Mahāgaurī

Mahāgaurī · mahā-gaurī, “the great fair one”

Prakṛti has other meanings too: see all meanings of Prakṛti.

Mahāgaurī is the form the eternal Prakṛti took by her own will: five faces, ten arms and three eyes, and the name Śivā. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa tells that she saw the subtle tejas of Brahma by the eye on her forehead, and that Brahma entered her five faces. It tells too that Vishṇumāyā, having swallowed the world as Mahākālī, becomes Mahāgaurī, and that Śivā Devī came to the earth in two forms as Sītā and Rāma.

From Mahākālī to Mahāgaurī

Sūta tells Śaunaka that, by the will of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the sanātanī Vishṇumāyā, having created the various lokas, will become Mahākālī, swallow the whole moving and unmoving world in Kāla, and will become Mahāgaurī.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 5

Prakṛti and the tejas of Brahma

Bṛhaspati tells Devendra that in former times the whole world had become one ocean, all that moves and does not move had perished, and a hundred years of Avyaktajanmā Brahmā had passed. Prakṛti in the form of Māyā joyfully drank up that water. Tamomayī Mahākālī arose alone in that dreadful prākṛta world. Then the eternally pure, sanātana Prakṛti by her own will became Mahāgaurī, with five faces, ten arms and three eyes, and she came to be named Śivā. By the eye on her forehead that Mother saw a subtle tejas, eternal, unchanging, nirañjana, pervading all directions.

Prakṛti wished to take hold of that Brahma, but could not. Filled with wonder, she prayed with bhakti from all five faces and pleased the Parātpara Pūrṇa Brahma. That all-knowing Brahma entered the five faces of Prakṛti. Having attained purushatva, Brahma became famous as Svayambhū, and because he was born of Avyakta Prakṛti he was called Avyaktajanmā.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 12

Śivā as Sītā and Rāma

Sūta tells Śaunaka what Bṛhaspati told Devarāja Indra. The devas pleased Parā Prakṛti with stutis, and Brahma-jyotirmayī Śivā Devī, pleased, divided her body in two forms and came to the earth as Sītā and Rāma.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 15

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 5, 12, 15