Potency Of Sri Chakra Yantra

When the heavens open
Bring forth the force
The wilderness the heat
The power alive
The potency let lose
The divine embrace
Such energy released
The Goddess arrives

The power of the Mother
Felt through in history,
A power so strong
Mere humans crumble
The heat so much
It scorches the soul
No one can survive this fury
The Goddess brings alive.

Such was her fierceness
Her Ughra swarupa
The heart fears
This form of the Goddess
Burns away to ashes
All mankind those alive
Who witness her fury alike.

One such form is known as the Kali swarupa, though she has warmth and appears coy, her fierceness rules supreme. In the Tamil Nadu landscape, we revisit this Goddess at four Shakti sthalas which stand out for their strangely mystical stories bearing almost the same solution to control her fury. Thiruvotriyur, Thiruvanaikkaval, Kanchipuram and Mangadu have each seen this anger of the Goddess in the ancient days.

There is another possible explanation to this theory of controlling her fierceness. It could have been possible that blood (animal) sacrifices might have been performed at some of these altars to appease the Goddess and this practice was curbed. Also, these shrines of the Goddesses existed well before they were formally consecrated into temple shrines. The Goddesses energy was felt and experienced more than her physical presence was seen in stone at some of these shrines.

Mythology holds that Shakti manifests Herself as Thripurasundari at the current temple of Thiruvotriyur facing south. Her counterpart Vattaparai Amman resides in the north of the temple.

At Thiruvanaikkaval the Goddess manifests herself as Akhilandeshwari in the ughra form, so fierce is her form that her devotees could not withstand the power.

At Kanchipuram, the Goddess takes the form Kamakshi Amman and manifests herself in ughra form, sending ripples of fury around, so much so that it could be felt among her devotees who walked along what is now the temple precinct.

At Mangadu (meaning Mango grove), Parvati was reborn as Sri Adikamakshiamman in repentance of her act of covering the Lord's eyes playfully which turned the whole universe into darkness for a short while causing unrest and fear in all creatures alive.

Kamakshi is known to have waited here for Lord Shiva, to be wedded to Him as promised and when he didn't come she is believed to have performed the Panchagni Sadhana, a fire ritual with five sacred yagnas, four yagnas burning around her each in a cardinal direction while she stood in the center of the fifth on her left toe, with the rising flames engulfing her right leg bent upwards as her hand stayed raised above her head holding the japamala(picture below). She came to be known as Sri Tapas Kamakshi at Mangadu. She displays extreme anger before She goes to Kanchipuram to be finally married to Lord Shiva, as instructed by Him. The heat of these fires could still be felt by her devotees.

Read more about the significance of the Sri Chakra on the Next Page