Rudrani is the consort and Shakti of Lord Rudra (Lord Shiva). As a Matrika, she is also known as Maheshwari. She is Rudra’s divine will power and is represented as a manifestation of Adi Parashakti. Rudrani is a name coming from the root Rudra which has a more ferocious disposition and means angry or ferocious.
As per traditions, a goddess or Devi, gains her epithet from the name of her consort. Accordingly Rudrani gets her name from Rudra while Parvati is called Narayani because she is Narayana’s sister and Saraswati has the epithets, Brahmi or Brahmani as she is consort of Brahma. Similarly Parvati also has the epithets Mahadevi, Maheshvari, Shivani and Rudrana being the consort of Shiva/Rudra. In Hinduism, Rudrani is another word for Parvati. A mild manifestation of Devi is Parvati Devi. Goddess Rudrani also refers to Matrika (the seven mother-like goddesses). Shaktis which appear from the bodies of gods are called Matrikas.
In Ayurveda, Rudrani is another name for a medicinal plant, called Rudrajata (duck flower or Indian birthwort). Around sixteen synonyms in Sanskrit are identified with the Rudrani plant.
Goddess Rudrani is depicted with a snake, the crescent moon, damru, trident, etc all of which are attributed generally to Lord Shiva. As Goddess Maheshwari she has a protective aspect, hears prayers when situations are seemingly threatening, risky and impossible. This mother goddess opens the door-way for a clever and smooth exit.
Rudrani is also called Goddess Durga (the wife of Rudra). During Durga festival in India, girls below eleven years of age with the name Rudrani, represent Goddess Durga.
