I have created all worlds at my will,
without being urged by any higher being,
and I dwell within them.
I permeate the earth and heaven,
All created entities with my greatness,
and dwell within them as eternal
and infinite consciousness
Devi Suktam – Rigveda
Who are Matrikas/Saptamatrikas/Ashtamatrikas/Yoginis
Matrika cult is associated with the Mother Goddess and is very ancient. Mother is considered the supreme creative force in Sanatana Dharma. All life takes birth from her womb. She is the giver, the nourisher, and the protector of life.
She is the embodiment of gentleness, selfless love and sacrifice, and leaves an indelible influence on her children. A human being can pay-back any debt, but he can never repay the debt of his mother. This is the reason, Mothers have been accorded very high status from the Vedic times.
Matrikas is a group of mother deities whose number varies from seven (Saptamatrikas), eight (AshtaMatrikas), nine and sixty-four (Chaunsath Yoginis). They are the female counterpart or the energies of their spouse Gods.
Six Matrikas – Brahmini, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Maheshwari, Indrani and Varahi – are universally accepted. About the remaining Matrikas, religious texts have omissions and inclusions. In Devi Mahatmya – Devi Chamunda is omitted from the list while in Mahabharat, Devi Narasimhi gets the same treatment. VarahaPurana talks about eight Matrikas, here Yami or Devi Chamunda is the seventh Goddess and Devi Yogeshwari – the eighth.
In Nepal, the eighth Goddess is Mahalaxmi, and Devi Narasimhi is omitted from the list.
Nine Marikas are mentioned in Devi Purana. In this list of nine Matrikas, Vinayaki (female energy of Lord Ganesha) and Maha-Bhairavi are added and Devi Narasimhi is removed.
Tradition links Saptamatrikas to Vedic times with Mother Goddesses enjoying the folk level of popular religion. The Matrikas represents the productive force of the nature as well as carry its destructive aspects.
Some cults treat Matrikas/yoginis as highly placed deities and epitomize them as the Goddesses of creation, preservation, death and the final liberation that takes one beyond time.
However, there are other cults that consider Matrikas as ferocious, cruel, blood-thirsty and wrathful deities and consider them only as attendant deities. They believe that the Matrikas have grey characters, who are cruel but can be pacified so as to grant protection and boons, and at-least can be kept happy to not to inflict injuries.
It is a common belief among the cults that Matrikas strike terror in the heart of the enemies of their devotees and can cause their destruction. It was due to these characteristics, probably, they were inducted in Hinduism as Tantrik deities.
Matrikas are believed to dwell on trees, in open spaces, at cross-roads, in caves, cemeteries, on mountains and near waterfalls.
Even Tantric Buddhism incorporated Matrikas in its religious fold and this fact is proven beyond doubt with the discovery of a composite idol of seven Matrikas at Nalanda.
Historical Evidences of Matrika Worship
There are evidences of the presence of the Matrika cult from the beginning of the Christian Era. The literature of the ancient times carry casual, incidental and repetitive narrative of the Matrika worship. It gives an impression that the Matrika-worship was wide-spread and not an exception.
The oldest idols of Matrikas, seven identical female figures sitting in a row, are found from Kushan Period. The Kushan dynasty ruled over most of the India from 2nd century BC to the third century AD. This dynasty was founded by Yuezi in the Bacterian territories (ancient region of central Asia that covers Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan).
The Matrika panels recovered from this Period are bizarre. In these panels Matrikas are often depicted with animal or bird heads. Their hands are in Abhaya mudra. They are carved in sitting position with infants in their laps. The goddesses look all alike in these carvings with no distinguishing symbols of their vehicles and wear pendants, bracelets and anklets .
It is quite possible that these Goddesses with animal and bird heads were later assimilated in Hinduism as Sapta-matrikas (seven Matrikas) with normal head; only Varahi Matrika and Narasimhi Matrika remained therianthrope Matrikas.
And as I wrote earlier, the history of these divinities is also obscure in the sense that who and how many Goddesses constituted the group.
It is also not clear that what was the original nature of these Matrikas and how they were worshipped.
From the literature of the Gupta Empire, that ruled the ancient India from 4th century to the late 6th century, it is evident that the concept of Supreme Goddess become recognizable from this period onwards.
The growing importance of Shakti cult brought Matrika worship in prominence and distributed their cult far and wide. The primitive Yogini cult was also revived due to the increasing influence of Saptamatrikas.
The Gupta dynasty ruled majority of India from 5th to 6th century. However, this dynasty collapsed with the invasion of white Huns, a nomadic tribe from Central Asia. After the collapse of Gupta dynasty, for some centuries, there was no unifying empire and regional political kingdoms ruled pan-India. New kingdoms grew and vied to take powers and territories.
These new rulers tried to associate themselves with divine self’s to give impressions of their divine origin and thus the right to rule. Some of these rulers inclined towards Tantra as it promised worldly powers. The Tantrik deities were believed to protect the kingdoms and the individuals against intruders, epidemics and so forth. Some of these new and emerging dynasties traced their origin to the Matrikas as well.
The evidences of Matrika worship is further observed in the sculptures of Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty. This dynasty ruled North India from Ujjain and Kannauj from 8th to 10th century.
Almost at the same time, from 6th to 10th century, the Rashtrakutas were ruling the large part of India. In the rock-cut shrines of Ellora and Elephanta, constructed by this dynasty, we can see some of the finest specimen of the panel of Sapta-Matrikas. The Matrikas are flanked by Veerabhadra and Lord Ganesha in these panels. These panels clearly emphasize the popularity of these Goddesses in seventh century A.D.
The Matrikas were important deities of early Kadamba dynasty that ruled Northern Karnataka and the Konkan area from 345 to 540 AD. Similarly the early Chalukyas or the Chalukyas of Badami that ruled a large part of Karnataka from 6th to 8th century AD, adopted them. They believed that the first dynast of their dynasty was nourished by the Saptamatrikas.
As far as we learn from epigraphy, the word Matra was specifically counted as seven for the first time in the Chalukya period.
The Matrikas were also worshiped in Chandela Dynasty (9th – 12th Century) and continued to be worshipped in South India during Pallava (3rd to 9th Century) and Chola period (907 to 1215 AD). The cult worshipping Matrikas was spread over a big part of India, but it was most popular in Odisha from where many life size idols of the Matrikas have been found.
The Saptamatrikas were mostly popular amongst the pregnant and nursing mothers. As when Matrikas are appeased and happy, they bestow health and happiness on the newborns, else they strike newborns with fatal fevers.
In South India, we notice that at one point of time the Matrika worship was so popular that they had temples dedicated to them. However, after 11th century, as the attention of the devotees turned towards benign Amman Goddesses, the Matrikas were demoted from the sanctum to the corner of temple complexes as guardian deities and their popularity started to diminish.
Slowly and slowly, just like Jyestha Devi, even Saptamatrikas lost favor among devotees. It is speculated that after the Rashtrakuta rule, at many places Matrika cult become unpopular. Matrikas were considered inauspicious and were thrown out of many temples. These days many idols of Saptamatrikas are not found in situ, but are either found thrown away in fields or in local water bodies. These recovered idols are now housed in local museums. This gives a strong evidence of Saptamatrikas worship losing favour among devotees as even now its customary in India to throw dilapidated or broken idols in water reservoirs.
Reference of Matrikas in Literature
The description of Matrikas is found in ancient Puranas – Varaha Purana, Matasya Purana, Markendya Purana – and this indicates their antiquity.
In Bhagavata Purana, milkmaids offer a prayer for the protection of the infant Lord Krishna from Matrikas. In-fact Putna is also believed to be one of the Matrikas.
Devi Purana – It has references to sixteen Matrikas and six other Loka-Matrikas. These Matrikas are created by all Gods and are kind to all creatures.
Sage Mandavya worshipped five mothers (matra-panchaka) – Devi Ambika or Kaumari, Rudrani, Chamunda, Brahmani and Vaishnavi.
In Mahabharat, Matrikas are described as bad-tempered, frightening and ferocious. They are described as fatal, wild, with inauspicious demeanors, who are threat to fetuses’ or infants. The Matrikas live on trees, crossroads, caves and funeral grounds. They are described as terrible as well as beautiful.
Twelfth century Kalhana describes worship of Shiva along with Matrikas in Kashmir in his work Rajatarangini. In this book, the Matrikas are described as benign and are worshipped in adulation. This book records joint shrines and worship of Shiva and Matrikas by the devotees of Shiva.
According to Kadambari, Matrikas were worshipped in every village.
Brihat Samhita of Varaha Mihira lays down principles about which person is qualified to worship which deities. In this context it names only the devotees of Vishnu, Surya, Shiva, Brahma, Buddha, Jina and the Matrikas. It shows the prominence of Matrika Worship during that time.
Natyashastra of Bharatmuni recommends worship of Matra in the rituals connected with the preparation and consecration of the playhouse and the stage. This text identifies them as Natya-Matra.
In the play Mṛcchakatika by Sudraka, Charudatta instructs his Vidushak friend, “Go offer this bali, ball of cooked rice, at the cross-roads. His friend showed reluctance as he feels its of no-significance as luck and the Goddess are not favoring him. The hero’s stern retort to Vidushak was, “Such rites should not be questioned as they are the obligatory duties of the householders”. The hero Charudutta is depicted here as a man of character and learnings. These offerings are supposed to be done at the outset of the night.
Kalidas mentions frightening Saptamatrikas and Chamunda in his book Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa.
Devi Purana – a text of unequivocal Tantric inscription which was compiled in current form in 6th/7th century (may date from 1st century) mentions that the Matrikas should be worshipped by kings. According to the text, the Saptamatrikas should be worshipped by the kings for Mukti (liberation) and Bhukti (power to control and fulfil earthly desires) with the prescribed rites.
Rigveda talks about seven mothers who control the preparation of Soma.
Epigraphic References to the Matrikas
The earliest epigraphic reference to Matrikas is found in Gangadhar inscription of Vishwavarman in Malwa (424-425 or 480 AD). It is about the construction of a building for the worship of Sapta-Matrikas.
A reference to Matrikas is also found in Vihar Stambh inscription of Skandagupta.
Talagunda inscription of the Brahmin Kadamba king Śāntivarma claims allegiance to Skanda and Matrikas who aided him in defeating his enemies.
Depiction of Matrikas
The Matrikas are usually depicted as sensuous, elegant, tender, beautiful adolescents. As influence of Tantricism rose, the fertility area and the upper part of the body were stressed.
In the caves of Ellora, Lord Ganesha and Kala are depicted with Matrikas. The presence of Kala as skeleton, probably depicts as time personified or as death. In both the cases it seems to indicate the darker aspects of Matrikas.
At Osian, Jodhpur Matrikas are flanked by Ganesha and Kubera with Veerabhadra in middle.
The Matrika Shrines
The shrines of Saptamatrikas are usually found in wilderness usually near lakes or rivers and are even made of seven vermillion smeared stones. It is believed that Matrikas if not pacified with bridal fineries and prayers by women, gets angry and kill fetuses and newborns.
Matrika shrines must be north facing, placed in the Northern part of a temple complex. Earlier Matrika shrines were circular in shape and were open to sky, or shrines constructed under trees with less durable materials. However, it was replaced in Gupta period by rectangular stone shrines.
Matrikas are often carved in seated position in Padmasana or Lalitasana and are adorned with heavy ornaments, necklaces and circular rings. Their two hands are carved in Varada and Abhaya Mudra. The other hands are carved carrying the weapons similar to the male counterparts of these female powers.
Devi purana even mentions the name of flowers to worship each Matrika.
Worship of Matrikas
As we know that there were special priests Magas who worshipped Sun God, Pashupatas who worshipped Lord Shiva, similarly the Matrikas also have special priests. An ancient text that mentions the mode of worship of Yoginis clearly indicates that there was a specific set of priests with specialized manner of worshipping Yoginis.
Saptamatrikas are especially worshipped on new moon day with 64 yoginis. They are represented by rice flour or super-nuts. These Goddesses are worshipped by the ceremonial offerings of fruit, flower and mantras.
Normally, the Matrikas are worshipped in devotional manner during the day with flowers etc. However, it is also feared that those involved in Tantrism engage in private form of worship including blood, flesh, sex, liquor and human remains during night.
Tantra Yoga and Matrikas
Tantra Yoga visualizes each of these Matrikas as presiding deities of seven chakra present in the subtle body of every human being. Following are the body parts and the governing deities
Head – Brahmani
Heart – Vaishnavi
Linga – Chamunda
Brows – Maheshwari
Navel – Varahi
Feet – Mahalakshmi
Secret Parts – Indrani
Association of Matrikas with Directions
Each Matrika is also a female digpala, associated with a direction, and is worshipped for specific reasons.
Maheshwari – South – Confers Eight Siddhis, the magical powers to its devotees.
Brahmani – East – Worshipped to have male heir.
Kaumari – West – Worshipped for destroying enemies.
Vaishnavi – North – Confers the boon of kingdom.
Indrani – Southwest – She is believed to have special command over securing territorial gains.
Chamunda – Northwest – Adorned for alleviating all types of fears esp when attacked by enemy king.
Varahi – Southeast – Worshipped for the success of army.
Lakshmi – At Centre – Worshipped by those who lost their kingdom and wealth and are being oppressed by enemies.
Matrikas and their association with various substance of human body
According to Purana, the Matrikas rule various substances of human body.
Brahmini – Skin
Maheshwari – Blood.
Kaumari – muscles
Vaishnavi – bones
Indrani – Bone marrow
Chamunda – Semen
Matrikas representing the consonants of Devanagri
Each Matrika is also associated with group of five consonants in Hindi
Brahmi Matrika – Associated with first consonant in the group क, ख, ग, घ, ड़. As per Vedic texts too क belongs to Lord Brahma
Maheshwari – Associated with the second group of five consonants – च, छ, ज, झ, ञ
Kaumari – Associated with the third group – ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण
Vaishnavi – Associated with the fourth group – त, थ, द, ध, न
Varahi – Associated with the Fifth group – प, फ, ब, भ, म
Indrani – Associated with the sixth group – य, र, ल, व
Chamunda – Associated with the Seventh group – श, ष, स, ह
Seven Matrikas or Sapta-matrikas and significance of Number 7
Most popular number of Matrikas is Seven and thus in most part of India they are worshipped as Sapta-Matrikas. Seven is considered an auspicious number. According to Vedas, universe consists of seven regions and it has seven suns (Adityas). Hinduism has seven sacred cities, seven sacred rivers, seven sages (Saptarishis) and seven vowels out of which five are pure and two are mix. The chariot of sun is also driven by seven horses. There are seven swaras in Indian classical music and in-fact the seven colors of rainbows too reinforce the divinity of seven.
Association of Matrikas with Yoginis
One Hundred and forty sixth chapter of Agni-Purana describes the tradition of Sixty-Four Yoginis originating from eight Matrikas. Each group of eight yoginis are believed to be from the Kula of one of the eight Matrikas. This myth later on becomes tradition as can be understood from the commentaries on several texts including Bhaskar Rao’s commentary on Lalit-Sahasranama.
Again like the number seven, eight too is considered significant. There are four cardinal directions and four intermediate ones. A Diggapala takes care of each direction. It becomes a tradition to consider a variety of objects to be eight in number, whether its sacred snakes, treasure of Kubera, or hand gestures.
Eight was the number assigned to siddhis that could be acquired through a variety of ritual practices.
Probably the reason to have 64 Yoginis was the thought that a number that would be square of 8 would be even more potent and efficacious.
Legends about Saptamatrikas
Demon Andhakasura and the origin of the Saptamatrikas
I wrote about the origin of the Saptamatrikas in the article on Andhakasura. However the legends and the mythological stories keep on expanding with new episodes added to them. It shows the fertile human mind that keeps on adding mythological episodes, sometimes also to show the supremacy of one God over another and of one cult over other.
So according to Kumarapurana, the story of Saptamatrikas continued even after the defeat of Andhakasura. The Bhairavas and the Matrikas who helped Lord Shiva to subdue Andhakasura got intoxicated with blood and become uncontrollable and unstoppable. They begin a rampage of destruction by devouring Deva, demons and human beings.
Lord Shiva realized the menace they were creating and ordered them to retire to Patalloka – the abode of ferocious and destructive Lord Narasimha. The Bhairavas were part of Shiva so they requested Him to keep them in His company. Lord Shiva obliged them by merging them back with Him. However, the Matrikas were left to feed for themselves. This isolation infuriated them. They become even more destructive and created a havoc.
Bhairavas then requested Lord Narasimha to bring them in control by extracting negative energies from them. Lord Narasimha then brought the destructive qualities of Saptamatrikas in control and commanded them to protect the world instead of destroying it.
When I read this episode, I think that at some point of time, Shaivism got separated from Shakta cult; may be due to the association of Matrikas with Tantrism. Tantrism probably created a bad reputation of the cult and the deities. And then at some point of time, someone tried to bring them back in mainstream Vaishnavism by alleviating these negativities and re-characterizing them as benevolent Goddesses.
This episode shows the concoction of Vaishnavists who asserted the supremacy of Lord Vishnu over Lord Shiva. And for some period, Matrikas worship accompanied with Lord Narasimha and received offerings along with him.
Saptamatrikas and Demon Nrrita
According to Suprabhede-Agama the Saptamatrikas were created by Lord Brahma to kill the demon Nrrita.
Saptamatrikas and Demon duo Shumbha and Nishumbha
The origin of Sapta-Matrikas, according to Devi Mahatmya and Markendya Purana, takes us to the story of the demon duo – Shumbha and Nishumha. Shumbha and Nishumbha were two ambitious demon brothers. They wanted to conquer and rule three worlds. So they went to Pushkar and subjected themselves to severe penance for thousand years. Their austerities pleased Lord Brahma and he granted them a boon.
The demon duo asked Brahma that they should not be killed by a male, be it a mortal human, God or an Asura.
This boon made the demon duo powerful. Soon they started to rule the three worlds. The rise of demonic powers troubled everyone and so Devi Parvati decided to intervene.
The warrior form of Devi Parvati is known as Kaushiki. So, in most of the literature related to this story, Devi Parvati is referred as Kaushiki.
As per a plan, Devi Kaushiki lived in an area where she was sure that she would get noticed by Shumbha-Nishumbha or their agents. As expected, one day Devi Kaushiki was noticed by Chanda-Munda, the commander-duo of the Asura-duo. They were startled by her unparalleled beauty and reported it to Shumbha.
Shumbha sent his messenger, demon Sugariva, to bring Kaushiki to his court. But, she rejected the suggestions. This made the duo furious.
The Asura kings called their commander Dhumralochan and ordered him to bring Devi Kaushiki be it by convincing her or by abducting her. They feared that the Lady who is defying them might have hidden support and so they sent sixty-thousand strong army with Dhumralochana.
Digressing from the point – Dhumralochana is an interesting name for an asura. The word literally means one whose vision is obscured. In spiritual context, it refers to the soul which is not able to see the truth.
Now, Dhumralochana also tried to convince Devi Kaushiki to accept all powerful Asura-Duos proposal. But She rejected it once again. After requesting multiple times, Dhumralochana lost his patience and tried to catch hold of Devi Kaushiki; so he can drag Her to the court of his masters.
Devi Kaushiki roared at him at this misdemeanor. The roaring of Devi Kaushiki was so loud that the demon got converted into ashes. Devi Kaushiki then unleashed Her Vehicle, the Lion on the demon army. He jumped on them and devoured them.
It was a direct challenge to Shumbha and Nishumbha. So the next time they sent even a bigger army with their commander Chanda and Munda. When Devi Kaushiki noticed the approaching commanders with massive army, from her frowning furrowed eye-brows emerged Chandika Jayasundra. She defeated the asura army and killed both Chanda-Munda in a fierce battle.
After killing the demons she drank their blood and started a wild dance of victory. Devi Kaushiki called her Chamunda, a contraction of Chanda and Munda, for Her valiant victory.
According to Varaha-Purana, after the death of Chanda and Munda, Raktabeeja entered the Warfield on his chariot with an enormous army of elephants, horses and infantry. Seeing this huge army Devi Kaushiki made a loud war cry and from her mouth Devi Brahmani came out sitting on a swan wearing rosary and holding a water pot in her hand.
From the eyes of Devi Brahmani emerged Devi Maheshwari with three eyes and sitting on a lion. She emerged wearing snakes as bangles & earrings. She was holding a trident. From the lion of Maheshwari came out Devi Kaumari sitting on a peacock holding a lance.
From Devi Kaumari’s emerged Devi Vaishnavi sitting on Garuda, holding a conch, discus, club, sword, bow and arrow.
And from Her posterior came out Devi Varahi seating on Sheshanag and from her heart came out Devi Narasimhi (the creative force of Lord Narasimha) with fierce claws. Devi Chamunda-Matrika emerged from the foot of Devi Narasimhi.
Just like demon Andhakasura, Raktabeeja also had a boon that a single drop of his blood touching earth would generate another Raktabeeja. However, the Saptamatrikas ensured that he was killed with not a single drop of his blood touching the ground. His blood was consumed by Matrikas as soon as it oozed out of his body.
The death of their powerful commanders infuriated Shumbha and Nishumba and they attacked Devi Kaushiki with their complete might. In their arrogance they even forgot that She is not an ordinary woman and Lord Brahma’s boon only protects them against male protagonists.
The Sapta-Matrikas created a havoc on the demon army. Shumbha realized it would not be possible to match the combined powers of SaptaMatrikas. He scoffed at Devi Kaushiki and taunted Her for fighting with the strength of others. Infuriated Devi Kaushiki absorbed all other Matrikas and then killed the demon.
Saptamatrikas and Skanda
SaptaMatrikas are also connected with Skanda – the son of Parvati and Shiva and the Hindu God of war. It is believed that at one point of time three demon brothers Taraka, Simhamukha, and Surapadma, become very powerful. Tarakasura had been granted a boon that he could be killed only by Shiva’s Son. However, Lord Shiva was grief-stricken after death of her wife Sati. He had lost interest in worldly affairs and had isolated himself in mountains.
In the meantime Sati took rebirth as Devi Parvati, daughter of Himalaya. Devi Parvati was doing penance to marry Lord Shiva, but Shiva was lost in meditation. Lord Indra sent Kamadeva to distract Shiva from His meditation. Kamadeva stuck Him with his arrow of desire, but lord Shiva got so angry that He burnt Kamadeva with His anger. However, in the end Devi Parvati’s Tapas won and Lord Shiva finally accepted her and married her.
After many years of abstinence, Shiva’s seed had become very powerful. The Gods, feared the result, and thus sent Agni, the god of fire, to interrupt Shiva’s amorous play with Parvati and receive the seed. Agni received the seed and dropped it into the Ganges from which Skanda was born. Skanda is also known as Kartikeya.
Kartikeya means “of the Krittikas”. This epithet is also linked to His birth. After he appeared on the banks of the River Ganges, he was seen by the six of the seven brightest stars cluster in the night sky called Krittikas in Hindu texts (Pleiades). All these six mothers wanted to take care of the baby Kartikeya and nurse Him. In their eagerness they started to fight among themselves. Kartikeya ended the dispute by growing five more heads in order to have a total of six heads so that he could look at all six mothers and let each one of them nurse one aspect of Him.
These six Kritikas are believed to be the six Matrikas. It is also believed that these six Matrikas were wives of six of the seven Saptarishis who abandoned them with a suspicion that Skanda was their real son, result of an illicit affair with a young Yogi (who was none else than Lord Shiva).
The Matrikas nursed young Kartikeya. As He grew, Matrikas requested Him to accept them as His mother, which He happily accepted and also granted them two boons: to be worshipped as Great Goddesses and also allowed them to torment the children of the mother’s who don’t worship them, but with a rider that they can torment them only till they are younger than 16 years.
According to another text “Aranyaka-Parvan” these Goddesses requested Skanda to bless them to become good and respected mothers of the world to which the young God replied, “Be it so”. Matra-gana in this context appeared as afflicters of children and are supposed to be pacified with abulations, incense, bali-karma and other offerings.
Again this episode appears to me as an attempt to retain & engage Matrika cult with Shaivism.
References
- Seven Secrets of Goddess – Devdutt Pattanaik
- The iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities – Gudrun Buhnemann
- Yogini Cult and Temples – VIdya Dehejia
- Illustrated dictionary of Hindu Iconography – Margaret Stutley
- Saptamatrikas in Indian Art and their significance in Indian Sculpture and Ethos – Meghali Goswami, Dr.Ila Gupta, Dr.P.Jha
- Saptamatrikas by Bharati Pal
- Goddess Cult in North India
- Elements of Indian Art by S.P.Gupta
- Elements of Hindu Iconography, By T. A. Gopinatha Rao
- Iconography in Hinduism by Sherline Pimenta
- Magical Indian Myths by Anita Nair
- Women in Indian Sculpture – M.L.Varadpande
- Illustrated dictionary of Hindu iconography – Margaret Stutley
- Seven Hindu Goddesses of Spirtual Transformation: Iconography of the Saptamatrikas by Katherine Anne Harper
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