Devalok
Form · Shakta · Pan-India

The ten Mahavidyas

Also called: Dasha Mahavidya, Das Mahavidya, the ten great wisdoms

Ten goddesses who are forms of one goddess: Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari (Shodashi), Bhuvaneshvari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala. Known as a group after the tenth century; the Mahabhagavata and Brihaddharma Puranas tell how Sati first took the ten forms to stop Shiva leaving. Each is worshipped in the tantras with her own mantra.

Sources: David Kinsley, Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas (University of California Press, 1997); The Mahabhagavata Purana, English translation (archive.org upload; Pushpendra Kumar's edition, translator not named); Brihaddharma Purana, Sanskrit with Hindi translation by S. N. Khandelwal (archive.org) · see The ten Mahavidyas's web

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The ten Mahavidyas appears in

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The ten Mahavidyas emanates from

  • Kali (God) Shakta · Sati and the ten forms
    Kali's forms in every direction (Hindi Tara book, Kinsley); Kamakhya-Kali at the centre (Mahabhagavata 77).

The ten Mahavidyas tested

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