Page:South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses.djvu/240

220 Sarasvatī who preside over the morning, mid-day and evening prayers of the twice-born classes and represent the Vēdas, Rik, Yajus, and Sāman or the three sacred fires, Gārhapatya, Dakshināgni and the Āhavaniya, respectively ; Tulajā-Bhavānī, who like Annapūrnā holds in one hand a vessel of delicious food and in another a spoon for distributing the same; Rājamātangī who is absorbed in listening to the talk of a parrot and stands with one of her feet placed on a lotus, while her hands are fondly playing upon the vinā; Laghusyā- malā, a damsel who has just attained her youth and who plays upon the vina, with a vessel of wine near her and with eyes betraying signs of intoxication ; Vārunī, Sudhāmālinī or Amritēsvarī, "the goddess of boats," who is seated on a boat bedecked with gems and surrounded by an army of Saktis, bright as the growing sun, maddens the three worlds by her glance, decorates her tresses with the flowers of the pārijāta- tree and holds a vessel of wine, a lotus and a cooked piece of flesh in her hands ; and Kurukulla, also a goddess of boats, fully drunk with wine, riding on a boat of gems and holding in her hands a paddle of gems. Vindhyavāsinī, classed as one of the Durgās, is called Mūkāmbikā in the Silpasāra. She is said to be seated on a golden lotus, to have four arms and to be dazzling as lightning. By her side stands the lion, her vehicle.

The most famous of these milder deities, however, are Lalitā, Tripura-Sundarī and Rājarājesvarī (fig. 137). All are highly beautiful and of dazzling brilliance. They have four hands each and hold the symbols : noose (or, fruit), goad (or, conch), sugarcane-bow (or, mirror) and five arrows (or, a lotus or a cup of collyrium). Their worship is directly connected with the mystic geometrical drawings known as chakras and pīthas. Images of these goddesses are not honoured so much as the chakras or pīthas over which they are supposed to preside. The worship offered consists in throwing over the chakras a profusion of red turmeric powder called kunkumam, which is generally worn on the forehead by all Hindu ladies whose husbands are alive. The throwing of kunkumam is accompanied by the repetition of long strings of the names of Lalitā consisting of synonyms a thousand, three hundred, or one hundred and eight in number. Each name is prefaced with the sacred syllable Ōm. The goddesses