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YAŠASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
little importance with regard to the cult of Candamāri. Somadeva's account is in some respects so graphic and detailed that he seems to write from first-hand knowledge of the cult, as it was practised by certain zealots in his time somewhere in the Deccan.
The Mahāyoginis are described by Somadeva in Yasastilaka, Book I, in connection with the temple of Candamārī. The description is rather fantastic, but the author's purpose is to depict the terrific aspect of these deities and represent them as fit companions of Candamāri. In Book III the spy is declared to have communed with the Mahāyoginis and acquired supersensuous knowledge. These references are interesting as illustrating the fact that the cult of the Yoginis was prevalent in the tenth century. It is noteworthy that the circular temple of the sixty-four Yoginīs at Bheraghat, thirteen miles from Jubbulpore, has also been assigned to the tenth century. This peculiar shrine consists of a huge thick wall along the outer edge of a circular platform, inside which there is a circular row of pillars and pilasters arranged in two concentric circles'. There is a flat roof supported on the pillars and pilasters. According to Cunningham, the temple of the Sixty-four Yoginīs was originally a simple circular enclosure, containing the images of the Yoginis, the wall being of the same height as the statues. He concluded that the circular cloister, as it at present stands, is the work of two different periods: the old circular wall, with its inscribed statues, belonging to the tenth century; and the cloister, with its roof, being the work of queen Alhaņādevi in the twelfth century. The actual number of images in the shrine including various other figures is more than eighty. Most of them are seated, with the names of the deities inscribed on the pedestals in letters of the tenth century. For example, Sri-Thakiņi, Sri-Virendrī, Śri-Phaņendri, Śri-Rşatradharmiņi, Śri-Bhişaņi, Śrī-Ghamtāli, Śri-Jahā, Śri-Dākini, SriLampaţă, śri-Indrajāli, Śrī-īśvari, Śri-Aingiņi, Śri-Caņņikā, Śri-Ajitā, ŚriPimgalā, Śri-Vārāhi, Sri-Erūļi, Śri-Vibhatsā, Sri-Kāmadā, Sri-Raņājiră etc. A beautiful figure of Mabişamardini is called Sri-Teramvā. The existence of a separate temple for the worship of the sixty-four Yoginis shows the popularity of Tântric cults in the tenth century. It is interesting to note that, under the lotus on which Śri-Sarvatomukhi is seated is another fullblown lotus, the calyx of which bears the Tāntric emblem of crossed triangles (Satkona), with the mystic formula Hrii in the centre.
1 See Chap. IV. 2 R. D. Banerji: The Haihayas of Tripuri and their monuments,p. 69, 3 See the detailed description of the images in Banerji (op. cit.)
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