SarasvatI who preside over the morning, mid-day and evening

prayers of the twice-born classes and represent the Vedas, Rik, Yajus, and Saman or the three sacred fires, Gdrhapatya, Dakshinagni and the Ahavaniya, respectively ; Tulaja-BhavanI, w j lo jj^g Annapurna holds in one hand a vessel of delicious food and in another a spoon for distributing the same ; Rajamatangl who is absorbed in listening to the talk of a p arr ot and stands with one of her feet placed on a lotus, while her hands are fondly playing upon the vina; Laghusya- mala, a damsel who has just attained her youth and who plays upon the vina, with a vessel of wine near her and with eyes betraying signs of intoxication ; VarunI, Sudhamalinl or Amritesvarl, "the goddess of boats," who is seated on a boat bedecked with gems and surrounded by an army of Saktis, bright as the growing sun, maddens the three worlds by her glance, decorates her tresses with the flowers of the pdrijdta- tree and holds a vessel of wine, a lotus and a cooked piece of flesh in her hands ; and Kurukulla, 1 also a goddess of boats, fully drunk with wine, riding on a boat of gems and holding in her hands a paddle of gems. VindhyavasinI, - classed as one of the Durgas, is called Mukambika in the Silpasara. She is said to be seated on a golden lotus, to have four arms and to be dazzling as lightning. By her side stands the lion, her vehicle.

The most famous of these milder deities, however, are Lalita, Tripura-Sundarl and Rajarajesvarl (fig. 137). All are highly beautiful and of dazzling brilliance. They have four hands each and hold the symbols : noose (or, fruit), goad (or, conch), sugarcane-bow (or, mirror) and five arrows (or, a lotus or a cup of collyrium). Their worship is directly connected with the mystic geometrical drawings known as chakras and pithas. Images of these goddesses are not honoured so much as the chakras or pithas over which they are supposed to preside. The worship offered consists in throwing over the chakras a profusion of red turmeric powder called kunkumam, which is generally worn on the forehead by all Hindu ladies whose husbands are alive. The throwing of kunkumam is accompanied by the repetition of long strings of the names of Lalita consisting of synonyms a thousand, three hundred, or one hundred and eight in number. Each name is prefaced with the sacred syllable Om. The goddesses

1 This is a goddess common to both the Hindu and the Buddhist Tantras ; Mayurahhatija, p. Ixxxix.

2 In the Ankalamma temple at Karempudi (Guntur district) is an inscription of A.D. 1164, which refers to that village goddess, as Yindhyavasini.