is the by-name of Parwati, the wife of the Indian god Siva: it means Nature. The Hindis make of her the wife of the destroyer, because, according to them, all life originates in death, there being no destruction, no annihilation, in the true sense of the word: matter only describes, in the course of its duration, an eternal circle, in which it undergoes a perpetual change of forms, while its substance remains the same.