[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.475 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.475 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.475 - **Language:** English ### [c5.475](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.475) DEVĪ. ‘The goddess,’ or Mahā-devī, ‘the great goddess,’ wife of the god Śiva, and daughter of Himavat, \*i.e.\*, the Himālaya mountains. She is mentioned in the Mahā-bhārata under a variety of names, and with several of her peculiar characteristics, but she owes her great distinction to the Purāṇas and later works. As the Sakti or female energy of Śiva she has two characters, one mild, the other fierce; and it is under the latter that she is especially worshipped. She has a great variety of names, referable to her various forms, attributes, and actions, but these names are not always used accurately and distinctively. In her milder form she is Umā, ‘light,’ and a type of beauty; Gaurī, ‘the yellow or brilliant;’ Pārvatī, ‘the mountaineer;’ and Haimavatī, from her parentage; Jagan-mātā, ‘the mother of the world;’ and Bhavānī. In her terrible form she is Durgā, ‘the inaccessible;’ Kālī and Syāmā, ‘the black;’ Chaṇḍī and Chaṇḍikā, ‘the fierce;’ and Bhairavī, ‘the terrible.’ It is in this character that bloody sacrifices are offered to her, that the barbarities of the Durgā-pūjā and Charak-pūjā are perpetrated in her honour, and that the indecent orgies of the Tāntrikas are held to propitiate her favours and celebrate her powers. She has ten arms, and in most of her hands there are weapons. As Durgā she is a beautiful yellow woman, riding on a tiger in a fierce and menacing attitude. As Kālī or Kālikā, ‘the black,’ she is represented with a black skin, a hideous and terrible countenance, dripping with blood, encircled with snakes, hung round with skulls and human heads, and in all respects resembling a fury rather than a goddess.” As Vindhya-vāsinī, ‘the dweller in the Vindhyas,’ she is worshipped at a place of that name where the Vindhyas approach the Ganges, near Mirzapur, and it is said that there the blood before her image is never allowed to get dry. As Mahā-māyā she is the great illusion. - [Previous: c5.474](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.474) - [Next: c5.476](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.476) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (2) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Purāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.475](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.475) · Pramāṇa