Chinnamasta Puja

The self-decapitated Goddess.^[5] She chopped her own head off in order to satisfy Jaya and Vijaya (metaphors of Rajas and Tamas – part of the trigunas). Chinnamasta has a red complexion, embodied with a frightful appearance. She has disheveled hair. She has two hands, which hold a sword and another hand holding her own severed head; three blazing eyes with a frightful mien, wearing a crown. She is a partially clothed lady, adorned with ornaments on her limbs and wearing a garland of skulls on her body. She is mounted upon the back of Rati and Kamdev.

Physical attributes
Chhinnamasta is shown as being red
like the hibiscus flower and as bright
as a million suns. Portrayed mostly
nude, with disheveled hair, she is
considered to be a sixteen-year-old
girl with full breasts, having a blue
lotus near her heart. Chhinnamasta
is also depicted donning a serpent as
a sacred thread and a garland of
skulls/severed heads, bones and
other ornaments around her neck.
She carries her own severed head in her left hand and holds a khatri or scimitar-like
object in her right hand, by which she decapitated herself. Three streams of blood string
from her neck, one of which enters her own mouth. The others are drunk by her female
companions.
Both the attendants are depicted nude as well, with three-eyes, wearing the serpentine
sacred thread and carrying the skull-bowl in the left hand and the knife in the right. While
Dakini is light-skinned and represents the tamas guna, Varnini is red-complexioned and
embodies the rajas guna.
Chhinnamasta is often shown standing on Kamadeva (the God of Love) and his wife Rati,
who are engrossed in copulation with the latter, usually on top. Below the couple lies a
lotus and in the background is a cremation ground. The copulating couple is sometimes
different and sometimes, completely absent.