"Bagalamukhi" is derived from "Bagala" (distortion of the original Sanskrit root "valg") and

"mukha", meaning "bridle" and "face", respectively. Thus, the name means one whose face has
the power to capture or control. She thus represents the hypnotic power of the Goddess.[1]
Another interpretation translates her name as crane faced.
Bagalamukhi has a golden complexion and her dress is yellow. She sits in a golden throne in the
midst of an ocean of nectar full of yellow lotuses. A crescent moon adorns her head. Two
descriptions of the goddess are found in various texts- The Dwi-Bhuja (two handed), and the
Chaturbhuja (Four handed).
The Dwi-Bhuja depiction is the more common, and is described as the Soumya or milder form.
She holds a club in her right hand with which she beats a demon, while pulling his tongue out
with her left hand. This image is sometimes interpreted as an exhibition of stambhana, the power
to stun or paralyse an enemy into silence. This is one of the boons for which Bagalamukhis
devotees worship her. Other Mahavidya goddesses are also said to represent similar powers
useful for defeating enemies, to be invoked by their worshippers through various rituals.
Bagalamukhi is also called Pitambaradevi or Brahmastra Roopini and she turns each thing into
its opposite. She turns speech into silence, knowledge into ignorance, power into impotence,
defeat into victory. She represents the knowledge whereby each thing must in time become its
opposite. As the still point between dualities she allows us to master them. To see the failure
hidden in success, the death hidden in life, or the joy hidden in sorrow are ways of contacting her
reality. Bagalamukhi is the secret presence of the opposite wherein each thing is dissolved back
into the Unborn and the Uncreated.

Legend
Once upon a time, a huge storm erupted over the Earth. As it threatened to destroy whole of the
creation, all the gods assembled in the Saurashtra region. Goddess Bagalamukhi emerged from
the 'Haridra Sarovara', and appeased by the prayers of the gods, calmed down the storm. You can
see replica of 'Haridra Sarovara', as described in scriptures, at Peetambara Peetham, Datia,
Madhya Pradesh, India.

Worship

An image of Bagalamukhi depicted in a Patachitra from Pingla, West Bengal

Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati is considered to be the center of Tantricism, where there is the
presence of temples dedicted to the ten Mahavidyas. A few miles away from the Kamakhya
Temple is the temple dedicated to the Goddess Bagalamukhi. Major temples to the goddess are
situated in the Bankhandi Himachal Pradesh in the north, and at Nalkheda at Agar Malwa district
in Madhya Pradesh and Pitambara Peeth in Datia Madhya Pradesh. In South India there is a
temple at Kallidaikurichi, Papankulam village in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu.[2]
Nepal, where the worship of tantric goddesses had Royal patronage, also has a large temple
devoted to Bagalamukhi in the Newar city of Patan in Nepal near Kathmandu. The territory of
the Bagalamukhi temple in Patan also has several other temples dedicated to Ganesha, Shiva,
Saraswati, Guheswar, Bhairava etc. The main difference between any other temple and a
Bagalamukhi temple is that if someone worships all the gods in this temple, they would actually
worship all 330 million gods and goddesses at one place