It is related that the energy of each god, ex actly like him, with the same form, the same decorations, and the saine vahan (vehicle), the Sakti of Brahma, girt with a white cord and bearing a hollow gourd, arrived on a car yoked with swans ; her title is Brahmani. DIaheswari came riding on a bull, and bearing a trident with a vast serpent for a ring and a crescent for a gem. Kumara, bearing a lance in her hand, and riding on a peacock, being Ambiea in the form of Kara keya, came to make war on the children of Diti, the giants, or Asura. The Sakti named Vishnaivi also arrived sitting on an eagle, and bearing a conch, a discus, a club, a bow, and a • sword in her several hands. The energy of Hari, who assumed the form of the boar, likewise came there, assuming the body of Varahi. Narasinhi, too, arrived there embodied in a form precisely similar to that of Narasinha, with an erect mane reaching to the host of stars. Aiudri (Indrani) came bearing the thunderbolt in ,her hand, and nding on the king of elephants, and in every respect like Indra, with a hundred eyes. Lastly came the dreadful energy named Chandica, who sprang frorn the. body of Devi, horrible, howling like a hundred jackals. She, surnamed Aparajita, unconquered goddess, addressed Isana, whose head is encircled by his dusky braided locks.
Eight of these Sakti are more particularly re corded, their names are the following :— Maheswari, Sakti of Mahesa, or Siva.
Brahmi, or Brahmani, Sakti of Brahma.
Narayani, Sakti of Narayana. Aindri, Sakti of Indra.
Kumara, Sakti of Kartikeya.
Varahi, Sakti of Vishnu of the Vahar avatara. Narasinhi, Sakti of Vishnu in the Narasiug avatara. Aparajita, a form of Bhavani; Sakti of Siva.
Mr. Paterson (As. Res. viii. p. 68) remarks that Aparajita may be the Aphrodite of the Greeks, and Maheswari, or the female Siva, riding on a white bull, may have given rise to the story of Europa's rape ; while &Mimi, or the female Brahma, with the swan, may in like manner have been the origin of the fable of Jupiter and Leda. Bhavani is, however, oftener seen on a lion or tiger than on Nandi, the valian bull of her spouse. In some places they are thus enumerated,—Brahmi, Malieswari, Aindri, Varahi, )(mare, Chainunda, and Kartika. Sonic reduce the
number to seven ; omitting the two latter, and adding Cauveri. The worshippers of these Sakti are called Sakta. The emblem of worship is the yoni. One branch of the Sakti worshippers has been said to be so grossly licentious that they are held in detestation by other sects, and even by a large portion of their own ; but this statement cannot be verified.
The Hindu goddesses are uniformly represented as the subordinate powers of their respective lords ; thus Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, the preserver, is the goddess of abundance and pro sperity ; Bhavani, the wife of Siva or Mahadeva, is the general power of fecundity ; Uma and Gauri, also, are gentle forms of the Sakti of Siva; while Darga and Vali are the severe forms.
Chamunda and Chandika are hideous goddesses, who attend upon Siva as Bhairava, the terrific, destructive deity, who is propitiated by offerings of wine and flesh.
Saraswati, whose husband was the creator Brahma, possesses the powers of imagination and invention, which may justly be termed creative. She is therefore adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially of music and rhetoric ; as the inventress of'the Sanskrit language, of the Deva nagri writing characters, and of the sciences which writing perpetuates ; so that her attributes corre spond with those of Minerva Musim of Greece or Italy, who invented the flute, and presided over literature.
Lakshmi or Mahe Lakshnoi is the Sakti or consort of Vishnu.
Dr. Hunter says (Imp. Gaz. iv. p. 304) left /And worship is an organized five - fold ritual of incantation, lust, gluttony, drunkenness, and blood. The Vami or Varna Chari worship com prises the five-fold Mukara, which takes away all sin, viz. Manse, flesh ; matsya, fish ; madya, alcoholic fluids ; maithuna, sexual–intercourse ; and mudra, mystical gesticulations. There is nothing of this kind in the south of India.—C. P. Brown; IVdson's Hindu Sects; Wilson's Gloss.; Paterson and Colebrooke in v. viii. As. Res.; Cole man, Mythology of the Himloos, p. 121 ; Baya Miteuta on the Amaracosha ; Moor's Pantheon ; Hine!, Thad. p. 52.