Devi

Devi (or the Great Goddess) is one of the three principal Hindu deities whose cults have become the most widespread in India over the past two millennia (the others are Shiva and Vishnu). The Great Goddess possesses strongly contrasting characteristics. She is at once the alluring maiden and the fierce hag, the loving mother and the bringer of disease and death. She is the mild consort Parvati, the warrior Durga, the horrific destroyer Kali, the smallpox goddess Shitala, and she has many other forms. Particularly popular in northern India, Devi is depicted in narrative form in the Devi Mahatmya and also appears as single devotional images.