śrī vārāhī dhyāna ślokāḥ

Twelve meditations rather than one, each numbered and named for a distinct form of the goddess, so that the text works as a reference for the practitioner who needs the right image for the right rite. Vārtālī is seated on a corpse upon the pericarp of a red lotus, garlanded with skulls, dark as sapphire, holding pestle and plough with the gestures of safety and boon. Aśvārūḍhā is red, mounted on a horse, crowned with the crescent, binding with a noose and carrying a golden cane. Dhūmra Vārāhī is smoke-coloured and devours enemies in the form of beasts. The sequence closes on Mahāvārāhī within the womb of a fresh red lotus, blazing like sapphire, mother of the world, garlanded with kadamba blossom and skulls and adorned with the nine gems. Read together they show one goddess held at twelve different intensities.