tvaritA

Source: TW

In the 1000s, the chera mantravAdin IshAnashiva composed a mantra manual wherein he described tvaritA as being the form assumed by umA when she accompanied rudra to give arjuna the pAshupata missile.

tvaritA was present in the ancestral kaula tradition and has a place in most of the successor kulAmnAya-s. In the pashchimAmnAya she is an emanation of kubjikA in the middle of a maNDala known as the khecharI chakra with the eponymous yoginI-s.

In the dakShiNAmnAya, tvaritA appears as one of the 16 nityA-s, central goddesses of that system.

In the uttarAmnAya (kAlIkula) there are two lineages of tvaritA.

• In the pA~ncharAtra-influenced krama, she appears as the kAlI consort of nR^isiMha. Indeed, her bIja is identical to that of nR^isiMha (kShrauM).
• Alternatively, she is identified with the ancient uttarAmnAya goddess pratya~NgirA.

Keeping with uttarAmnAya kAli connections, in the kubjikAmata-tantra of the pashchimAmnAya, she is identified with the quantum of time and the unit of the vibration: spanda; hence, tvaritA.

In contrast, the AgamakalpalatA identifies her with padmAvatI.

The kula-kaulinI-mata tantra preserves her ancient rite probably from the root of the yoginI-kaula system. There, she is connected with the treatment of snake venoms.

This suggests her origins in the tantra-s of the garuDa-srotas (the troTalA and troTalottara affiliated with that stream specify her rites) with earlier kaumAra connections indicated by her peacock banner. Her gAyatrI identifies her with trotalA another goddess from the garuDa-srotas:

tvaritā-vidyāyai vidmahe
trotalā-vidyāyai dhīmahi |
tan nas tūrṇā pracodayāt |

Below she is depicted in her simple traipura manifestation (as opposed to her 18 handed form) mentioned in the KKM and the dakShiNAmnAya’s tantrarAja tantra with the peacock and snake insignia.