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Kamalā — The Lotus-Goddess, the Power of Wealth. The Night-of-Splendour (Mahā-rātrī) According to the Śaiva Tantra when Everlasting-Siva (Sadā-śiva) takes over the function of Viṣṇu and sustains and conserves the world, then Kamalā becomes his consort. She is the embodiment of all that is materially and spiritually desirable, the exact counterpart of the Smoky-One (Dhūmavatī). The signs of the zodiac associated with these 2 goddesses are in opposition. Kamalā rules over the auspicious nakṣatra Rohini in Taurus, giver of wealth, while Dhūmavati rules over the nakshatra Jyeṣṭha in the sign Scorpio which brings poverty. (Dhūmavati is identified with Alakṣmī) Kamalā is the power inherent in prosperity. As the energy of preservation she represents the potential for universal well-being that can only be accomplished through the correct utilisation of resources. She is the only one of the Daśa-mahā-vidyās who is totally benevolent and compassionate. In fact coming last in the list of...

Mātangi — the Elephant Power, the Power of Domination, the Outcaste Goddess. The Night-of-Delusion (Moha-rātrī) The regal elephant is the mount of Indra, king of the gods as well as of temporal kings. It is the symbol of the power of domination. After the terror of the night appears the reassuring dawn. The demons of chaos and have been defeated; Mātaṅgī, the Elephant-power, establishes the rule of peace, of calm, of prosperity. The day is, however, a dream, a mirage that punctuates the eternal night. As a form of night, Mātaṅgī is therefore the Night-of-Delusion (Moha-rātrī). Tantra brazenly embraces a theology of transgression, one of the dictums of Tantra is “yair eva patanti taireva siddhyanti” — whatever causes one to fall can also be used to elevate Tantra challenges the ritual and social orthodoxy of Brahminical Hinduism, the first three hindrances to the spiritual path are lajjā – shame, ghṛṇa – disgust and bhaya – fear. Mātaṅgī which is also a term for an outcaste (c...

Bagalā mukhī — The Deceitful, Crane-headed, the Power of Cruelty. The Second Night-of-Courage (Vīra- rātri) In order to maintain social order, we very quickly learn to repress or sublimate any desire that may arise in our minds to kill other living beings – a primitive desire to destroy all others but ourselves; the forbidden pleasure that we feel when hurting another — something we as civilized people don’t like to admit to. This potential or subtle desire to kill or to hurt others, is present to some degree in the psyche of everyone. This repressed destructive desire, unconsciously motivates many of our actions in day to day life. In the iconography of Tantra this aspect of our sub-conscious minds is personified and represented as a woman with the head of a crane (baka), the placid, graceful crane being considered the most deceitful of all creatures – it stands on one leg in the river, perfectly still like a yogi — but it waits for an unsuspecting fish to glide by. B...

Dhūmāvatī — the Smoky One, the Power of Poverty. The Night- of-Frustration (Daruṅa-rātri) After the jīva has left, the body is consigned to the funeral pyre, our entire subjective universe centered on the body ends in smoke; hence the power of ultimate destruction is called the Smoky-One (Dhūmāvati). She is the śakti that destroys the structures of all things, (any “structure” is ruled over by the male principle whereas “process” is the feminine energy), hence she is called a widow (vidhavā). Nothing is left for her to own, hence she is utterly destitute. She is the goddess-of-poverty (Dāridra), of frustration, of despair, identified with Mis-fortune (A-lakṣmī) and with the goddess-of-disease-and misery (Niṛṛti). Her presence can be seen in the destitute, the beggars, the lepers, the diseased and disenfranchised. She dwells in the wounds-of-the-earth (kṣata-vikṣata-pṛthivi), in deserts, ruined houses, rags, hunger, thirst, widowhood, quarrels, alcoholism, crime, domestic viol...

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 Ś...

The Self-Beheaded, the Power of the Sacrifice. The Night- of- Courage (Vira-rātri) Chinnamastā’s myth is recounted in the Pranatoshini Tantra. Once the progress of the day or the process of world unfoldment has reached a state of stability, it continues to exist, depending for its sustenance on destruction, on burning, on consuming. The cosmic sacrifice (yajña) expresses this process of universal metabolism, and the ritual sacrifices (yajña) are performed with the intention of harmonising and co-operating with the cosmic process of maintenance. Yajña is the exchanging of energies between differing levels of existence and the creation of harmony and balance. The aspect of Śiva which presides over the cosmic sacrifice is the Headless (Kabandha). The Vedic ritual of sacrifice involves the beheading the victim — “The sacrifice is indeed beheaded.” (Satapatha Brahmana). Hence the Shakti (dynamic energy) of the sacrifice is depicted as the “Beheaded-one (Chinnamastā). At th...

Bhuvaneśvarī — the Lady of the Spheres, Knowledge. The Night- of- Realisation (Siddha-rātri). After the rising of the Sun after the gentle dawn period of the day and of projection of the universe, the Girl-of-Sixteen (ṣoḍaśi) makes way for the resplendent Lady-of-the-spheres (Bhuvaneśvarī), consort of the Three-eyed Śiva (Tryambakeśvara). Creation now becomes a powerful flow, a constant evolving, over which this Sovereign Goddess rules. As the ruler of the universe she is also known as the Queen-of-Queens (Rāja-rājeśvarī). Bhuvaneśvarī is also associated and identified with the earth and the universe in general, and the underlying energy that brings it into being and pervades it and nurtures it. She embodies the characteristic dynamics and constituents that make up the world and that lend creation its distinctive character. In this sense she is identified with the mahā-bhūtas (the basic physical elements – earth, fire, water, air and space) and prakṛti (primordial nature). The...

Tripura-sundari — the beauty-of-the three-realms, Perfection. The Divine-Night (Divya-rātrī) The number used to represent the totality of perfection is 16. In human beings sixteen years represent the age of accomplished perfection, after which decline sets in — it is the age of the fullness of vigour and libido. There are fifteen days (tithis) in the complete lunar cycle from the new moon to the full moon. The 15 day is either the full moon or the new moon. 16 therefore represents that which is full within time and yet beyond time. The Girl-of-Sixteen (Shodashi) rules over all that is perfect, complete, beautiful. After dawn, after the hour of the Star (Tārā), comes the hour of perfection. The young sun has risen in its fullness; the sun is the source of all life on this planet and is numerologically connected with the number 5 and with the five elements and is represented by the five-faced Śiva. Just after dawn its fierceness has not yet appeared. It seems gentle, brigh...

Tāra — the Star, the Power of Hunger. The Night-of-Anger (Krodha-rātrī) Tara is also known as the neela saraswati Or the blue saraswati (goddess of speech and knowledge) The Star (Tārā) is the first force that arises in the  Bindu  [Golden-Embryo — Hiranya-garbha], the cosmic location from which the universe evolves. As soon as the germ of life is planted, hunger arises — the embryo wants food. Only through the process of combustion of some fuel, some nutrients, can the universe survive and develop. This perpetual cosmic need to consume is the basis of the cosmic sacrifice, as well as of all the forms of existence and life. The nature of the Golden Embryo can well be said to be hunger and its power lies in the ability to devour. The name given to this pure and absolute, hunger is — “the Star” (Tārā). Although the word  tāra  means a star, the Tantras take its etymology to mean “that which leads to the other shore.” “She who brings us to the other shore ( ...

Of all the Hindu icons, Kālī is the most confronting for everyone! It must also be mentioned in all fairness that many Indians also find her iconography disconcerting. Mother kali is usually depicted dancing on the prostrate figure of Lord Śiva. She is black in colour with four arms. Her hair is disheveled and her tongue lolls out of her mouth. She has four hands — holding a decapitated head, a sword, a bowl of blood which she drinks and the lower right hand displays the gesture of fearlessness. She wears a garland of human heads and her skirt is comprised of severed arms. Bearing in mind that Kālī is the embodiment of Time, and that impermanence and change are the 2 underpinning realities of the universe and our existence in it — the image of the Goddess attempts to portray the force of disintegration and confronts us with the reality of our own mortality. Accoutrements The kapāla— head she holds represents our ahaṅkāra concept-of-self— the ego. It is the concept of ourselv...