Page:Durga Puja - With Notes and Illustrations.djvu/42

 Matsya, Kachchha, Varaha, and Nrsinha are towards the right. Buddha is placed in the centre and he is represented seated in deep meditation with his eyes closed and both hands folded on the navel. Towards the left are Vamana, Parasurama, Valarama and Kalki. Rama, the complement of the ten avatars, is the principal figure of the chal towards the right. Round Muktakesi are placed the ten Mahavidyas i. e., the ten incarnations of Sakti viz. Kali, the well known goddess. Tara, another form of Kali, represented as more plump than Kali, with legs differently disposed, that is stretching side-ways. Dhumavati, Shodasi, Bhuvanesvari and Vagala are milder incarnations of Sakti. They are all represented as seated, some upon chairs held by Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and Narada, some as being anointed with waters poured by elephants. Chhinnamastaka is a redish [sic] brown, naked, headless goddess, she stands upon a human couple and in one hand holds a gory scimitar and in the other, her own severed head, which drinks the warm blood, gushing forth from her headless trunk. Matangi, Bhairavi and Siddhavidya have each a place in the chal.

In the lower compartment of this central chal are represented the several elementary gods, viz.,