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Kubjika (Sanskrit: कुब्जिक Kubjikā, also known as Vakreśvarī, Vakrikā, Ciñciṇī) is the primary deity of Kubjikāmata, a sect of non-Siddhāntika mantra marga sect.[1] The worship of Kubjikā as one of the main aspect of Adishakti was in its peak in 12th century CE.[2] She is still praised in tantric practices that are followed in Kaula tradition.[3]
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Kubjikā means "to crook" or "to curve" in Sanskrit. Once lord Navātman/ Shiva embraced his consort Vakrikā and before the copulation, she suddenly felt shy and bent her body earning the name, Kubjikā, "the hunchback one" or Vakrikā (crooked one).[4]
A tantric text named the Kubjikāmata, dated to the ninth or tenth century, describes the worship of Kubjika. Though she was very famous among the tantric tradition of Kashmir Valley in the past, the Kubjikā cult was not familiar among the devotees. Though it seemed that Kubjikā was no longer worshipped in the valley either, in mid 1980s, she was discovered in a secret tantric worship that still exists among the Newar people, as preserved in the Sarvāmnāya Tantra system.[5]
According to the Ciñciṇīmata Tantra, a text that praises Kubjikā, Kaula tradition was taught to four disciples who were sent in the four directions. The disciple sent to the west founded the Western Stream (Pascimāmnaya) of Kaulism, the cult of Navātman and Kubjikā.[6] The eastern disciple created Purvāmnaya, the cult of Kuleśvari, while the northern disciple taught Uttarāmnaya, the cult of Kālasangarshini. the Southern tradition was known as Dakshinamnaya, the cult of Kāmeśvarī. Nowadays,the southern Śrikula sect of Kameśvari and northern Kālikula sect of Kali are still known as Shaktism sects, while the other two (Kubjikā and Trika) are usually identified as Shaiva sects along with other Kashmiri Shaiva traditions.[7]