Goddess Bhairavi

The female version of Bhairav. Bhairavi is of a fiery, volcanic red complexion, with three furious eyes, and disheveled hair. Her hair is matted, tied up in a bun, decorated by a crescent moon as well as adorning two horns, one sticking out from each side. She has two protruding tusks from the ends of her bloody mouth. She wears red and blue garments and is adorned with a garland of skulls around her neck. She also wears a belt decorated with severed hands and bones attached to it. She is also decked with snakes and serpents too as her ornamentation – rarely is she seen wearing any jewelry on her limbs. Of her four hands, two are open and two hold a rosary and book. The name Bhairavi means “frightful,” “terrible,” “horrible,” or “formidable.” Bhairavi provokes different fear, for she is said to shine with the effulgence of ten thousand rising suns. She has many names including Tripura Bhairavi, Sampath Praja Bhairavi, Kaulesh Bhairavi, Siddhida Bhairavi, Bhay Vidwamsi Bhairavi, Chaitanya Bhairavi, Kameshwari Bhairavi, Nitya Bhairavi and Rudra Bhairavi. Her body is the color of the rising sun. Bhairavi is seen mainly as the Chandi in the Durga Saptashati who slays Chanda and Munda. Sometimes she is in the cremation ground, seated on a headless corpse. Like Kali, she has four arms. With two of her hands, she holds the sword of knowledge and the demon’s head that represents the destruction of the ego. Her other two hands may display the abhayamudra, urging us to have no fear, and the varadamudra, the gesture of granting boons. More often they hold a mala, signifying devotion, and a book, signifying knowledge. The trident represents the pervasively threefold nature of her manifestation and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. It is often said that Bhairavi represents divine wrath, but it is only an impulse of her fierce, maternal protectiveness,