In her hands are a conch, a club, a war discus, and
the “fear not” gesture of the hand (ABHAYA MUDRA).
Her vehicle is a lion. She is also depicted as KALI
is with a garland of human skulls. To her right is
the elephant GANESHA and to her left is a yogini, a
demigoddess, seated on an elephant. Vindhyavasini
is mentioned in the Devi Mahatmya, an important
text that presents the various incarnations or forms
of the great Goddess (Mahadevi). She is also men-
tioned in an early 19th-century local text called the
Vindhya Mahatmya. In both she is understood to
be the BRAHMAN, or ultimate reality, in its totality.
She is also assimilated to Mahalakshmi, or LAKSHMI,
conceived of as the ultimate divinity.
Vindhyavasini is primarily connected with the
Vaishnavite tradition. The story goes that when
KRISHNA was given to his foster mother Nanda
to escape being killed by the evil king Kamsa, in
exchange VASUDEVA, Krishna’s father, received a
divine child, Vindhyavasini. Kamsa, getting word
that a birth might have occurred, went to Krish-
na’s mother DEVAKI’s house and tried to seize the
new girl child. She escaped the king’s grasp and
prophesied, before returning to the Vindhyas, that
Kamsa would be killed by Krishna.
A different account of Vindhyvasini’s birth
(resembling the tale that KALI emerged from
PARVATI) tells of a goddess, Kaushiki, who was
formed when Parvati shed her dark complexion to
become golden or light in color (earning her the
standing epithet Gauri, or white one). Kaushiki
immediately went to the HIMALAYAS to take up her
role as Vindhyavasini.
There is an active and elaborate PILGRIMAGE to
Vindhyavasini around the village of Vindhyachal
at the northern foothills of the Vindhyas, where
they touch the GANGES between ALLAHABAD and
BENARES (Varanasi). The temple of Vindhyavasini
has elements that resemble those of Kali, and ani-
mal sacrifices are performed.
Further reading: John Stratton Hawley and Donna
Marie Wulff, eds. Devi: Goddesses of India (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1996).
Virashaivas
The Virashaivas are a BHAKTI, or devotional, move-
ment in the southern Indian state of Karnataka
that was founded in the 12th century by their
leader, BASAVANNA. The Virashaivas were socially
radical, condemning all forms of caste, establish-
ing equality of the sexes, and rejecting ritual of
all kinds as empty posturing. Most important
for them were the GURU, the saints as a group, a
personal relationship with Lord SHIVA, and high
regard for the wandering seeker who embraces
poverty and defies convention. One Virashaivite
saint, for example, AKKA MAHADEVI, was a woman
who wandered about naked.
Virashaiva orthodoxy has eight elements: (1)
the GURU who leads the self to Shiva; (2) the LIN-
GAM, the sole symbol of Shiva, worn on a necklace
by anyone; among the Virashaivas there is no
indication that the lingam is considered a phallic
symbol; (3) the jangama, the male or female wan-
dering religious teacher who is considered God
incarnate; the guru, lingam, and jangama all have
sanctifying power; (4) the holy water that has
touched the feet of the guru and been drunk as a
sign of devotion; (5) PRASADA (grace), food blessed
by the guru; devotees take this food from the feet
of the guru together; commensality and commu-
nity sharing occur regardless of CASTE, in defiance
of ordinary social behavior in Indian tradition;
(6) holy ash, which is worn as a sign of Shiva; (7)
rudraksa beads, a necklace made of seeds from
a special plant and worn as a sign of Shiva; they
are sacred to all who worship Shiva; and (8) the
five-syllable MANTRA, Om Nama Shivaya; this is an
important mantra for all Shaivites.
The Virashaivas recognize a number of impor-
tant saints born from the 10th to the 12th cen-
turies. The poem-songs of these saints are sung
and recited as part of devotion. These saints are
Basavanna, Akka Mahadevi, Allama Prabhu, and
Devara Dasimayya.Further reading: Vinaya Chaitanya, Songs for Siva:
Vacanas of Akka Mahadevi (Lanham, Md.: Alta MiraVirashaivas 489 J