Rajarajeshwari, also known as Lalita Tripurasundari, is the divine embodiment of beauty, wisdom, and desire. This blog explores her origins, forms, symbolism, and significance in Hindu tradition. Discover her tales from the Brahamanda Purana, connection to Sri Chakra, powerful hymns like Lalitha Sahasranama, and her cosmic battle against Bhanda.
Of the many great yogic goddess lineages, Rajarajeshwari is preeminent. Self-willed and independent, Lalita is an exquisitely sensuous goddess also known as Kameshvari (“Empress of Desire”). At the same time, she is the completely devoted wife of the Supreme Lord Shiva, who is pure consciousness. She exists in a perpetual state of perfect harmony, ever benevolent, her eyes moist with compassion for all beings.
Saguna Adi Parashakti Devi Rajarajeshwari | Oil Painting | Handmade | Made In India
Rajarajeshwari, prominently known as Goddess Lalita, is considered as the Hindu Goddess of beauty and enjoyment. She comes in the third position among the Dasha Mahavidyas and also known by the names Tripurasundari and Shodashi. Goddess Lalita Tripurasundari is also one of the nine forms of goddess worship on Navaratri. Goddess Lalitha is assumed to be the divine energy of Sri Chakra. In the pictures, she is depicted as a sixteen-year-old extremely beautiful goddess who blesses mankind with sixteen advices. Moreover, this is the age of perfection and maturity.
Goddess Lalita is known in three (3) divine forms, who are the representations of body, mind and consciousness respectively.
1. Tripura Bala: The first form is represented as a young virgin goddess.
2. Tripura Sundari: The second form is marvelous eternal beauty of the three worlds.
3. Tripura Bhairavi: The third form is the ferocity and power of the Goddess Lalita.
The devotional methods for Tripura Bhairavi is very much inclined to Mahavidyas while the same regarding the other two forms are according to Sri Vidya tradition based on the worship of Srichakra. Goddess Sri Vidya is prayed for her kind heartedness and glory. Since the Goddess has attained three levels of existence, she is worshipped as Rajarajeshwari, Kameshwari, and Maha Tripura Sundari. These forms are to represent the qualities of her sacred functions.
Large Size Ashtabhuja-dhari Durga on Her Mount Lion
Goddess Lalita is depicted with four arms and her skin is in golden color. In one of the two fore arms she has carried a rope and in the other a pike. They highlight attachment and repulsion seen in life. In the latter two arms she has carried a sugarcane bow and five flower arrows to represent mind and five sensory organs respectively.
Her body is well garlanded by numerous ornaments. Lalita is also the representation of creation, preservation and destruction and considered as the image of sixteen modifications of desires. Usually she is found sitting on a lotus placed on a throne. All these display a royal atmosphere throughout in her environments.
Lord Shiva With Devi Rajarajeshwari
Goddess Lalita is considered as the companion of Lord Shiva and believed that she is the energy of the radiant light emerging from his third eye in the fore head. The detailed information regarding the goddess can be understood from the Shodashi Tantra. She is the Tantric deity among the Mahavidyas.
Even though she belongs to the Kali family, she is considered as the most important Mahavidya. Goddess Lalita is the combination of eternal grace, knowledge and determination. Thus, she spreads the light of pleasure, sympathy and awareness to her devotees.
☀ Lalitha Sahasranama Stotra is one of the most popular stotrams associated with Goddess Lalita Devi.
☀ Another popular mantra of the goddess is the Tripura Sundari Ashtakam composed by Adi Shankaracharya.
☀ Lalita Trishati Stotra from Brahmanda Purana is another highly revered Sanskrit Stotra addressed to the goddess.
The deep inner significance of Lalita’s play with her devotees (her name means “she who plays”) is revealed in the Brahmanda Purana, a thousand-year-old text from South India. In the most famous section of this text, called “The Glory of Lalita,” the following mystical tale unfolds. Shiva, lord of the universe, was engaged in ascetic practices, absorbed in deep meditation, when he suddenly felt a flush of lust.
Though two of his eyes remained shut in serene contemplation, his third eye flickered open, looking for the force which had disturbed his concentration. Sure enough, there was Kama, the god of love, grinning playfully, having just unleashed an arrow of desire. Instantly a laser-like bolt arced from Shiva’s open eye, incinerating Kama. The eyelid fluttered shut and the lord resumed his meditation.
From the ashes of love arose the demon Bhanda, flaming with desire for power, wealth, and sensual indulgence. Bhanda had an extraordinary power: whenever he made war on an enemy, half his opponent’s power would be transferred directly to Bhanda.
Bhanda quickly became a mighty king, conquering a vast dominion. The sage Narada appeared to the gods to warn them of the increasing threat Bhanda represented. “You must worship the Divine Mother Lalita,” he said, “for only she can help you ward off this menace.”
Durga Pooja
Alarmed, Indra, the king of the gods, made his way to the Himalayas to perform penances in order to gain the inner strength necessary to defeat Bhanda. On a bank of the Bhagirathi River, “blooming profusely with every kind of splendid flower,” Indra worshiped the Mother of the Universe. The planet Venus (Shukra) noticed what Indra was up to and rushed to Bhanda’s court where all Venusian pleasures were extravagantly indulged to alert the demons.
Quickly assembling an army, Bhanda hurried to the Himalayas to disrupt Indra’s penance, but seeing the demons coming to disturb her divine son’s meditation, the Mother of the Universe instantly threw up a protective barrier. With considerable effort, the demons smashed the wall but the moment it crumbled, another bulwark appeared in its place. The demon army tried again and again, but defensive walls continued to materialize out of the ether.
Meanwhile Indra called the rest of the gods together and announced, “Bhanda’s army is so powerful there is no way we can defeat him on our own. We will have to dig a fire pit a mile long and propitiate the Goddess with human sacrifice.” So they lit a great fire and offered a human body, as they chanted the mantras sacred to the Mother of the Universe.
Tales of The Mother Goddess (Comic Book)
A circular mass of blazing light materialized over the fire. At the center of the shining wheel sat the Great Goddess, resplendent as the rising sun. The gods recognized Lalita immediately: she was the life force of the entire cosmos, the quintessence of beauty and desire, adorned in robes the color of pomegranate, smiling at them with a loving glance as cool as moonlight.
In her four arms she held a noose, a goad, a sugarcane bow, and five arrows tipped with flower petals. To those initiated in the yoga tradition, the meaning is clear. It isn’t possible to annihilate the force of desire within ourselves, because this force arises from Kameshvari, the Empress of Desire who is none other than the Mother of the Universe herself.
Attempting to suppress his desires, Shiva tried to obliterate Kama, god of sexual desire, but another powerful entity instantly took Kama’s place. Unlike Kama, who represents the sacred movement of nature to cherish others in order to reproduce itself, Bhanda represents distorted, aggressive, selfish lust.
Indra, “he who attains mastery through control of the senses,” resorts to the Himalayas to do spiritual practices which will restore a healthy, God-centered lifestyle. In yogic literature a mountain often represents the spinal column, which remains upright and unwavering in meditation, unshakable as the Himalayas themselves.
On the bank of the Bhagirathi River, where Indra does penance, is the mouth of the sushumna, the subtle nerve current which is the conduit for kundalini, beginning at the base of the spine and emptying into the brain. The “flower-strewn” city where Indra meditates is the sahasrara chakra, the thousand-petaled lotus at the top of the brain.
Holding his consciousness in this highest chakra, Indra enters nirvikalpa samadhi, the deepest state of meditation, where he becomes impregnable. The Divine Mother protects him from the onslaught of the demons his own anti-divine impulses, so long as he remains in this fortress, a yogic state beyond thought and desire.
देवी भागवत की प्रमुख कथाएँ: The Principal Stories of Devi Bhagavat (Picture Book)
But it is not Indra’s destiny to sit withdrawn in meditation for the rest of his life. His dharma, or life purpose, is to rule the gods that is, to rule his inner divine powers so that he can act successfully and beneficently in the world. So he mentally summons all his internal energies to make the supreme sacrifice, the one form of human sacrifice which is genuinely spiritually effective: offering every cell of one’s own body into the fire pit of kundalini.
Then, having purified himself physically, emotionally, and mentally, Indra becomes fit for the vision of the Mother of the Universe, the Supreme Power of Consciousness herself. She, the source of universal consciousness is seated in a luminous orb just above the thousand-petaled chakra at the top of the head.
The text goes on to say that at the sight of the Power of Consciousness, the soul and its inner senses fly into ecstasy. Smiling at the upturned faces of the enraptured gods, which glowed with the reflection of her own light, the Goddess said, “My dear ones, be joyous! I will remove your fear. I bless all of you with virtue, prosperity, and fame, and with loving spouses, devoted children, and trustworthy friends.”
Rajarajeswari (Tripurasundari) Devi
According to her legend recorded in the Lalita Mahatmya or Glory of Lalita, the goddess is the most powerful, the supreme one in the entire Universe. The Chintamani-Griha, the abode of Lalita is the most beautiful place in the world, in the heart of which sits Lalita Tripurasundari, surrounded by all gods and goddesses.
She is served by goddesses of wisdom and wealth- Lakshmi and Saraswati, who carry the flying whisk and stand on each side of her throne. In her company sit Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, and Sadashiva and her throne is a blooming lotus, on which she sits over the body of Shiva. In the Brahmanda Purana, her story is narrated by Hayagriva to rishi Agastya, who is eager to understand the nature of “Moola Prakriti”- the supreme feminine, the primordial one who is at the core (Moola) of all creation.
The representation of her ultimate powers is the fact that she is able to create her masculine counterpart- Kameshwara or Shiva, from her own body. Together, the duo are Purusha and Prakriti, the supreme male and female energies, who create, sustain and destroy the Universe.
Saundarya Lahari is a work in Sanskrit, dedicated to “nakh-shikha”- from toes to head description of Maa Lalita Tripurasundari’s beauty. It is attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, who played a major role in popularizing it as one of the main ways of worshiping Devi Lalita.
The first 41 verses of the work are Ananda Lahari or waves of bliss and from 42 to 91 are the verses known as “Saundarya Lahari”. Written in a highly poetic and descriptive manner, the hymn when chanted helps the devotee visualize the most beautiful goddess in three worlds, acting as a channel that allows them to reach closer to the primordial goddess.
Sahasranama in Hindu tradition are powerful and devotional hymns containing a thousand names of the deity. Each name signifies a certain power the god or goddess holds. Sahasranama are chanted to attain closeness with the deity as a part of the daily Saadhana done by the devotee, to please their Ishta (tutelary god or goddess).
Lalita Sahasranama is a part of the Sri Vidya Sadhana, mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana. It is used by the initiated devotee or Sadhaka in Sri Vidya Tantra, to prepare their mind and body for Kundalini Jaagaran- a state of supreme bliss and wisdom, for which Devi Lalita Tripurasundari is worshipped.
Sri Vidya Sadhana is a Tantric worship tradition dedicated to Lalita, Tirpurasundari, or Rajarajeshwari. The methods developed all over India- from Kashmir to Kanchi are rooted in the belief that Lalita is the primordial mother, the Param Brahman, as mentioned in Advaita Vedanta.
Goddess Lalita in Sri Vidya Tantra is worshipped through mind, body, and speech. The devotee meditates upon her form, recites the mantra, and worships the goddess through external offerings or Puja. Sri Yantra, the queen of all Yantras, is the geometrical diagram that represents the mantra and the goddess herself. In its three-dimensional form, the Yantra is called “Maha Meru”- the cosmic mountain that supports the world.
The reverence to Maa Lalita can be explained in the following Dhyana-shloka-
अरुणां करुणातरङ्गिताक्षीं धृतपाशाङ्कुशपुष्पबाणचापाम् ।अणिमादिभिरावृतां मयुखैः अहमित्येव विभावये भवानीम् ॥
The verse refers to the goddess Bhavani (mother of the Universe) or Parvati, as a red-skinned divinity, whose eyes are filled with compassion. She carries floral arrows, a bow, and Paasha (noose) and Ankusha (goad). She is surrounded by a glorious aura and has the Astha Siddhi (eight divine abilities) She is meditated upon by the Sadhaka, as the primeval mother and the focus of all the Sadhana.
As far as her temples are concerned, below are some of the popular Tripurasundari Temples in India:
☀ Tripura Sundari Temple in Banswara, Rajasthan
☀ Tripura Sundari Temple in Udaipur, Tripura
☀ Tripurasundari Temple in Manali, Himachal Pradesh
☀ Bala Tripura Sundari Ammanavara Temple in Mysore, Karnataka
On Dasami, she sits on the throne holding ‘Ikshu khanda’ (sugarcane) in one hand and giving blessings to devotees with the other in ‘abhaya mudra’ (no fear). Sweet Juice of Sugarcane symbolises the juice of bliss (atma gnana – the self-realisation). She whips those who are wicked and arrogant or harmful to others. Her peaceful, smiling, benevolent looks mesmerises the devotees.
She killed and defeated many demons in many kalpas, hence, is also known as Aparajitha Devi, one who cannot be defeated. Rajarajeswari Devi is gnana swaroopini (the embodiment of Gnana or wisdom). The Trimurthis - Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara are the lords of Ashta Dikpalakas (guardians of the eight directions). They are called Rajeswar, and the goddess who rules over these Trimurthis is called Rajarajeswari.
She wears beautiful diamond chains, broad ear rings, jewels on the shoulders made of diamonds and other costly stones as she is alankara priya. They are also symbol of prosperity. She is adhisthana devatha (presiding deity) of Sri Chakra. Where does she live? Sri Manmanidweepa Sri Nagara sthitha chintamani griha is her residence. She lives there along with all parivara devatha and making mahakameswara’s anka as nilaya.
Rajarajeshwari is the supreme goddess- Para Shakti, worshiped in Shaktism. She embodies sovereignty, wisdom, and compassion and is also worshipped as Lalita Tripurasundari. She is revered in Sri Vidya Tantra as the presiding deity of the Sri Yantra.
Yes, Tripurasundari and Lalita are different names for the same goddess. She is also called Rajarajeshwari, symbolizing beauty, power, and divine grace. “Tripurasundari” refers to her as the supreme beauty of the three worlds, while “Lalita” signifies her playful and compassionate nature. Both names are used interchangeably in the sacred Lalita Sahasranama.
The Sri Yantra is a sacred geometric diagram representing the union of Shiva and Shakti- male and female principles, from which the universe emerges and in which the creation dissolves. It consists of nine interlocking triangles. It is considered the most powerful yantra in Hindu tradition, used in Sri Vidya worship for prosperity, enlightenment, and divine connection.
Sri Vidya Tantra is a Shakta-Tantric tradition centered on the worship of Goddess Rajarajeshwari (Lalita Tripurasundari). It involves mantras, yantras, and rituals that lead to self-realization and divine wisdom. Practitioners believe that mastering Sri Vidya grants material success, spiritual liberation, and inner peace.
Rajarajeshwari is depicted sitting on Shiva to symbolize the supremacy of Shakti (divine energy) over Shiva (pure consciousness). This represents the dynamic force of creation Shiva without Shakti is inactive, while Shakti without Shiva lacks direction. The image is an expression of the Tantric formula, in which Shakti is considered superior to Shiva, depicted in her positioning over him.
Lalita Devi’s divine consort is Kameshvara (a form of Shiva). Their union represents the perfect balance of cosmic energies, Shakti as the active principle and Shiva as the passive, infinite consciousness. This relationship is central to Sri Vidya Tantra and they are worshipped together in the powerful diagram of Sri Yantra.
In her four hands, Rajarajeshwari holds:
Pasha (noose) – Control over desires and karma.
Ankush (goad) – Guidance towards liberation.
Sugarcane bow – Mind’s potential to manifest desires.
Five flower arrows – Five senses, symbolizing creation through beauty and love.
Yes, Lalita Devi and Rajarajeshwari are the same goddess, worshiped under different names. Lalita emphasizes her playful, benevolent aspect, while Rajarajeshwari signifies her supreme, majestic rule over creation. Both are forms of Tripurasundari, the highest Shakti in Sri Vidya tradition.
Lalita (the most beautiful one), Rajarajeshwari (the supreme ruler of all kings), and Tripurasundari (the most beautiful one in three realms), the goddess are the embodiment of the powers and beauty of the great primordial feminine. The mother of Trideva and the origin of Tridevis, Lalita is revered as the bringer of creation, she who removes the “Kaama-Pralaya”- destruction caused by the absence of passion and action and is thus the above all divine beings.
In Hindu-Tantra and Shakta traditions, Tripurasundari is one of the Dasha Mahavidya, the great wisdom, who are the keepers of the Universe’s occult knowledge and powers. The bestower of Dharma-Artha-Kaama-Moksha, the four Purushasrtha or primary goals of Hindu life, Rajrajeshwari is a powerful manifestation of “Para-Ambika”- primeval mother.
The original version was written by Manisha Sarade on 11 October 2021. It was revised in 22 March 2025 by Prakriti Anand, who is currently pursuing her PhD in Ancient Indian History from the University of Delhi. Prakriti has experience working with organizations in the realms of heritage, art, and history and is committed to advancing contributions to the field of culture.
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