Cāmuņḍā

By Jit Majumdar

pertaining to Caņda and Muņda
one who has slain Caņda and Muņda
a very fierce and wrathful form of goddess Kauśikī, who in turn was created by Durgā out of her own self, who was born out of her as the embodiment of her fury and rage, to assist the former in the slaying the army of asuras led by Canda and Munda. She is depicted as being either black as rainclouds or red, skeletal in appearance, with a hideous face and protruding, burning eyes, and having an enormous mouth with sharp pointed teeth and a lolling tongue. She is ever hungry, rides a corpse or a ghost, dressed in a skirt of tiger skin, and decorated with ornaments of bone, and a garland of skulls, having for, six, eight, ten or twelve arms, holding a drum, trident, cleaver, snake, skull-wand, thunderbolt, a severed head and a drinking vessel or skull-cup filled with blood. She is further decorated with serpents and scorpions, and is surrounded by jackals, ghosts, skeletons, and ghouls. She is identified with Kālī and is one of the seven Mātŗkās or mother goddesses (D. Saptaśati); an emanation of the goddess Nārasińghī, who is one of the Mātŗkās, and the embodiment of the vice of tale-telling (Vr. Pur.); one of the Mātŗkās who were created by Śiva to help him kill the asura Andhaka, by draining all his blood (Ms. Pur.). She is also known by the alternative names of Candikā, Cāmuņdī and Cāmuņdeśvarī.

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