Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 896: Shri Kutastha (ōṃ küṭasthāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother remains unchanged like the anvil (a heavy block of iron on which heated pieces of metal are made into a particular shape with a hammer).

The Divine mother holds the universe covered by Maya and ignorance. The Divine Mother is hiding from souls, the Ananda stage, Brahman. Because of this, the life and death Samsara Sagra is continuously happening. Universal creation and sustaining are happening systematically due to Maya and ignorance. Kuta can mean mountain peak. In universal stage, the trees are moving in a mountain peak due to wind blowing. In this process, the mountain peak is not moving at all. When the whole universe is continuously changing, the basis and support for all, the Divine Mother is not moving. She always maintains Her own self.

Kuta can also be interpreted as far end of universe or resting place for souls. Also, Kuta can be an anvil. The hot iron is hit and shaped to other sizes. Even then, some irons may not change into shapes as desired. It is like many universal issues reach and hit at the Divine Mother. She is not disturbed or moved at all by all such disturbances. For all these reasons, the Divine Mother is called Kutastha, who is not affected by anything.

Kuta has a deceiving Shakti. It has many meanings like, mountain peak, anvil, group of things, the secured gate of a place, Self-or Brahman, Machine, deception, zodiac, illusion, mountain peak, summit, insignificance, part of a plough and gate of a city. The ultimate Ananda state, Brahman is covered, and the souls are looking outwards for happiness due to ajnana or ignorance. The Divine Mother monitors all such things, as She is above all of them. The souls try to understand the Divine Mother as Kuta as being ignorant. The Divine Mother through Maya is the place for ignorance. Like mountain peaks are not affected and not moved by wind blowing, the In anvil, the heated iron is hit by hammers, which takes long and continuous hits to change its shape slightly. But the anvil never changes its shape. The Divine Mother is like the anvil, does not change or move due to things happening around Her. The Divine Mother is the Supreme, the eternal one, who stays unmoved like the anvil, even buffeted by worldly changes. She is the basis and support for all souls and universal happenings. She is in three Kutas as mentioned in Pancadasi mantra. She is in Sri Chakra triangles.

Pancadasi mantra structure.

1.     Vagbhavakuta, five syllables represent the Divine mother’s face.

2.     Kamarajakuta or Madhyakuta, six syllables represent the Divine Mother’s body and trunk.

3.     Shaktikuta, four syllables represent desires and or Kama

4.     Total fifteen syllables, all are Beja alphabets.

Kuta can be interpreted as ignorance (ajnana). This Namam means that the Divine Mother stays shrouded by our ignorance. Wisdom is enveloped by ignorance, thereby beings are deluded, says the Gita (V.15). Kuta can also mean mountain peak. We notice many of the Divine Mother’s temples are on top of the mountains. Kuta interpreted as world, gives the message that the Divine Mother is one who keeps all the world fixed in Herself.

 The Tantric meaning is, “She who resides in three Kutas of the ‘Pancadasi mantra’, The other Tantric meaning is that She dwells at the door (Kuta) of the triangle in Sri Chakara.

 

The Divine Mother remains unchanged like the anvil.

  

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 08 July 2022; updated 10 October 2025.

 

References:

1.     The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon.

2.     Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.     The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar