Visitors outside Shree Bala Tripura Sundri Mataji Temple in Gujarat

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Visitors do a little window shopping outside Shree Bala Tripura Sundri in Gujarat, India. Tripurasundari is one of the group of ten goddesses of Hindu belief, collectively called Mahavidyas or Dasha-Mahavidyas. She is the highest aspect of Goddess Adi Shakti Parvati / Durga. 19th-century painting of Tripura Sundari, the goddess of the three cities As Shodashi, Tripurasundari is represented as a sixteen-year-old girl, and is believed to embody sixteen types of desire. Shodashi also refers to the sixteen syllable mantra, which consists of the fifteen syllable (panchadasakshari) mantra plus a final seed syllable. The Shodashi Tantra refers to Shodashi as the "Beauty of the Three Cities," or Tripurasundari. Tripurasundari is the primary goddess associated with the Shakta Tantric tradition know