DEVI LALITHA TRIPURASUNDARI
Goddess Parashakthi then appeared before them holding a book in one hand and a rosary of beads in the other. Her face was cool and radiant like the moon.When Maha Shambhunathar was beseech ed by relentless requests from the Gods ,he told them the way to appease Devi Parashakthi. He told the celestial beings that the Maha Yaga had to be performed and that he himself would conduct the Yagya for the sake of restoring a state of order and peace in the Universe. Saying thus he asked the celestial beings to return to devaloka and assured them that the present state of anomie was just a temporary one ,thus assuaging their fears. Lord Shambhunatha then entered the Universe in the form of the seven layered Vayu. One of the seven cosmic oceans that had dried up was used as the altar and after Vayu blew away the remaining water in it ,Chidagni was used to kindle the sacrificial flame.And thus the great Yagya was conducted with the six great comic oceans being offered as six drops of ghee into the altar. The two pralaya meghas(clouds) were used ,as spoons,to give the aahuti(offering). The creations/shrishtis were classified into five types and all of these five types of creations were offered to the great sacrificial fire as sacrificial animals.The stars festooned the corners of the altar in place of flowers which are normally used for such decorative purposes in Yagyas. Finally Lord Shambhunatha asked all the gods to jump into the sacrificial fire.
ASHWARUDHA DEVI
SAMPATKARI DEVI
After a moments hesitation, all the gods, including the trinity and their spouses, jumped into the fire.Then out of the fire emerged the Devi in the form of Lalitha Tripurasundari seated on a golden plate. She was in the form of a sixteen year old girl and the age sixteen has been chosen deliberately as the Devi is an amalgamation of the powers of the 16 nithya devis. The goddess was seated on a chariot called Chakra Raja Ratha. She was armed with multiple weapons. She then created a form of a Parabrahman from within herself called Kameshwara and married him. Then step by step she created Brahma and Lakshmi from her left eye,Vishnu and Parvathi from her right eye and Shiva-Saraswathi from her third eye. Lakshmi,Saraswathi and Parvathi represent the Saatvik,Raajasik and Taamasik aspects of the Super Goddess’s power.She then started the process of creation all over again as the sanctity of her creations had been desecrated by Bhandasura’s evil. One by one, she created the Vedas,the Sun,the Moon,fire,darkness,the nine planets,the penal code,poetries,plays,shastras,mountains and so on and so forth.She then created Bala Devi from her heart,Goddess Matangi from her intellect and Goddess Varahi from her ego.She also created goddess Ashwarudha from her pasam and Devi Sampatkari from her ankusha. Later on she created the Goddess Nakuleshwari (Vaageshwari)from her cheeks and Goddess Gayatri from her Kundalini Shakthi.
GODDESS VARAHI
MANTRINI DEVI
She made Mantrini Devi(Matangi) her prime minister and gave her a ring. With Ashwarooda Devi riding Aparijit(a horse) , Sampatkari Devi seated on Ranakolahalam(an elephant),Goddess Varahi riding her chariot Kirichakra and Mantrini Devi riding her chariot Geyachakra, Goddess Lalithaparameshwari marched to battle with her innumerable number of Yoginis. Then from the bird in Mantrini Devi’s hand appeared Dhanurveda who gave her a quiver called akshaya(unlimited).The deafening stentorian of Lalitha Devi made the evil forces tremble with fear. Her clarion call was in fact ringing a death knell to the asura clan.When the news of Lalitha Devi’s march to battle reached the capital of Bhandasura’s Kingdom(Shunyaka) Vishanga and Vishukra were contriving about a nefarious plot to surreptitiously assess the strength of the Devi’s Army. However the conceited Bhandasura dismissed their well founded fears as meaningless and silly. Meanwhile he instructed Kutilaksha to lead the forces and asked his priests to perform abhichara homa(black magic). With Kutilaksha appointing Durmada to lead the army and he ,riding a camel ,was engaged in a fierce duel with Sampatkari Devi who finally killed him.
THE SIXTEEN NITHYADEVIS
Later Ashwarudha Devi faced a deadly onslaught from his enraged elder brother Kurunda.Finally she delivered a fatal blow with her spear. Later they unleashed the lethal serpent army upon the Devi Sena and at that moment Goddess Nakuleshwari appeared riding an eagle and subdued the serpent arsenal by creating a vast army of mongooses which gobbled up the new born serpents.She killed the Nagarakshasas by unleashing the deadly Garudastram.Then the devis were faced by a new kind of predicament. Rakshasas born to Kikasa had the ability to blind their opponents in battle by virtue of a boon that they had received from the Sun god that he would reside in their eyes.In the face of this adversity Varahi’s attendant Tiraskarini Devi riding her aeroplane Tamoliptam blinded these asuras by deploying her Andhanastram.Then Bhandasura’s brother Vishanga with his predilection for vulpine thoughts decided to attack the Devi Sena from the rear. And simultaneously Kutilaksha attacked them at the front. Even though the Devis were taken aback by this stealthy attack they immediately recovered from the shock and began to attack the armies fiercely. By the light provided by Jvalamalini and Vahnivasini the Nithya devis were able to discern the asuras hiding in the dark and thus exterminated them.The devi was extremely pleased by their pugilistic skills and their pageantry. Jvalamalini then made a wall of fire around the Devi to protect her. The next day Bhandasura in desperation sent his 30 sons to battle all of who were killed by Bala Devi. Ambal however was very disturbed by their sly warfare. Vishukra then planted Vighna yantras at strategic positions in the fire wall and as a result of the inebriating influence of his dark magic there was a sporadic outbreak of callousness,apathy and laxity among the devi’s attendants. Finally devi summoned her son Ganesha who destroyed these yantras and thus broke the influence of the evil imprecation. Later the asuras tried to create a feeling of intense thirst among the devi sena and to counter this cunning technique Varahi Devi summoned Mayasamudra who relieved the Devi Sena of their thirst by showering liquor rains. Finally Vishanga was killed by Varahi with her pestle and Vishukra was killed by Mantrini Devi.
BALA DEVI
At last Bhandasura faced Devi Lalitha Tripurasundari herself in combat. He then invoked the pent up dark energy inside him and from him emerged all the asuras like Hiranyakashipu,Hiranyaksha,Raavana,Kumbhakarna etc. The Ten incarnations of Vishnu then came out of the Devi’s fingernails to kill these rakshasas. Then sensing the swirling vortex of negative energy inside him she finally unleashed the Pasupatastra which annihilated both Bhandasura and his capital Shunyaka. Though she obliterated the asura yet Mahishasura and Bhandasura are merely representatives of our ego and our evil qualities. They are the figures of evil created by the coalescence of the dark energy inside us all.
Thus even today the battle continues as the divine forces of the Devi fight against the malevolence that stains our minds and our hearts. As her children we must ensure our divine mother’s victory by fostering the sublime essence of divinity in our hearts and jettison away our garrison of bad thoughts thereby making it a suitable place where the Almighty can reside. Those who have immersed their heart and soul in the consecrating waters of our divine mother’s history will be rid of all the sins that they might have committed in the past and will be recipients of our divine mother’s boundless grace and compassion.
