Meaning and elaboration
Meaning: The one who holds the noose that binds and releases.
Elaboration
Pashini literally means "She who holds the Pāśha" or "She who is associated with the Pāśha." The Pāśha is a noose, a symbolic cord often held by deities associated with control, bondage, and liberation.
The Symbolic Noose (Pāśha) In Hindu iconography, the Pāśha is a rich and many-layered symbol. On one level, it represents the bonds of attachment, delusion, and karma that keep living beings tied to the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra). These bonds include ignorance (avidyā), ego (ahaṃkāra), desire (kāma), and action (karma). By holding the Pāśha, Pashini embodies the power that creates and sustains these karmic ties, binding the individual soul.
The Power to Bind and Release Her holding the Pāśha signifies her ultimate authority over the forces that ensnare beings. She is not merely an impersonal force; she is the one who initiates the binding and also the only one who can undo it. This dual role reflects her place as both the architect of the cosmic play (līlā) of entanglement and the final liberator from it. She is the source of both bondage (bandhana) and liberation (mokṣa).
Mercy and Control When invoked as the one who binds, she teaches discipline and reveals the consequences of action, urging the devotee toward righteous conduct. When invoked as the one who releases, she showers mercy, cutting through the knots of accumulated karma and freeing the soul from the delusion of worldly attachment. Her noose, therefore, serves both as a restraint for the unrighteous and as a means of salvation for the devout.