Durga
Hindu goddess of power, strength, courage, war, justice, righteousness, determination, protection, salvation, and divine wrath
Maa Durga is the power of the Universe and is Mother Shakti herself. She is Jagdamba, Mother of the Whole Universe and one of the most powerful manifestations of the cosmic mother, Shakti. She is also known as Ambika (Mother) and Chandika (Fierce). She is beyond everything, beyond all space and time. It is this devi who brings peace, compassion, love, and justice into disorder, while punishing all those who bring evil. Durga is the Divine Mother Goddess who presides over the cycle of life, death, and rebirth and contains absolute power. Her name means ‘the invincible, unconquerable, and unassailable one’ and she is completely free of fear, allowing her to accomplish whatever she desires.
With the guidance of Maa Durga, we can be filled with her courage and determination so that we can face any obstacle in our paths and become strong at heart. She is blindingly beautiful, with footsteps that shake the very Earth. Her roaring laughter fills the skies and sends chills down the spines of her enemies. Durga is known to be so powerful, that in one myth, she is even described as destroying an enemy with a mere sigh. She was born from pure power and righteous anger, with unmatched might. As the annihilator of pain and fear, she holds the name Durgatinashini, which means “The One Who Eliminates Sufferings”.
Durga is said to be the truest manifestation of Adi Parashakti along with goddess Parvati. Though it is Durga who not only plays the role as the unbeatable warrior, but also as our Mother. So while Parvati represents Shakti’s peaceful and nurturing aspect, Durga is her active and fiery aspect. Durga is deeply nurturing, loving, and protective, but is a terror to her enemies. She is connected to fire, and so is called Jwala or Jyotawali Maa, meaning “Mother of the Divine Flame”. Durga is Karma, Mahamaya, and Moksha (enlightenment).
Maa Durga’s appearance is that of an alluring young woman dressed in a red silk sari (symbolizing action) and is sitting upon a lion or tiger, representing that she is ready to battle evil at all times and that she is ultimate courage. She has either ten or eight arms with which she holds her magical weapons- a trident, a rope, a thunderbolt, the shield of knowledge, a chakra, a lance, a bow and arrow, an axe, a mace, and a conch-horn for heralding her victory in battle. She may other times be holding a lotus flower and a sword along with the other objects. Durga is shown with having three eyes, which symbolize the earth, moon, and fire. Her many arms represent the fact that she constantly protects everyone from all directions.
Durga Slays the Asura King, Mahisha
When the buffalo-asura Mahisha was causing turmoil, none of the gods were able to defeat him due to his boon that he would not be harmed by any of the gods’ weapons. So the gods then came together and combined their powers, which created a blindingly radiant golden light which then formed into the invincible Durga- a direct manifestation of Adi Parashakti (in some versions, the goddesses Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati merge to form Durga). The Matrikas then began to arm the warrior goddess with their magical weapons- a trident to awaken the fullness of her inner-power, a rope to bind illusion, a thunderbolt, the shield of knowledge, a chakra, a lance, a bow and arrow, an axe, a mace, and a conch-horn with which she would blow to herald her victory in battle.
Durga then rode to the top of a mountain upon a lion and awaited Mahisha to see her. As planned, when the asura king saw the goddess, he was dumbfounded by her beauty and majesty, becoming completely intoxicated by her sexuality and raw power. This caused Mahisha to lose all logical thinking and he proposed marriage to Durga. To which the warrior goddess announced, “I will marry only he who can defeat me in battle.” Lost in his lust and eagerness, Mahisha attacked the goddess with his army without much focus. Finally, after a long and fierce battle, Durga struck down the asura king and blew her conch in triumph. Thus, peace was restored and the gods held Maa Durga in great praise. The tale of this great battle is a metaphor for the war we wage against our ego (represented by the asuras) in order to bring our Divine Selves to light.
Kali emerges from Durga’s Rage
In the Devi Mahatmya, Kali is described as manifesting during Durga’s great battle against the asura Raktabija. As Durga battled him, each time a drop of Raktabija’s blood hit the ground, it formed into a clone of himself. This deeply frustrated and enraged Durga so much that from her forehead emerged the fearsome Kali, with a beautiful youthful form, pitch black skin, wild hair, and wearing nothing but a garland of human heads and a girdle of human arms. The destroyer Kali then began to devour every drop of blood from Raktabija, and fiercely slew all of his duplicates, allowing Durga to finally be able to vanquish him. With help from the eight Matrikas, the entire asura army was annihilated. However, Kali was still drunk on blood-lust and began massacring onlooking worshippers, drinking their blood. Here we see the uncontrollable nature of Kali, how she consumes all in the end of time, sparing none.
Seeing this act of slaughter, Shiva came to the battlegrounds in order to calm his wife (as he is wed to Shakti). He lays himself on the ground before her as a corpse, symbolizing how Shiva is lifeless without Shakti. When Kali ends up trampling onto his chest, she realizes that she is standing upon her great love. This causes Kali to calm down and take the form of Bhadraka, the tranquil form of Kali whose skin is the colour of a dark blue lotus, and is pleasant in expression. She steps off of Shiva’s body and thus ended the battle’s slaughter. In triumph, the Matrikas danced and became drunk on the blood of their enemies. This glorious battle serves as a metaphor that Durga, Kali, and the Ashtamatrikas (eight mother goddesses) have complete power over life force, symbolized by blood.
Thus, Durga the Unlimited Power and Mother of the Universe is the eternal protector of mankind. She is beyond weaknesses and fears, and assists us in our struggles to help us to become strong as well. She destroys vices from our hearts and purifies us with her love.
Epithets: Abhavya (the fearful goddess), Anantaa (infinite one), Bahula (she of many forms), Balaprada (giver of strength), Bhavini (the beautiful one), Bhavani (mother of the universe), Brahmavadini (the omnipresent), Buddhi (embodiment of knowledge), Buddhida (bestower of wisdom), Chandi (fierce one), Ambika (mother), Chita (preparer of the death bed), Vaishnavi (the invincible), Sarvasuravinasha (destroyer of evil), Jaya (victorious one), Bhavya (the magnificent)
Offerings: honeyed tea, cow’s milk, lotus flowers, passion fruit, red berries (any), figs, pineapples, ghee, red sandalwood, mahogany wood, tiger eye stone, orchids, pearls, red jade, silverware, gold emblem of the Goddess (Shakti), Durga statue, vanilla flowers (and incense), cobalt element; incense of dragon's blood, cinnabar, jasmine, or musk
