Saptamātṛkā

▪ Hindu deities

      (Sanskrit: “Seven Divine Mothers”), in Hinduism, a group of seven mother-goddesses, each of whom is the śakti, or female counterpart, of a god. They are Brahmāṇī, Māheśvarī, Kaumārī, Vaiṣṇavī, Vārāhī, Indrāṇī, and Cāmuṇḍā, or Yamī. (One text, the Varāha-Purāṇa, states that they number eight, including Yogeśvarī, created out of the flame from Śiva's mouth.)

      Representations of the goddesses are found in shrines throughout India, frequently flanked by Vīrabhadra (a ferocious form of Lord Śiva) on the left and the elephant-headed Gaṇeśa on the right. The individual mothers can be identified by their weapons, ornaments, vāhanas (“mounts”), and banner emblems, which are in each case the same as that of their corresponding male deities. Any Saptamātṛkā cult that may have existed seems to have disappeared by the 11th century, perhaps, some scholars suggest, absorbed by the growing worship of Śakti (the supreme being personified as female).

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