One of the famous temples of Devi in Kathmandu, the temple of Baglamukhi is situated in Patan (Lalitpur). There are various other small temples inside the Baglamukhi temple premises and this temple is specially crowded on Thursdays as it is considered as the day of Bhagwati.
According to the legend, a demon named Bagala had tortured and threatened the lives of the people. The people worshipped and prayed to the goddess Baglamukhi who, pleased by their prayers, came to their rescue and killed the demon. Hence, the people built the temple as a tribute to the goddess and used to call it Bagala. Later, the name of the temple was changed to Baglamukhi. The temple is ruled by the planet Jupiter and Thursday is considered as the special day for worshiping at the temple.
It is also said that worshiping here silences the gossip of the people (enemy). She is also considered as Bhairavi, a type of Matrika Devi, the mother of all speech as she puts an end to the evil gossips that comes out of every speech.
Baglamukhi is one of the ten forms of the wisdom goddesses, symbolising the potent female primeval force.
"Baglamukhi" is derived from "Bagala" (distortion of the original Sanskrit root "valgā") and "mukha", meaning "bridle" and "face", respectively. Thus, the name means one whose face has the power to capture or control. She thus represents the hypnotic power of the Goddess.[1] Another interpretation translates her name as “crane faced”.
Baglamukhi has a golden complexion and her dress is yellow. She sits in a golden throne in the midst of an ocean of nectar full of yellow lotuses. A crescent moon adorns her head. Two descriptions of the goddess are found in various texts- The Dwi-Bhuja (two handed), and the Chaturbhuja (Four handed).
The Dwi-Bhuja depiction is the more common, and is described as the Soumya or milder form. She holds a club in her right hand with which she beats a demon, while pulling his tongue out with her left hand. This image is sometimes interpreted as an exhibition of stambhana, the power to stun or paralyse an enemy into silence. This is one of the boons for which Baglamukhi’s devotees worship her. Other Mahavidya goddesses are also said to represent similar powers useful for defeating enemies, to be invoked by their worshippers through various rituals.
Baglamukhi is also called Pitambaradevi or Brahmastra Roopini and she turns each thing into its opposite. She turns speech into silence, knowledge into ignorance, power into impotence, defeat into victory. She represents the knowledge whereby each thing must in time become its opposite. As the still point between dualities she allows us to master them. To see the failure hidden in success, the death hidden in life, or the joy hidden in sorrow are ways of contacting her reality. Baglamukhi is the secret presence of the opposite wherein each thing is dissolved back into the Unborn and the Uncreated.