S
t
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00006.jpg)
(Skt., ‘furrow’). Consort of
R
ma
and considered therefore to be an incarnation of the Goddess
Lak
m
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00013.jpg)
. She is the heroine of the epic poem
R
m
ya
a
. She was born as a result of her father's prayers, and is said to have sprung from a furrow ploughed by him; she is thus closely associated with the ‘mother-earth’ concept and is the Vedic patron of agriculture.
Goddess of pustular diseases, dominant in Bengal. Her
l
l
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00006.jpg)
(play) is to sweep through the countryside with her companion Jvar
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00006.jpg)
sura, the fever demon.
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00020.jpg)
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00013.jpg)
tal
![](/files/02/59/75/f025975/public/00006.jpg)
means ‘cool one’, perhaps a euphemism to ward off her fury. Worship of her, and writing poems to her, tend to follow upon an epidemic, thus belonging to the cults of
affliction
.