DASHA MAHAVIDYA : TRIPURA BHAIRAVI

The Fearful Goddess, the Power of Death. The Night-of-Death (Kala-rātri)

Chinnamasta represents the end of things, the spectacular moment when the victim is sacrificed, beheaded; life and existence comes to an abrupt end.

But this apparently sudden end is only the culmination of a process that began long before. Destruction begins from the very first moment of conception — death of one state and birth of another – the sperm unites with the ovum to produce the zygote which goes on changing with the production of the foetus. Death is the ever-present reality operating in everything. This aspect of death is called the “perpetual-destruction” (nitya-pralaya).

The southern direction is dedicated to Yama, the God of death – In the Vedic Yajñas there are 3 fire-pits, the southern Vedic fire (dakṣina agni) is the fire of destruction. The northern direction is dedicated to Soma, the “essence of life,” or of love (sneha tattva), the nourishing ambrosia of immortality (amṛta).

In Śaiva theology one of the forms of Shiva who faces the South is (Dakṣina-mūrti) and the other aspect, Kāla-Bhairava (Time-of-the-Fearful) is also associated with the Southern direction.

The energy (śakti) of death and destruction is the Fearful-Goddess – Bhairavī, also called Tripura-Bhairavī (the Fearful-Goddess-of-the-Three-Cities). Everything that the 6th Mahāvidyā – Bhuvaneśvarī (lady-of-the-spheres) preserves and nurtures, this Fearful Goddess relentlessly destroys. She is the Tangible-Demoness (Aparā-ḍākini), always our constant companion lurking nearby — her presence is found in the self-destructive habits that we acquire — eating tāmasic food, drinking alcohol, smoking, taking drugs, high risk adventures etc. She is further strengthened by the destructive emotions like anger, jealousy, hatred, resentment etc.

Her dhyana shloka in the Devi Mahatmya describes her form. She is seated on a lotus with four hands, one with a book, one with rosary beads, one with abhaya mudra and another with varada mundra. She wears red garments and wears a garland of severed heads around her neck. She has three eyes and her head is adorned with a crescent moon. In another form she is carrying a sword and a cup containing blood and other two hands showing abhaya and varada mudras. She is also depicted as sitting on Shiva, which is more predominant in tantric worship. She is also depicted as a queen, closely resembling Rajarajeswari.