the idol of the goddess is depicted as a graceful lady with her body, adorned with snakes and sitting on a lotus or standing on a snake, under a hooded canopy of seven cobras with usually a geese next to her. she is often seen as 'the one-eyed goddess', and sometimes portrayed with her son astika on her lap. her one eye is due to a belief that her stepmother chandi burnt one of her eyes out of jealousy.