Shakti Peethas
Ma Shakti Devi is known as Sarvalankara Bhushini, and she is also known as “ALANKARA PRIYAI”, the one who likes to decorate herself, with various flowers, ornaments and rich garments. Ma Shakti Devi is the most powerful goddess in the universe, since she shares half of the body of Lord Shiva.
As per Hinduism, mermaids are considered to be worshipful females who are living in the deep ocean, with the head consisting of a female human, and they contains the fish tail. Mermaids are mentioned in ancient texts, and some of the writers described them as beautiful worshipful female goddesses, similar to the Nagakannis, Snake goddesses. But Mermaids would rarely appear before the eyes of the humans, especially during floods, storms, and Tsunamis. Some love stories are also mentioned about mermaids who used to fall in love with the humans.
There are also few famous Shakti Devi Temples, with the name, “KADARKANNI AMMAN TEMPLE”, and there is a famous temple for Ma Kadarkanni which is situated in Mint Street, George Town, Chennai. Ancient fishermen before entering into the seas, used to worship Ma Kadarkanni Amman, and in ancient times, most of the fishermen’s Kula Devi is Ma Kadarkanni Amman. But nowadays it is believed that only some of the fishermen are worshipping Ma Kadarkanni Amman, since most of them have been converted into other religions.
It is also believed that the sister of the Alexander the great, after her death, was transformed into a mermaid, and after some time, she met some of the sea travellers in a ship, and enquired about the well-being of her brother Alexander.
Kadarkanni is also considered to be an aspect of Nagakanni, since both of these worshipful females, lives under the earth. In some of our Puranas, the details about Kadarkannis were rarely mentioned. It was also mentioned that lot of Kadarkannis lives in the Varuna Loka, which is situated below the earth, in the oceans, and there they have been properly looked after by Lord Varuna, and in that Loka, they are considered to be the female celestial dancers, similar to the Apsaras, celestial dancers who lives in the Indra Loka.