Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 441

144
Gaüdavaho
that she is especially worshipped. ...... In her terrible form she is Durgā, the inaccessible ’, Kāli and Syamā, “The black ’, Candi and Candikā, “the Fierce', and Bhairavi “The terrible '.. As Kāli or Kālikā, she is represented with a black skin, a hideous and terrible countenance, dripping with blood, encircled with snakes, hung round with skulls and human heads, and in all respects resembling a fury rather than a goddess. As Vindhya-Vāsini, * The dweller in the Vindhyas', she is worshipped at a place of that name where the Vindhyas approach the Himalayas, near Mirzapur and it is said that the blood before her image is never allowed to get dry.”
During the period of Dissolution, all nights are collected together, with all moons, small and big, of different nights, gathered in one place. The various skulls, big and small, worne in a garland by the goddess Kāli, are fancied to be these moons during Dissolution. Cf. T EHTfa afmarfa TCUT 350TUTHAIGHT TIT कपालानि तानि चन्द्रखण्डानीव प्रतिपदादिसंबन्धीनि सर्गे क्रमभावीन्यपि प्रलये afatfat Il Com.
46. “Cāmundā is an emanation of goddess Durgā sent forth from her forehead to encounter the demons, Canda and Munda. She is thus described in the Mārkandeya Purāna :-“ From the forehead of Ambikā (Durgā ), contracted with wrathful frowns, sprang a goddess of black and formidable aspect, armed with a scimitar and noose, bearing a ponderous mace, decorated with a garland of dead corpses, robed in the hide of an elephant, dry and withered and hideous, with yawning mouth, lolling tongue and bloodshot eyes and filling the regions with her shouts.” When she had killed the two demons, she bore their heads to Durgā, who told her that henceforth she should be known, by a contraction of their names as Cāmunda.”
Sueh a physical appearance of Cāmundā with its prominent veins sticking out and the coils of intestines, not to be contained (mogaoqia) inside the thin, fatless belly, is sure to strike terror (fa).
47. “Sarasvati, the wife of Brahmā, is the goddess of speech and learning, inventress of the Sanskrit language and DevaNāgari letters and patroness of the arts and sciences. She is represented as of a white colour, of a graceful figure and sitting