Elements of Hindu Iconography v3.c19.54

v3.c19.54

Kātyāyani is described as a goddess having ten arms and partaking of the nature of the three gods Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. She wears on her head the jaṭā-bhāra, in which is tucked up the crescent moon. Her face resembles in splendour the full moon and the colour of her body is that of the atasī flower. She has very pretty eyes and an appearance disclosing the freshness of the youth which has just come upon her, and is decked with all ornaments. Her breasts are large and prominent and she stands with three bends in her body (tribhaṅga). She is represented as killing Mahiṣāsura, bearing in her right hands the triśūla, khaḍga, bāṇa, chakra, śaktyāyudha ; and in the left ones, kheṭaka, pāśa, aṅkuśa, ghaṇṭā and paraśu.∗ Below is the headless trunk of the buffalo-bodied asura from whose neck his human form is made to emerge with a sword and a shield in his hands. His chest is pierced by the triśūla of the Dēvī. The rest of the description of this asura here agrees closely with that of Mahiṣāsura-marddani.