My great grandmother, who lived in the early part of the twentieth century, was devoted to Jagadambā in her form as Annapūrṇā. It was her long-standing wish to visit Mōkṣapurī Kāśī and have the darśana of Bhagavatī Annapūrṇā and Lord Viśvanātha. Her wish came true and she undertook a pilgrimage to Kāśī with her husband, relatives, and friends. As a South Indian, she did not understand or speak Hindi and stayed close to her group at all times.
After they arrived in Kāśī, they had the darśana of Lord Viśvanātha, Kālabhairava, etc., and scheduled to visit the shrine of Annapūrṇā in the night. While some of her group members were resting, our lady came outside the Shankara Maṭha where they were staying and stood outside, looking at a procession. She was approached by a woman, who spoke to her in her own language and invited her to accept tāmbūla and other maṅgaladravayas. Our lady hesitated initially, but then decided it was inappropriate for a Suvāsinī strī to reject maṅgaladravayas. By then, the woman seemed to put her under a spell and made our lady follow her.
Under the spell of mesmerism, she followed the woman into various narrow streets and Mohallas of Kāśī, finally arriving at a dingy cottage. Once inside, she was made to kneel down, placing her head on a balipīṭha. The woman was a Kāpālika strī, who were prevalent in Kāśī till the 60s, intent upon offering our lady as balidāna as part of whatever ritual she was practicing. Though the reality dawned upon her, our lady, under the spell, could not move her body or get up and run.
At that very moment, it so happened that the cottage was located in the vicinity of Annapūrṇā temple and suddenly loud ringing of bells from the temple broke the spell on her mind. She now heard the loud chanting of Annapūrṇāṣṭaka (Nityānandakarī Varābhayakarī) from the temple and began reciting it in her mind. Immediately, the spell on her physical body broke and the Kāpālika strī fell on the ground as though struck by a great force. Our lady, still reciting the stotra loudly, got up and ran for her life and finally reunited with her group. After this experience, it became a tradition in our family to recite Srī Annapūrṇāṣṭaka every day with great devotion.
Interestingly, I heard a similar story of ghaṇṭānāda scaring away unwanted forces from a gentleman who had subjugated a Karṇpiśācinī for some time, who later turned on him and made his life a living hell. The gentleman recounted that the Piśācinī was very scared of ghaṇṭānāda from the temple of Goddess Kanakadurgā in Indrakīlādri. This man was later rescued by the great Avadhūta Srī Shāntānanda Sarasvatī of Pudukkottai and spent the rest of his life at the āśrama in the service of Lord Skanda and Goddess Bhuvanēśvarī.
In our lineage, it is held that Parāmbā appeared four times in the guise of teachers: Bhagavatī Bimbāmbikā (Bagalāmukhī), Bhagavatī Bījāmbikā or Samvicchaktyambā (Nīlasarasvatī), Bhagavatī śīlā Bhaṭṭārikā (a renewed poetess and an incarnation of śākambharī Durgā) and finally, Bhagavatī Subhadrāmbā (Annapūrṇā).
Subhadrāmbā was born in a village close to Sōmanātha Jyōtirliṅga and married a śrauta ritualist who had completed kōṭi Gāyatrī Japa and had performed Sōmayāga. They had two daughters, Mālinī and Vimalā. The couple undertook a pilgrimage to Kāśī and on their way, rested in an old temple. At night, he heard a rumbling noise from behind the temple and decided to investigate. He was surprised to see a brahmarākṣasa offering bilva to the deity inside the temple from a small opening in the wall. Pleased with the brāhmaṇa’s kind inquiry, the Brahmarākṣasa explained that he was performing śivārcana to get rid of his current yoni but he could not enter the temple due to a kīlana performed by a Aghora panthi nicknamed Kaṅkāla Markaṭa.
The brāhmaṇa at once decided to grant the merit of his Gāyatrī Japa to the Brahmarākṣasa which promoted him to a higher yoni. Filled with gratitude, he told the brāhmaṇa: “A few miles from here, you will see a temple where Dēvī Ratnāmbikā is enshrined. Every day at night, she is worshipped by a great yogi named Ucchuṣmānandanātha. Seek refuge under his feet and you shall be liberated”. The couple at once approached the great yogi and fell at his feet. The great Yogi blessed the couple and said: “Look, if you want me to initiate you, you have to offer me your wife, who is so beautiful”. While the brāhmaṇa stood speechless, his wife fell at the feet of the yogi and said, “Accept me, sir, the śrēyaḥ of my husband is of greatest importance to me”. As the yogi lifted her head, he was taken aback by what he saw. She appeared dressed in glittering jewels, sporting a crown and holding dugdhānnapūrṇapātra and a spoon in her hand, as Bhagavatī Annapūrṇā. Then the yogi realized that the sādhvī had been reciting Annapūrṇā Sahasranāma all through her life and Annadā was her upāsya mūrti. The Yogi blessed the couple that had passed his severe test and initiated them on the auspicious night of Saṅkētarātri.
The couple mastered the Mahāvidyās starting with śuddhavidyā to Anuttarasamvēdinī and was firmly established in oneness with the great Sundarī who encompasses in herself, ādyākālī. Subhadrāmbā initiated numerous qualified disciples into śrīkula Krama tantra and was the guiding force behind the commentary on Annapūrṇā sahasranāma named Viśvanāthapriyā, authored by her husband Ramaṇānandanātha (this seems to have been published in Baroda in 1972). The couple traveled to Southern India and brought with them rare works such as Annapūrṇā saparyā vidhi, Kālikā sarvasva, śaktitattvōdghāṭanam, etc. and initiated various disciples into the illustrious mantras from the twelve āmnāyas.
While residing in the Tanjore region, the local ruler sought their help to overcome an ābhicārika prayōga involving the kṣudra dēvatā mithuna: Vibhīṣaka and Bhīmā, performed by a vāmācārin from the cēradēśa. Subhadrāmbā destroyed the prayōga with just a pinch of sindūra from her forehead, empowered with the great mantra of Kālasaṅkarṣiṇī. The ruler offered a golden umbrella to her which she promptly gifted to the shrine of Maṅgalambikā at Kumbhakonam. The couple, according to the instruction of a grāmadēvatā (Ayyanar) in Tirunelveli, proceeded towards the Shankaranārāyaṇa kṣētra and worshipped Gōmatī with one-pointed devotion. Here, they initiated Madanānandanātha into the hoary secrets of śrīkrama and merged with the lotus feet of Goddess Gōmatī. The peculiar Gajapr̥ṣṭha śrīcakra Meru and Ucchiṣṭagaṇēśa mūrti made of Raktachandana belonging to her are still worshipped by upāsakas of our lineage. Annually, several disciples gather in the shrine of Gōmatī and worship Bhagavatī Subhadrāmbā within the sacred mūrti of Gōmatī.