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Ratri

Hindu/Vedic goddess of night

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Ratri (Sanskrit: रात्रि, romanized: Rātrī, lit.'Night'; also referred to as Nakt), is a Vedic goddess in Hinduism. She is the personification of the night. The majority of references to Ratri are found in Rigveda and she is described as the sister of Ushas, the personification of dawn. Together with Ushas, she is referred to as a powerful mother and strengthener of vital power. She represents cyclic rhythmic patterns of the cosmos. Her physical appearance isn't explicitly mentioned, but she is described as a beautiful maiden.

One hymn in the Rigveda and five hymns in the Atharvaveda are dedicated to her. In later Tantric texts she occupies an important position. She is associated with Ushas, Indra, Rta, Satya in Rigveda, whereas in Atharvaveda she is associated with Surya. The Brahmanas and the Sutra literature often mention Ratri.

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This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Ratri, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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