Tripura Sundari

About Tripura Sundari

Lalita Tripura Sundari rose from a fire-pit of pure consciousness, kindled when the gods needed a champion against Bhandasura — a demon born from the ashes of Kamadeva after Shiva burned him with his third eye. She is red as the dawn sun, with four arms holding a sugarcane bow, five flower arrows, a noose, and a goad, standing for the mind, the senses, attachment, and aversion. She sits on the Sri Chakra and is worshipped through the Sri Vidya tradition. Her thousand names, the Lalita Sahasranama, appear in the Brahmanda Purana, taught by horse-headed Hayagriva to sage Agastya. Devotees keep her fast on Lalita Panchami during Sharad Navratri.