and is bathed in oil. In her left hand she holds a human head severed from the body and on the left leg is worn an anklet of metallic wire.
TvaritāTvaritā is stated to be a goddess of the Kirātas or a ' huners.' She has two hands, is decorated with peacock's feathers on the head, and wears a cloth of leaves (as some of the wild tribes of to-day), a garland of gunjā-seeds and a (head) jewel of eight serpents. Nagendra Natha Vasu finds in this goddess a close resemblance to Nāgamātā " the mother of serpents," Skandashashthi or Manasā, and to the goddess Tavitā of the Scythians. [1]
Tripurā-
Bhairavī.Tripurā-Bhairavī has four arms, wears a garland of heads and has her breasts bathed in blood.
VajraprastārinīVajraprastārinī [2] is stated to be seated on a lotus, in a boat of blood floating in an ocean of blood. The limbs of her body as well as her head are also bathed in blood.
SurāSurā, wine personified, is represented as a terrible unmarried goddess of eighteen arms and of three eyes. She is tall of form and is as dangerous as destructive fire. She is a terror to the demons and a blessing to angels. In plain language Umā herself is described to be the goddess of wine and Siva (her consort) to be the power of intoxication thereof.
SurapriyāSurapriyā is a goddess seated in a meditative posture cross-legged and attended by a group of Saktis called Ashtāngayoginīs. On either side of her are the deities Pūrnāsvā and Pushkalā. Madhukara, a fat man with hanging belly, two hands and a smiling face, stands on the left side of the goddess. A pot of wine and a staff are also placed near her. The goddess is installed in the houses of prostitutes and small villages or towns, under different names such as Dēvabhāvi, Jnānabhāvi and Gītabhāvi. [3]
SrīvidyādevīSrīvidyādevī has fierce fangs protruding from her mouth, sits on a serpent couch and wears necklaces of human bones.
PrānasaktiPrānasakti, like Vajraprastārinī, is seated on a lotus springing from a boat of blood, in an ocean of blood, and holds among other weapons a human skull filled with blood.- ↑ Mayūrabhanja, Introduction, p. xxxix f. The Silparatna adds that Tvaritā rides on a crow and is considered to be a widow.
- ↑ According to the Silparatna this goddess is a. form of Pārvatī, has six hands, is seated on a red lotus, exhibits in her hands a sugarcane-bow, a flower-arrow, the varada and abhaya postures, a noose and a skull, and is engaged in vanquishing Māra-the god of Love.
- ↑ In the names Pūrnāsvā, Pushkalā and Madhukara we may see an apparent analogy to Pūranai, Pudgalai and Maduraī-Vīran mentioned under village deities (belows p. 230).
