Ten Mahavidyas : Manifestations Of Cosmic Female Energy

"Too independent to be in a wife’s frame, besides gender they have in them little which is consort-like....They are individualistic in nature, yet their identity better reveals as a group....The broad meaning of the term ‘Mahavidya’ is ‘great knowledge’. In its wider sense the term might be taken to mean complete, supreme, absolute, or ultimate knowledge....Ten mantras are ten manifestations of the deity – the Divine Female....As regards the origin of Mahavidyas, the tradition has five myths in prevalence....Frightened Shiva tried to flee from one direction to other but a burst of laughter obstructed him on every side, and dismayed and frightened he submitted. To further ensure that he did not slip the woman, obviously Sati’s transform, filled all directions around him with ten different forms....Not merely in the Buddhist myths that portray Tara as the goddess of tempestuous seas helping the masses wade their path to safety and redemption, even in Hindu and Jain traditions she is revered as the goddess who guides out of troubles and all kinds of turmoil."