Markandeya Purana. The depth and
subtlety of her characterization in this
text leads scholars to infer that this
cult had existed for some time, per-
haps as a secret religious community
open only to initiates. The goddess in the
Devimahatmyais a powerful, indepen-
dent female force and is able to do what
the gods cannot. She is created from the
collected radiance (tejas) of all the gods,
and comes into the world to kill a
demon against whom the gods have
struggled in vain. The Devimahatmya’s
three different episodes portray her in
three different divine personas: as
Mahasaraswati in the slaying of the
demons Madhu and Kaitabha, as
Mahalakshmi in slaying a demon
named Mahishasura, and as Mahakali
in the battle against the demon generals
Shumbhaand Nishumbha.
Many of India’s goddesses are the
patron deities of particular locales, and
are considered unique to that place. The
Shiwalik goddesses, for example, are
unique to particular sites in the
Shiwalik hills. At the same time, all of
these goddesses are considered different
manifestations of the same divine energy.
According to the sites’ charter myth,
each site is associated with a particular
body part of the primeval goddess. The
myth tells of the death of Sati, who com-
mits suicidewhen her father Daksha
insults her husband Shiva. Shiva picks
up Sati’s body and wanders the earth,
carrying her on his shoulders. In his
grief Shiva neglects his divine duties,
and the world begins to fall into ruin.
The other gods beg Vishnufor help, lest
the world be destroyed. Vishnu uses his
razor-sharp discus to cut off pieces of
Sati’s body, until finally there is nothing
left. When the body is completely gone,
Shiva goes to the mountains, where he
becomes absorbed in meditation.
Wherever a part of Sati’s body falls, that
place becomes a Shakti Pitha(“seat of
the Goddess”), sanctified to the Goddess
in a particular form. The number of
these places differs from source to
source—some list fifty-one, and others
- Whatever the number, the sites are
spread throughout the subcontinent,
from Baluchistan in modern Pakistan, to
Assamin the far east, to deep in south-
ern India. Each Shakti Pitha is associated
with a particular body part of the great
Goddess, has a particular presiding
female deity, and has a particular
Bhairavaas a consort to that goddess.
From this perspective, the entire sub-
continent is seen as a single cohesive
unit, with the network of sites connect-
ed to one another as are the parts of the
body. Different places may claim the
same body part, the result of the drive to
establish a site and to give it prestige.
For example, Sati’s vulva, the most pow-
erfully charged part of the female body,
is usually accepted to have fallen at
Kamakhya in Assam, but the same
claim is made at Kalimath in the
Himalayas. There is no single authorita-
tive list of sites and competing claims
are not uncommon. Many Hindus seem
unconcerned with the seeming incon-
sistency of having the same body parts
claimed by different sites; perhaps this
reflects the conviction that the Goddess
is behind them all, and that the specifics
are therefore less important.
While some goddesses are only wor-
shiped in their particular locale, such as
the goddesses found in the Shiwalik
hills, other goddesses have become
more widely worshiped, and some have
become pan-Indian. In the pantheon,
the Goddess generally appears in two
widely differing types of manifestations.
At times she appears as a wife and mother,
in forms such as Parvati, Lakshmi, and
Saraswati. Although these married
goddesses are not completely powerless,
they tend to be benign, benevolent,
and auspicious. Her other manifestation
is in forms such as Durga and Kali,
whose male consorts are considered
subordinate to them. These indepen-
dent manifestations of the Goddess
have the power to help their devotees
(bhakta), but they are also volatile and
potentially dangerous, since their power
is sometimes unleashed without con-
trol. Cultural observers have suggested
that this dual perspective representsGoddess