)

East India: Chakradharpur (Jharkhand)

West India (first ever temple): Lall Sagar, Jodhpur (Rajasthan) - Shri Santoshi Mata Mandir, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. There is also a famous Shri Santoshi Mata temple in Dombivli (west) near Mumbai.

Central India (second temple): Shri Santoshi Mata Mandir, Guna, MP.