The Hindu deity Varahi

The deity Varahi is the embodiment of the power of the god Vishnu when he takes the form of a boar. She was one of the so-called “Seven Mothers,” a group of goddesses with both protective and destructive qualities.

The myth below describes how the mighty deity Shiva created the “Mothers” to overcome the demon Andhaka:
As that awful battle raged . . . Shiva loosed his dreadful arrow. The blood of Andhaka gushed from the hole it made, and from that hole sprang up Andhakas by the thousands. From their blood as they were torn asunder arose still more, until the whole world was filled with ghastly Andhakas. Shiva poured forth the Mothers in order to drink up the blood of the Andhakas. These horrible females became gorged with Andhaka blood.*

In the myth, when the “horrible females” eventually stop their rampage of blood drinking, they become peaceful and protective (as the boar-headed goddess is shown here). Shiva orders that they be worshiped by all humankind.

*Adapted from Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas, ed. and trans. Cornelia Dimmitt  and J. A. B. van Buitenen, 1978