Goddesses Nanda, Sunanda and goddesses Tara, Tarani

Goddesses Nanda, Sunanda and goddesses Tara, Tarani

Temple of goddesses Tara and tarani in Orissa, India

Goddesses manifest the female side of divinity inherent in the universe. Although all goddesses represent the same universal force, they have been worshipped in various avatars and forms by humans.

Some of these avatars although bearing different names bear a close relationship to each other whereas there are also some cases where different goddesses bear the same name. One such example is that of the lovely and gentle, yet powerful goddess Sunanda of Kumaon. There is also a goddess by the same name in Bangladesh but that goddess is in fact a modification of the name Sugandha that is an avatar of goddess Parvati, who also takes on the fearful avatars of Kali when the occasion calls for it, rather than goddess Sunanda.

The Goddess Parvati and Goddess Nanda are regarded by many as different appearances of Parvati. Hence, the goddess Sunanda of Bangladesh may be regarded as another form of goddess Nanda rather than goddess Sunanda. All this is no doubt very confusing and such confusions are expected when we seek human representations of something as vast as infinity.

If parallels between the goddesses Nanda and Sunanda are to be sought in other places then one may find a closer similarity with the twin goddesses Tara and Tarani much revered in Orissa (Odisha, India).

Image adapted from from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taratarini_maa.jpg