Bhagavati

About Bhagavati

In Kerala, Bhagavati is the fierce village goddess of the 'kavu' — the sacred grove shrine. She is most often shown eight-armed, holding sword, trident, bell and shield, identified with Durga slaying the buffalo-demon Mahishasura. Her story is told in the Devi Mahatmya, the 700-verse hymn inside the Markandeya Purana that first names a goddess as the Supreme. Her great shrine is Attukal in Thiruvananthapuram, called the 'Sabarimala of Women': each February its Pongala festival draws over a million women cooking rice in clay pots — a gathering recorded in the Guinness Book.