Thread by @sadhavi

Here are the 10 aspects of Maa Parvati— Adi Parashakti, termed as Dasa Mahavidyas. Each Mahavidya is a form of the Divine Mother. These are the representations of transcendent knowledge and power. The Dasa Mahavidya were created after a disagreement between Lord Shiva and Sati.

1- Kali: Maa Kali maintains the principal position among all the ten significant Dus Mahavidya. The name Kali comes from Sanskrit word kala, which means black, time, death or lord of death. Kali slays the ego of person. She’s the Goddess of destruction in order to recreate.

2- Tara is the power of golden embryo from which the universe evolves. She also stands for void or the boundless space. The Goddess Tara is worshipped in both Hinduism and Buddhism as the goddess of compassion and protection. She protects those on their journey to enlightenment.

3- Tripura Sundari also known as Shodashi, the most beautiful in all three worlds. She is the personification of fullness and perfection. She represents Tantric Parvati. Even in our ordinary state of consciousness, Tripurasundari is the beauty that we see in the world around us.

4- Bhuvaneshvari: represents the forces of the material world. She is called Mahamaya (“she whose magical power is great”). She resides in Shiva’s heart. Bhuvanesvari is the Supreme Empress of Manifested Existence, the exposer of consciousness.

5- Bhairavi stands for desires & temptations leading to destruction and death. Bhairavi represents divine wrath, but it is only an impulse of her fierce, maternal protectiveness, aimed at the destruction of ignorance and everything negative that keeps us in bondage.

6- Chinnamasta: She is also known as Prachanda Chandika. She is holding her own severed head in hand & drinking her own blood. She represents the continued state of self-sustenance of the created world in wch continuous self-destruction and self-renewal occurs, in a cyclic order.

7– Dhumavati personifies the destruction of the world by fire, when only smoke (dhuma) from its ashes remains. She represents the erosive power of time that robs us of loved ones, of our own youthful strength & vitality, and of whatever else contributes to our fragile happiness.

8– Baglamukhi, the crane headed Goddess who controls & paralyzes enemies. Due to her capturing & paralyzing powers, she is also known as Devi of Stambhana. Bagalamukhi translates as the one who checks the mouth. She is so-named for her power to silence speech and still the mind.

9- Matangi is a Siddha Vidya, the Tantra personified. She brings focus, rather very disturbingly, on the notions of distinctions betwn purity-impurity; clean-polluted; auspicious-inauspicious. Matangi is also called Tantric-Saraswati as she governs speech, music, knowledge &arts.

10- Kamala is the tenth of the ten Mahavidya Goddesses. Kamala is the pure consciousness of the self, bestowing boons and is considered the supreme form of the goddess who is in the fullness of Her graceful aspect. She is also known as Tantric Lakshmi.