Sri Maha Pratyangira Devi, a powerful aspect of the Divine Mother, is the mother of Moksha (liberation). She frees Her devotees of their karmas and from the cycleof life, death, and rebirth. She is the embodiment of Dharma (righteousness), Satya (truth), and impeccable justice.
Pratyangira Devi is a Hindu goddess who is mainly worshipped by the Kshatriyas, a race in the Hindu religion which is known for its expertise in warfare. She is known for her power that repels any misfortune or fatal incident that can be caused by the force of evil magic.
However, she is also worshipped as a deity who blesses her devotee with boundless power and energy. Pratyangira Devi is a destroyer of evil forces and demonly negative energies. She is also known to show the right path to her devotees the same way she guided and advised Lord Narasimha to stop damaging the nature.
Therefore, she has her own importance and reverence among the other Hindu deities. She is a powerful goddess who supposedly destroyed Sarabheswara’s arrogance. Sarabheswara is a fierce form of Lord Shiva. She is also called Narasimhika, she who is the Ferocious Half Human Half Lion of Courage.
The Atharva Veda is also called Atharv Angirasa. Angirasa Veda refers to witchcraft. Probably the name Pratyangira comes from this. The goddess is also associated with Sri Cakra. As mentioned above, she has the power to repel witchcraft. She protects devotees and shows them the right path.
Devotees do Pratyangira sadhana to ward off evil attacks and for prosperity. It has many benefits. Pratyangira is often shown with a dark complexion and fierce aspect – she has a lion’s face with red eyes and rides a lion. She is either fully nude or attired in black garments and wears a garland of human skulls.
In her four hands, she holds a trident, a hand-drum, a snake in the form of a noose and a skull. She is associated with Bhairava and is also called Narasimhi. She has another form, Atharvana-Bhadra-Kali. Goddess Pratyangira is praised and described in the Adarvana Veda as Bhadrakali.
That is the reason she is also called as Adarvana Bhadrakali. Further, as the Goddess protects us by residing in ourselves, at the same time destroying the enemies by suffocating them, the Goddess gets the name of Nikumbhila.
Narasimha is a fierce form (half man, half lion) of Lord Vishnu/Narayana. He took this avatar to kill the demon, Hiranyakashipu, who was tormenting his ardent devotee, Prahlada. Prahlada was actually the demon’s own son. After killing the demon, Narasimha became very bloodthirsty and destructive as he had drunk the blood of the demon.
As he did not calm down, many great sages prayed that he would return to his peaceful form. They asked Lord Shiva to take a special form- Sarabha (a bird-like creature which could devour lions and elephants) with two wings representing Shakti, to calm Narasimha.
Lord Shiva prayed to the three Shakthis (Parvati, Lakshmi, Saraswati). With the help of their combined powers, he turned into Sarabha Pakshi or Lord Sarabeshwarar. One wing represented Shoolini and the other, Pratyangira.
When Sarabha approached Narasimha, however, he became even more fierce and assumed a special form, Ashta Muhka Ganda Berundha Narasimha, with 8 heads. When Sarabheshwara’s and Shoolini’s efforts failed to control Ugra Narasimha, Pratyangira emerged from his wing, taking the female form of Narasimha and calmed him down.
Pratyangira was 1000 times larger than Sarabeshwarar. Her head towered above the clouds and her feet extended into the underworld. She had 1000 faces of roaring lions, 2000 blood-shot and protruded eyes, 2000 hands with several weapons and 1000 blood- stained tongues sticking out from her mouth.