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 This
stotra (hymn which praises) occurs in Brahmanda Purana (Old Epic
of the Universe) in the chapter on discussion between Hayagreeva
and Agasthya. Hayagreeva, an incarnation of Vishnu with the head
of a horse, is believed to be the storehouse of knowledge.
Agasthya was one of the great sages of yore who is one of the
stars of the constellation Great Bear. At his request,
Hayagreeva taught him the most holy 1,000 names of Goddess
Lalitha.
Paramashiva is one of the Trinity of the Hindu pantheon who is
in charge of destruction. He married Sathi, the daughter of
Daksha. Daksha and Paramashiva were not getting on well and,
consequently, he did not invite Paramashiva for one of the great
fire sacrifices that he conducted.
However, Sathi went to attend the function in spite of
Paramashiva’s protestations. Daksha insulted her husband and she
jumped into the fire and ended her life.
At the behest of Paramashiva, Daksha was killed and later
given life with a goat’s head. However, this incident upset
Paramashiva and he entered into deep meditation. Sathi took
birth as the daughter of the mountain (Parvathy) Himalayas and
started doing penance for Shiva to marry him.
The Devas faced a very great enemy in Sura Padma who had a
boon that he could be killed only by a son of Shiva and Parvathy.
So to wake Shiva from his deep meditation, the Devas deputed
Manmatha, the God of Love, who shot his flower arrows at
Paramashiva.
Paramashiva woke up and opened his third eye and burnt to
ashes the God of Love. The Devas and Rathi Devi, the wife of
Manmatha, requested Paramashiva to give life to Manmatha. Paying
heed to their request, Paramashiva stared at the ashes of
Manmatha. From the ashes came Bhandasura, who made the whole
world impotent and ruled from the city called Shonithapura. He
started troubling the Devas.
The Devas then sought the advice of Sage Narada who told them
to conduct a fire sacrifice. From the fire rose Sri Lalitha
Tripura Sundari.
She was extremely beautiful, having dark, thick, long hair
with the scent of champaka, asoka and punnaga flowers; having
the musk thilaka on her forehead; having eyelids which appeared
as if they were the gateway to the house of the God of Love;
having eyes which were like fish playing in the beauteous lake
of her face; having a nose with studs which shone more than the
stars; having ears with sun and moon as studs, having cheeks
which were like the mirror of Padmaraga; having beautiful rows
of white teeth; chewing thamboola with camphor; having a voice
sweeter than the sound emanating from the veena of Goddess
Saraswati; having such a beautiful smile that Lord Shiva himself
could not take his eyes off; wearing mangala soothra and
necklaces with beautiful shining dollars; having breasts which
were capable of buying the invaluable love of Kameshwara; having
a row of faint, beautiful hair rising from her belly; having a
stomach with three pretty folds; wearing red silk tied with a
string with red bells; having thighs which could steal the heart
of Kameshwara; having knees which looked like crowns made of
precious gems; having voluptuous legs; having upper part of the
feet resembling the back of a tortoise; having feet which
resembled lamps made of gems which could dispel worries from the
mind of devotees; and a body with the golden red colour.
She was given in marriage to Lord Kameshwara and made to stay
in Sree Nagara atop the Maha Meru Mountain.
Sree Nagara had 25 streets circling it. They are made of
iron, steel, copper, lead, alloy made of five metals, silver,
gold, the white pushparaga stone, the red padmaraga stone, onyx,
diamond, vaidoorya, Indra neela (topaz), pearl, marakatha,
coral, nine gems and mixture of gems and precious stones.
In the 8th street was the forest of the Kadambas. This was
presided by Syamala. In the 15th street live the Ashta Digh
Palakas. In the 16th lives Varahi alias Dandini who is her
commander in chief. Here Syamala also has a house. In the 17th
street live the different Yoginis. In the 18th street lives Maha
Vishnu. In the 19th street lives Esana, in the 20th Thara Devi,
21st Varuni , the 22nd Kurukulla who presides over the fort of
pride, 23rd Marthanda Bhairawa, 24th the moon, and 25th Manmatha
presiding over the forest of love.
In the centre of Sree Nagara is the Maha Padma Vana (the
great lotus forest) and within it the Chintamani Griha (the
house of holy thought), in the north-east is the Chid Agni Kunda
and on both sides of its eastern gate are the houses of
Manthrini and Dhandini. On its four gates stand the Chaduramnaya
gods for watch and ward. And within it is the Sri Chakra.
In the centre of Sri Chakra, on the throne of Pancha Brahmas
on the Bindu Peeta (dot plank), called Sarvanandamaya (universal
happiness), sits Maha Tripura Sundari.
In the Sri Chakra are the following decorations viz.,
- The square called Trilokya Mohanam (most beautiful in the
three worlds);
- The 16-petalled lotus called Sarvasa Paripoorakam
(fulfiller of all desires);
- The eight-petalled lotus called Sarvasamksopanam (the all
cleanser);
- The 16-corner figure called Sarva Sowbagyam (all luck);
- The external 10-cornered figure called Sarvartha Sadhakam
(giver of all assets);
- The internal 10-cornered figure called Sarva Rakshakaram
(all protector);
- The eight-cornered figure called Sarva Rohaharam (curer of
all diseases);
- The triangle called Sarva Siddhi Pradam (giver of all
powers); and
- The dot called Sarvananda Mayam(all pleasures).
The Devas prayed to her to kill Bhandasura. When she started
for the war with Bandasura, she was accompanied by the powers
called anima, mahima, etc., Brahmi, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi,
Mahendri, Chamundi, Maha Lakshmi, Nitya Devathas and Avarna
Devathas who occupy the Sri Chakra.
While Sampatkari Devi was the captain of the elephant
regiment, Aswarooda Devi was the captain of the cavalry. The
army was commanded by Dhandini riding on the chariot called Giri
Chakra assisted by Manthrini riding on the chariot called Geya
Chakra. Jwala Malini protected the army by creating a fire ring
around it.
ParaShakthi rode in the centre on the chariot of Sri Chakra.
Nithya Devi destroyed a large chunk of Bandasura’s armies, Bala
Devi killed the son of Bandasura, and Manthrini and Dhandini
killed his brothers called Vishanga and Vishukra.
When the Asuras created a blockade for the marching army, Sri
Lalitha Tripura Sundari created Ganesha with the help of
Kameshwara to remove the blockade. Then Bandasura created the
Asuras called Hiranyaksha, Hiranya Kasipu and Ravana. The Devi
created the 10 avatars of Vishnu and destroyed them.
She killed all his army using Pasupathastra and killed him
with Kameshwarasthra. The gods then praised her.
She then recreated Manmatha for the good of the world. This
story is contained in the first 84 names of the first 34 slokas
of Lalitha Sahasra Nama and all together contains one thousand
names. This is also called the Rahasya Nama Sahasra (the
thousand secret names). Reading it and meditating on the meaning
of the names would lead to the fulfillment of all the wishes of
the devotees.
(To be continued)
(Translated by
P R Ramachander)
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Lalitha Sahasra Namam
