Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/232

212 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.

Tvaritā 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.

Tripurā-Bhairavī has four arms, wears a garland of heads and has her breasts bathed in blood.

Vajraprastārinī 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.

Surā, 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.

Surapriyā 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. Srīvidyādevī has fierce fangs protruding from her mouth, sits on a serpent couch and wears necklaces of human bones.

Prānasakti, 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.