The goddess, or Devi, is the motherly aspect of God. Devi is regarded as a feminine, a male, or pure Brahman and is thought of as existence, consciousness, and bliss. In this book, Hymns to the Goddess, Sir John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon) attempts to translate the Sanskrit hymns to the Goddess or Devi that are scattered throughout Tantra and Purana texts, the Mahabharata, and the hymns of Shankaracharya, a great philosopher and an incarnation of devotion, Valmiki, and Indra. The book opens with a hymn to Devi's husband Kalabhairava, followed by a general introduction and Devi stotras. In these hymns, Devi is praised as Bhairavi, Bhuvaneshvari, Adyakali, Lakshmi, Tara, Mahishamardini, Annapurna, Sarasvati, Durga, Tripura in Tantra texts; Sarvavishvajanani, Ambika, Chandika, Mahadevi and Jagadambika in Puranas; Durga, Arya, Durga in Mahabharata; Tripurasundari, Ganga, Ananadalahari, Yamuna, Narmada and Mahalakshmi. Hymn to Kali (Karpuradi Stotra), another book within the book, is a celebrated Kaula stotra, having commentary on the hymns. It, in addition to mantroddharadhara, contains stotras of dhyana, yantra, sadhana, madya, mamsa, maithuna and phala-shruti matters.