Kubjika ( Kubjikā, also known as Vakreśvarī, Vakrikā, Ciñciṇī) is the primary deity of Kubjikāmata, a sect of non-Shaiva Siddhanta mantra marga sect.
Etymology
Kubjikā means "to crook" or "to curve" in
Sanskrit. Once lord
Bhairava/
Shiva embraced his consort
Parvati and before the copulation, she suddenly felt shy and bent her body earning the name, Kubjikā, "the hunchback one" or Vakrikā (crooked one).
Worship
Kubjikāmata Tantra
A tantric text named the Kubjikāmata, dated to the ninth or tenth century, describes the worship of Kubjika. Though she was very famous among the tantric tradition of Kashmir Valley in the past, the Kubjikā cult was not familiar among the devotees. Though it seemed that Kubjikā was no longer worshipped in the valley either, in mid 1980s, she was discovered in a secret tantric worship that still exists among the
Newar people, as preserved in the Sarvāmnāya Tantra system.
Ciñciṇīmata Tantra
According to the
Ciñciṇīmata Tantra, a text that praises Kubjikā, Kaula tradition was taught to four disciples who were sent in the four directions. The disciple sent to the west founded the Western Stream (
Pascimāmnaya) of Kaulism, the cult of Navātman and Kubjikā.
The eastern disciple created
trika, the cult of
Kuleshvari, while the northern disciple taught
Vamachara, the cult of
Kali. the Southern tradition was known as
Dakshina, the cult of
Tripura Sundari. Nowadays,the southern Śrikula sect of Kameśvari and northern Kālikula sect of Kali are still known as Shaktism sects, while the other two (Kubjikā and Trika) are usually identified as
Shaivism along with other
Kashmir Shaivism.
See more
