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A fortnight compromises of sixteen days or tithi's which correspond to the sixteen digits of the moon. According to the theism expounded by the tantra- sastra, each of these tithi's has presiding female deities who are known by the term 'Tithi Nitya' The English translation of the term is 'Datal Divinities'. There are different groups of datal divinities according to different traditions and practice- methods. Two traditions have been identified on the basis of the popular belief practice as i) Saivaite and ii) Vaisnavaite i. Saivaite. In this system Siva and his related female principle known variously as Lalita, Durga, Tripurasundari, Kali, Bhairavi etc... are the supreme deities to whom worship is offered. ii. Vaisnavaite. The system in which Visnu and his related female principle known as Sri or Laksmi are the principal deities to whom worship is accorded. A careful survey of different works shows that, according to the Saivite tradition there are in all fifteen datal 206

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses divinities and the sixteenth one is either the goddesses Lalita¹02 or the goddesses Tripurasundari 103. The fifteen nitya goddesses are the fifteen tithi's of the lunar phase which represent the union of Siva and Sakti, consisting of days and nights. It states that they are the letters in the mantra and are both prakasa and vimarsa 104. The list of these datal divinities is given by Krsnananda in the Brhat-tantra-sara¹05. 106 According to the tradition of the Vaisnavaite's' the datal divinities are but part manifestations of the supreme deity Sri.' Below is given a list of the datal divinities for both the Saivate and the Vaisnavaite's for comparison. Tithi Saivate Vaisnavaite Nityas. First - new Mahatripura Nityas Srikala. moon day. sundari Lalita or Second I Third Kamesvari Bhagamalini Para II Kamaj da 102 Sri vidyarnava tantram, of Sri vidyaranya, vol-I,II ch. VII; XX; XXI 103 Nityotsava of Umanandanatha, Oriental Institute Vadodara (GOS-23) Rep. 2000. Appendix, P.188 104 Kamakala Vilas of Punyanandanatha V.13 105 Brhat-tantra-sara of Krisnanandanatha, ch. II Chaukhambha, Varanasi-2007 106 Mahalakshmi Ratnakosa pt.1, XIV. 121-125 Sarasvati Mahal Series No.326. Tanjavur 1991. 207

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses Fourth Nityaklinna Aindri III Fifth - IV Berunda Bhuvanadhes a Vanhivasini Anandarupa Sixth V Seventh- VI Vajresvari Bhutida Eighth - VII Duti or Astami Sivaduti Ninth VIII Tvarita Kamala Tenth- IX Kulasundari Paramesvari Eleventh X Nitya Sarasvati Twelfth XI Thirteenth Nilapataka Mahamaya Vijaya Vagesvari XII FourteenthSarvamangal Mohini XIII Fifteenth XIV Sixteenth Jvalamala or Para Jvalamalini Chitra Ski XV It is observed that there are sixteen datal-divinities in all for the Saivate as well as the Vaisnavaite's. These datal divinities are the part manifestations of the supreme cultic 208

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses divinities that pervaded the whole worship process. They thus, stood for the functional aspect of the supreme cultic goddess on that particular day. Worship methodology. 209 The datal divinities are worshipped on their respective yantras. The yantras are made using the following materials. The Sri-vidyarnava-tantra explains their yantras in detail. The following be details about the yantras are to kept in mind with regard to their yantra. The yantra be written with the help of sandalpaste, agaru, camphor, musk, kumkum only on any of the following bases viz.- on gold, silver, copper, silk cloth, or on a birch-bark. They should be made as an amulet and held on the folowing body parts viz.- the head, the arms, the neck, on the hips, or on the wrist 107. 109 , 鈥� The worship should commence from the first day of the bright fortnight and continue for fifteen days 108. In the Nityotsava is laid down the ascending as well as the descending order of worship. The worship begins with the worship of 'Kamesvarinitya' on the first day of the bright fortnight and continues till the worship of 'Chitranitya' on the full moon day. This is followed by the worship of 'Chitranitya' which begins on the first day of the dark 107 Sri vidyarnava tantram Ch.XX. 108 Opcit. Ch XX 10⁹Nityotsava of Umanandanatha, appendix No. 2, P.187,188.

110 111 Chapter 3. Minor goddesses fortnight. This worship process attains completion on the new moon day when Kamesvarinitya is worshipped. This type of 'ascendo-decscendo' type of worship is known as the 'Samhara-krama' of worship mode. This type is strictly recommended to be done by the recluses or Sanyasins alone. The worship should be done in such a manner that, one 'Nitya' is worshipped in a combination of every two days. Further it states that by chance dure to some reason the worship of a particular 'tithi' is lost then, in such a case two 'nityas' are to be worshipped on the same day 110. Thus it serves as a fill up of the backlog and the worship too attains completion. An important feature of the goddess-worship is the worship of the feminine genre'. In the worship process of the supreme goddess, the worship of the Tithi-nitya goddesses it has a special place of its own in the tantras. The worship of the virgins should be performed from the first day of the bright fortnight upto the full moon day ie. from Amavasya till Pournima which comes to sixteen days corresponding to the sixteen datal divinities. In the Rudrayamala Tantra the worship methodology of virgins is laid down. Virgins from one year of age to virgins sixteen year old are offered worship. It lays down the worship of one virgin each on the Opcit. Nita Tantra Ch. 15 210

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses sixteen days 12. For a quick reference, a table of suitable virgins who are accorded worship is given. Tithi worship of Age the of Females designated Female as 1. Amavasya 2. Prathama One year Two year Sandhya Saraswati 3. Dwitiya Three year Tridhamurti 4. Trtriya Four year Kalika 5. Caturthi Five year Suryaga 6. Pancami Six year Rohini 7. Sasti Seven year Malini 8. Saptami 9. Astami Eight year Nine year Kubjika Kalasandhat (ri 10. Navami 11. Dasami Ten year Eleven Aparajita Rudrani year 112 Rudrayamala Tantra, Uttara Tantra VI.96 b- 101 a., Yogatantra Grantha Mala Vol.-7, Sampurnanda Sanskrit Viswavidyalaya, Varanasi - 1980 211

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses 12. Ekadasi Twelve Bhairavi year 13. Dwadasi Thirteen Mahalaksmi year 14. Trayodasi Fourteen Pitanayika year 15.Chaturdasi Fifteen Kshetraja year 16. Pournima Sixteen yr. Ambika Offerings. A deity, apart from other charactericts of identification etc... is marked out by the special offerings made to them. In the Sri-vidyarnava-tantra, the author gives a list of offerings to be made to the fifteen datal divinities like milk, honey, ghee, curds, sugar, etc... is listed. 212 The virgins who form part of the worship are to be identified with the 'Tithinityas'. After their identification with the particular divinities, they too should be worshipped. They should be worshipped as the 'living-goddesses' by making offerings of clothes, ornaments and feeding them¹¹³. 113 113 RUDY.Uttara Tantra VI.108

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses Below is a table which quickly briefs us about each nitya, with regard to the mantra and the particular offerings to please and make her propitious. Tithi 114 Goddess Purpose Offerings 115 First or foremost Mahatripu rasundari Not mentioned. Ghee or Lalita Second - I Kamesvari Fulfillment of desires, wishes, Sugar to control all beings. Third Bhagamali Subduer of the Milk - II ni three worlds. Fourth Nityaklinn Dismal from Vada -III a Fifth Bherunda great fear Not mentioned (Apupam) Banana fruit -IV Sixth Vanhivasin -V T The fulfillment of the Honey (Kshoudram) Four goals of life. Seventh -VI Vajresvari The dismial of Jaggery fear. Eighth -VII Duti or Sivaduti = Ninth Tvarita The obtainement of the desired. The giver of Coconut Fruits -VIII enjoyment and and salvation; the destruction fear-factor of Tenth Kulasunda Not mentioned. Parched or -IX ri fried grain (Laja) 114 Sri-vidyarnava-tantra ch.VII 115 Sri-vidyarnava-tantra ch.XX 213

Chapter 3. Minor goddesses Eleventh -X Nitya The fulfilment of the Sesame four goals of life of a human being. Twelfth -XI Nilapataka The power of attracting Curd Thirteenth - XII Vijaya the three worlds Bestows Parched and victories in war immeadetly remembering. flattened rice on (Prthukam) Fourteenth Sarvamang -XIII ala The increaser of good fortune. Chick pea (Canakam) Fifteenth Jvalamala - XIV or The bestower of 'Purusharthas'. Kidney bean Jvalamalin (Mudgam) T Sixteenth -XV Chitra or Vichitra All dangers flee when she is mediated upon. Payasam Further, in the end, it states that for the goddess Lalita who is the Adi-nitya all the above listed offerings are always offered. Days as goddesses. 214 Apart from the asterisms that were defied, we find a similar tendency of defication of certain days and significant ocassions. They popularly were defied as goddesses. It was believed that these defied goddesses were responsible for the happenings of the day. Among them the prominent are Astakas, the Ekastakas and Sasti, who appear as goddesses.