South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c10.s3.3

c10.s3.3

Tvaritā. Tvaritā is stated to be a goddess of the Kirātas or a ‘hunters.’ She has two hands, is decorated with peacock’s feathers on the head, and wears a cloth of leaves (as some of the wild tribes of to-day), a garland of *guñjā*-seeds and a (head) jewel of eight serpents. Nagendra Natha Vasu finds in this goddess a close resemblance to Nāgamātā “the mother of serpents,” Skandashashthi or Manasā, and to the goddess Tavitā of the Scythians.¹