Who are the Aṣṭa Mātrikās (The 8 Tantrik Mothers)?

The Aṣṭa mātṝkās (the 8 mothers) are so central to Tantrik theory and practice and oh so mysterious! We first meet these 8 fierce, blood drinking, intoxicated Goddesses in the third act of the Devī Māhātmyam! And so, in this lecture, we'll take up that hymn and we'll list them one by one and consider their dhyāna ślokas (meditation mantras) so that we'll be able to visualize them. Of course, we'll discuss how to worship and why you want to worship them!

Most importantly though, I want to discuss some very subtle Tantrik linguistic mysticism concerning the nature of the Sanskrit language and how to it maps on to/ mystically explains Reality! Abhinava Gupta has a really interesting section in chapter 3 of his Tantrāloka on this which we discuss a little bit in this lecture. We open with a comparison of Shankara's Kevalādvaita (classical non-duality) system with the Tantrik version of non-duality (Advaita Śaiva or Śāktadvaita Vāda) to compare Māyā to Śakti to make the case that language is the power of Consciousness to reveal Herself to Herself!

Devī Kavacam 9-18 

1. Cāmundā on corpse

2. Vārāhinī on buffal

3. Indrānī on elephant

4. Vaishnavī on Garuḍa (eagle)

5. Narasimhinī mahāvīrya

6. Śivaduti mahābalā

7. Maheśvarī on a bull

8. Kaumarī on a peacock

9. Lakṣmī on a lotus, holding lotus flowers

10. īsvarī on a bull, wearing white

11. Brāhmī with ornaments on a swan

Aṣṭamodhyāyah (Chapter 8), verses 12-21 describes their origin and appearance and verses 33-63 describes what they do!

In  Ekādaśodhyāyah (Chapter 11), verses 13-21, they are praised

Kali Yantra (inner lotus petals) 

• Brāhmī
• Vaishnavī
• Maheśvarī
• Cāmundā
• Kaumarī
• Indrānī
• Vārāhinī
• Narasimhinī

 Srī Cakra (in bhūpura) 

• brāhmī,
• māhēśvarī,
• kaumāri,
• vaiṣṇavī,
• vārāhī,
• māhēndrī,
• chāmuṇḍē,
• mahālakṣmī