पुराणे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Image of nIlalohita rudra holding the corpse of the buffalo-demon hAlAhala from ahichChatra. The kShetra of the rudra is however the holy kurukShetra. There are 3 buffalo demons in H tradition:

The oldest is mahiSha slain by skanda;
mahiSha slain by kumArI vindhyavAsinI
hAlAhala slain by nIlalohita rudra.

Briefly, the goddess who slays mahiSha in the archaic skandapurANa is vindhyavAsinI-kumarI-kaushikI; In the mArkaNDeyapurANa it is durgA-mahAlakshmI. A more elaborate account of this development would need a lot more space.

Tale of kurukShetra

The archaic skandapurANa provides that +++(hAlAhala’s)+++ tale.

Even as the 5th head of brahman uttered the incantation:

कापालिन् रुद्र बभ्रो ऽथ
भव कैरात सुव्रत।
पाहि विश्वं विशालाक्ष
कुमारवरविक्रम॥

(nIlalohita rudra desiring to furnish himself with a skull)

… he is said to have placed this skull at kurukShetra and his gaNa’s raised a great uproar.

The asura-s led by the buffalo demon hAlAhala then challenged them & were killed by the rudra’s retinue. Then nIlalohita offered the flesh of the buffalo demon a feast for a bevy of ferocious goddesses known as the kapAlamAtR^i-s who were installed at that kShetra which became a cremation ground. siddha-s were said to perform their rites in the said cemetery.

Pics

gupta sealing from kapAlakShetra, most likely from the spot of the cemetery. The image of the goddess is flanked by a trishUla & a chakra. Hence, Manoj Kumar who reported this find said that it was a “female” version of harihara but that’s dubious. Attributes are typical of durgA.