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The Mahavidya (Sanskrit: महाविद्या, IAST: Mahāvidyā, lit. Great Wisdoms ) are a group of ten Hindu [ 1 ] Tantric goddesses . [ 2 ] The ten Mahavidyas are usually named in the following sequence: Kali , Tara , Tripura Sundari , Bhuvaneshvari , Bhairavi , Chhinnamasta , Dhumavati , Bagalamukhi , Matangi and Kamalatmika . [ 3 ]
Tripura Sundari means the most beautiful woman in the three worlds. Tripura could also mean the three cities crafted by Mayasura and destroyed by Tripurantaka, thus meaning "She who is beautiful to the destroyer of the Three Cities". She is known as Tripura as her mantra has three clusters of letters.
The commonly known origin of Tara is from the 17th chapter of the Rudrayāmala which describes the initial unsuccessful attempts of the sage Vasiṣṭha in worshipping Tara, and the subsequent meeting with the god Vishnu in the form of Buddha in the region called Mahācīna (China) and his eventual success by the means of kaula rites.
In her Mahavidya context, she is also rarely associated with incarnations of Lakshmi such as Sita and Rukmini, though she is identified as two of the Saptamatrikas who are also forms associated with Vishnu, Varahi, and Vaishnavi.
Mulugu Papayaradhya, an 18th-century Telugu poet, is regarded as the first poet to translate the Devi Bhagavata Purana into Telugu. [100] Tirupati Venkata Kavulu also translated this purana into Telugu language in 1896 entitled Devi Bhagavatamu. They have divided the purana into 6 skandas and themselves published it in 1920. [101]
Dhumavati is always considered a widow, and thus, is the only Mahavidya without a consort. Though associated with Shiva, having eaten him, he has since left her. [3] [20] Having destroyed the male element in the universe, she is left with nothing, but she is still Shakti, the female element with latent energy.
Besides the Mahavidya Bagalamukhi, Matangi is the other Mahavidya, whose worship is primarily prescribed to acquire supernatural powers. A hymn in the Maha-Bhagavata Purana asks her grace to control one's foes, while the Tantrasara says that recitation of her mantra, meditation on her form and her ritual worship gives one to the power to ...
Mahadevi is known by many names. She is commonly known as Mulaprakrti ('she who is primordial matter') and Mahamaya ('she who is beyond maya'). [10] The Devi Bhagavata Purana and Lalita Sahasranama describe Mahadevi's numerous epithets. These names include her divine and destructive characteristics. [10]