OS: Kanya Kumari [The Virgin Goddess] - Page 17

Mahadev smirked and Shakti chuckled can visualize that in my mind's eye. Fantastic update Jaya. 👏

Jaya ka, please do compile this, it is worth publishing. Can be a series of such tales based on sthala Puranas.

Like the patangas who are attracted to the light of the flame of a lamp, the eventual reson of their death, vaanasur is attracted to kanyaka the very death of him.

Loved it! Enjoyed reading it. do continue soon and thanks for the PM.

Originally posted by: shruti.nil

continue continue continue continue!!!!

loved it jay!

Originally posted by: Kadamvari

u r also tamilite kya??

no ,im a telgiate, but i know tamil pretty well😊

Jaishree zabardast. Your power of imagination and writing is too cool. Super duper like it. 😊

From Murugan.org web site...

The Iconography of Goddess Kaumari or Kanya Kumari

Kaumari, the ever-youthful deity, represents the ever-present force of aspiration of the evolving soul. She is Guru Guha (Guru Guha being one of the names of Kumara or Skanda whose energy she is) the guru (guide, teacher) in the 'guha' (the cave of the heart, the intellect)."

According to the Matsya Purana¹ the Kaumari image should have peacock as the vahana; she should be clad in the red cloth and must have sakti and sula as her weapons.

Kumararupa Kaumari mayuravaravahana |
raktavastradhara tad vacchulasaktidhara mata² ||

The Devi Purana³ describes Kaumari thus:

Kumararupadhari ca Kumara-janani tatha |
Kumararipuhantri ca Kaumari tena sa smrta ||

In the well-known Taittiriya Aranyaka (10th Book) passage Durga is addressed as Kanya Kumari.⁴ She was regarded as a member of the family of 'seven Mothers' all of whom were looked upon as the different aspects of the goddess Sakti or Durga, the spouse of Mahadeva. In course of time this goddess (Kaumari) was made Karttikeya's wife and came also to be known as Kumari or Karttikeyani.⁵

The name Kumari instinctively reminds us of the term 'Kanya Kumari' applied to Durga in the well-known Taittiriya Aranyaka passage, referred to above. There is reason to believe that Kumari is a shorter form of the term 'Kanyakumari' which is both the name of a place (the southernmost point of the Indian peninsula) and that of a goddess.

The Matsya Purana⁶ describes her as the daughter of Lalita and mentions Mayipuri as a place sacred to her, Mayapuryam Kumari tu santane Lalita tatha; she is also mentioned in the Brahmanda, IV.26-73-117 where her military skill has been eulogised. According to this account the goddess Kumari killed all the sons of the demon Bhanda.

Reference to the worship of the goddess Kaumari or Kumari at Cape Comorin is found in the famous Periplus⁷, written by an unknown Greek sailor in the second half of the 1st century A.D.

The earliest Kaumari sculpture goes back to the Gupta period. Her image along with those of other 'Mothers' is found near Eran.⁸ Her icon is also to be noticed in the Elephanta Cave (as has been noted above), where she is distinctly called Karttikeyani. The goddess here has two arms and she is seen seated upon the peacock. A four-armed Kaumari image (Fig. 29) was found at Bheraghat (Jabalpur, M.P.). It was assigned to the Kusana period by R.D. Banerji⁹ ; the writer in J.A.S.B. (Letters), Vol. XXII. pp. 237 ff., however, places this image in the second half of the 7th century A.D.¹⁰ The image is headless with all the hands broken. Another 7th-century Kaumari sculpture is found in the Gwalior museum; the image is two-armed and has sakti and lotus as the attributes.¹¹ A number of 8th-century sculptures of the 'seven Mothers' including that of Kaumari were recovered from the river Vaitarani "where they were tossed by the Mughuls on their shrines being destroyed"¹². Plate 1, fig. 4 of the M.A S.L, No. 44 is a huge four-armed image of the goddess Kaumari (Fig. 30) with a pot-bellied child seated on the left knee. The deity has an unaffected smile on her lips. The goddess is very boldly executed with peacock, carved on the base; much prominence has been given to the two breasts. Plate IX, fig. 1 (ibid) is another Kaumari image found from Puri (Fig. 31); this image is more sophisticated than the Jajpur icon and is perhaps of somewhat later date.

Jay please keep writing which is the best thing. Your updates are magnificent.

Romantic update and like usual a masterpiece from u Jai.