Story
This stotra (hymn of praise) occurs in the Brahmanda Purana (history of the universe) in the chapter on discussion between Hayagreeva and Agasthya. Hayagreeva is an incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse who is held to be the storehouse of knowledge. Agasthya is one of the sages of yore and one of the stars of the constellation Saptarshi (Ursa major). At the request of Agasthya, Hayagreeva is said to have taught him the thousand holiest names of Lalita. This has been conveyed to us by the sage Vyasya Mahrishi. Lalitha sahasranama is the only sahasranama composed by vagdevatas under Lalitha's direction. All the other sahasranamas are said to have been composed by Vyasa Maharishi.
Paramashiva is one of the trinity of Hindu pantheons, in charge of moksha (layam). He married Sati, the daughter of Daksha. Daksha and Paramashiva did not get along and consequently Daksha did not invite Paramashiva for one of the great fire sacrifices that he conducted. However Sati went to attend that function in spite of Paramashiva’s protest. Daksha insulted her husband and she jumped into the fire and ended her life. Consequently at the behest of Paramashiva, Daksha was killed and later resurrected with a goat’s head. This incident upset Paramashiva and he entered into deep meditation. Sati reincarnated as daughter of Himavat, king of the mountains, and his wife, the apsara Mena. Naturally, Pārvatī sought and received Shiva as her husband.
The devas faced an enemy in Sura Padma / Banda who had a boon that he could be killed only by a son of Shiva and Parvati. So, to wake Shiva from his deep meditation, the devas deputed Manmatha, the God of love who shot his flower arrows at Paramashiva. Paramashiva woke up and opened his third eye and burnt the God of love into ashes. The Devas and Rathi Devi the wife of Manmatha requested Paramashiva to give life to Manmatha. Heeding their request Paramashiva stared at the ashes of Manmatha. From the ashes came Bhandasura, who made all the world impotent and ruled from the city called Shonitha pura. He started troubling the devas. The devas then sought the advice of Sage Narada who advised them to conduct a fire sacrifice. From the fire rose Lalitha Tripura Sundari.
Lalitha
Devi description
She is described as extremely beautiful, having dark
thick long hair with the scent of Champaka,
Asoka
and Punnaga flowers. She had the musk thilaka on
her forehead, eyelids which appeared as if they were the gate of the house of the God of love,
and having eyes like fish playing in the lake of her face. She had a nose with
studs that shone more than the stars, ears with the sun and moon as studs,
cheeks which were like the mirror of Padmaraga, beautiful rows of white teeth,
and she was chewing Thamboola with camphor. She had a voice sweeter than
the sound emanating from Veena of Sarswathi, and having such a beautiful
smile that Shiva himself could not take his eyes off her. She was wearing Mangala soothra
and necklaces, with beautiful breasts which were capable of buying the
invaluable love of Kameswara, having wisps of beautiful hair raising
from her belly, her stomach having three pretty folds, and she was wearing red
silk tied with a string with red bells. She had thighs which steal the heart of
Kameshwara, knees which looked like crowns made of precious gems, voluptuous
legs, upper part of the feet resembling the backs of tortoises, feet which
resembled lamps made of gems which could dispel worries from the mind of
devotees and a body with the golden red color. She was given in marriage to
Kameshwara and made to stay
in Nagara
at the top of Maha Meru Mountain.
Nagara
Nagara had 25 streets circling it, made of iron, steel, copper, and lead. An alloy made of five metals, silver, gold, the white Pushpa raga stone, the red Padmaraga stone, onyx, diamond, Vaidoorya, Indra neela (topaz), pearl, Marakatha, coral, nine gems and a mixture of gems and precious stones. In the eighth street was a forest of Kadambas. This is presided by Syamala. In the fifteenth street lived the Ashta Digh palakas. In the sixteenth lived Varahi alias Dandini who was her commander in chief. Here Syamala also had a house. In the seventeenth street lived the different Yoginis. In the eighteenth street lived Maha Vishnu. In the nineteenth street lived Esana, in the twentieth Thara Devi, twenty first Varuni, the twenty second Kurukulla who presides over the fort of pride, twenty third Marthanda Bhairawa, twenty fourth the moon and twenty fifth Manmatha presiding over the forest of love.
center of Nagara
In the center of Nagara is the Maha Padma Vana
(the great lotus forest) and within it the Chintamani Griha (The house
of holy thought), in the north east is the Chid agni kunda and on both
sides of its eastern gate are the houses of Manthrini and Dhandini.
On its four gates stand the Chaduramnaya gods for watch and ward. Within it is
the chakra.
In the center of the Chakra on the throne of Pancha brahmas on the Bindu Peeta
(dot plank) called sarvanandamaya (universal happiness) sits Maha Tripura
Sundari. In the chakra are the following decorations viz., the square
called Trilokya
mohanam (most beautiful in the three worlds), The sixteen petaled lotus
called
Sarvasa paripoorakam (fulfill-er of all desires), the eight petaled
lotus called Sarvasamksopanam (the all cleanser), the sixteen cornered figure
called Sarva
sowbagyam (all luck), the external ten cornered figure called Sarvartha
sadhakam (giver of all assets), the internal ten cornered figure called
Sarva raksha karam (All protector), the eight cornered figure called Sarva roka
haram (cure of all diseases), the triangle called Sarva siddhi
pradam (giver of all powers) and the dot called Sarvananda mayam (all
pleasures).
Bhandasura
The devas prayed to her to kill Bhandasura. When she started for the war with Bandasura, she was accompanied by the powers called anima, mahima, Brahmi, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Mahendri, Chamundi, Maha Lakshmi, Nitya Devaths and Avarna Devathas who occupy the chakra. While Sampatkari was the captain of the elephant regiment, Aswarooda was the captain of the cavalry. The army was commanded by Dhandini riding on the chariot called Giri Chakra assisted by Manthrini riding on the chariot called Geya Chakra. Jwala malini protected the army by creating a fire ring around it. Para Shakthi rode in the center on the chariot of Chakra. Nithya destroyed a large chunk of Bandasura’s armies, Bala killed the son of Bandasura, and Manthrini and Dhandini killed his brothers called Vishanga and Vishukra. When the asuras created a blockade for the marching army, Lalitha Tripura sundari created Ganesha with the help of Kameshwara to remove the blockade. Then Bandasura created the asuras called Hiranyaksha, Hiranya Kasipu and Ravana. The devi created the ten avatars of Vishnu and destroyed them. She killed all his army using Pasupathastra and killed him with Kameshwarasthra. The gods then praised her. She then recreated Manmatha for the good of the world. This story is contained in the first 84 names of the first 34 slokas of Lalitha sahasranama. All together it contains one thousand names. This is also called the Rahasya Nama Sahasra (the thousand secret names). Reading it, meditating on the meaning of the names would lead to the fulfillment of all the wishes of the devotees
