matrika
मातृका mātṛkāThe 'little mothers'; the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet regarded as goddesses and as the sonic matrix of reality, installed on the body in matrika-nyasa.
Where this term appears
- Mantroddhara: the key printed above the lock Lineages
Mantroddhara is the ritual extraction of a mantra out of the Sanskrit alphabet, and the name the tantric tradition gives to the practice of writing mantras in coded…
- What is Shaktism? Lineages
Shumbha taunts her for fighting with the help of other goddesses, the Matrikas, the mothers who had streamed out of the great gods to join the battle.
- What are the Shakti Peethas? Temples
The Sanskrit alphabet is counted, in one scheme, as 51 letters, the matrikas or "little mothers," each held to carry the Goddess as sound.
- Nyasa As Architecture Treatise
Placing the syllables on the body The first and most extensive of the nyasas is the Matrika Nyasa - the placement of the syllables .
- The Court Treatise
These are the Matrika goddesses - the mother-goddesses, the Saptamatrikas in their gate-keeping function.
- The Worship - At The Architecture Of Nine Doors Treatise
The four gates are guarded - by the Matrikas in most lineages (Brahmi at the east, Maheshvari at the south, Kaumari at the west, Vaishnavi at the north), with variants in the specific gate-guardian names across…
- Two Worships, Four Yagas Treatise
Matrika Nyasa - the installation of the Sanskrit syllabic system into the practitioner’s body.
- Arrival at Kailasa Treatise
The Goddess's army of mothers, the matrikas , spring from the bodies of the gods as their externalised strengths, fight the demon, and are reabsorbed when the work is done.