By Jit Majumdar
- wrathful; passionate; intense; wild; fearsome
- conqueror of Canda
- one of the major forms of Durgā in her warlike or martial forms and one of her well-known names; one of the tutelary tribal goddess of Bengal who was later identified with Durgā and Kālī, and by whose name one of the core texts of the Śākta tradition, the Devi Māhātyam of the Mārkandeya Purāņa, is more commonly known in Bengal, and also known as Caņdikā.