Hindu mythology gives equal importance and honor to the female deities as they give to the male deities. There has been some very vastly worshipped and prominently known goddess in the writings and Vedas. Yet, there is one which is the most powerful goddess and has shown her power in many means.
The most powerful Hindu goddess is Durga Devi. In the religion of Hinduism, the main form of the deity is known as the Devi and Shakti or power. As per scholars, Durga Devi was created for the slaughter of the buffalo demon known as Mahisasura who was not able to be defeated even by Vishnu and others who attempted to overcome him.
Expressing their united energy or shakti, she is both derived from the male gods and the true source of their inner strength. She is also known to be greater than many of them. And was born fully grown and lovely, Durga represents a fierce threatening form to her opponents. She is normally seen riding a lion which is her vahana and has 8 or 10 hands, each holding the particular weapon of the gods, who had given them to her for her fight against the buffalo demon. The festival of Durga-puja is held once every year in her honor and is one of the biggest festivals of the north-eastern region of India.
Devi Durga who is the goddess of might and strength is definitely the most vital goddess of the religion of Hinduism. She is a multi-dimensional deity, with several names, personas, and many sides. As the Mahishasuramardini or Shakti, the goddess is the slayer of evil, she does this with her ten great arms which hold deadly weapons and by them, she victoriously kills the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
In the form of Sati as the dearly loved daughter of King Daksha and Queen Menaka, she lets go of a kingdom and receives her father’s anger. In the form of Kali, she turns black at night and is omnipotent, dreadful in anger and wrath, and wears a necklace of skulls. And as Parvati, she is calm, the pretty companion of Lord Shiva as his companion in the snowy mountaintops of Kailash. She is Bhawani, the sign of life. She is also Sati, the symbol of death. Also, she is Basanti, Amba, Jagadhatri, Tara, Annapurna, and Ambika.
Meaning of Durga
Devi Durga who is the goddess of might and strength is definitely the most vital goddess of the religion of Hinduism. She is a multi-dimensional deity, with several names, personas, and many sides. As the Mahishasuramardini or Shakti, the goddess is the slayer of evil, she does this with her ten great arms which hold deadly weapons and by them, she victoriously kills the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
Durga Devi, in all her forms, shows the essence of redemption and sacrifice. She is the mother of abundance and wealth, and also of beauty and wisdom, for her daughters are the vastly worshipped goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati.
She is the embodiment of cleanliness, wisdom, truth, and self-understanding. The uppermost form of truth in any human being or Jeeva is called “Aatman” or highest awareness. This supreme awareness or the complete soul is endless, birthless, eternal, beyond time and space, and also ahead of the law of action. Durga Devi is the integral dynamic energy by which this supreme awareness shows itself.
Deity Durga shows the might of her Supreme Being that sustains moral order and virtue in the universe. She is the source of energy. Lord Shiva has no expression without Durga Devi and without Lord Shiva, Durga has no life.
The Sanskrit meaning of Durga means a fort or an area that is guarded and thus tough to reach. Durga Devi, also known as the Divine Mother, guards humans against evil and unhappiness by abolishing evil forces such as egoism, protectiveness, bias, hatred, wrath, and selfishness.
The portrayal of the tougher and violent side of a woman is very obviously found in the stories surrounding the deity Durga. As per some mythological stories, Durga Devi is considered to be the skin of Parvati, which sheds off and battles the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha.
At times Durga is considered to have made helpers to battle for her, the Kali incarnation being the most popular one. In other forms, she is considered to create the Saptamatrikas that is the Seven Mothers, who were formerly Yaksha gods.
The nonappearance of any male inspiration as well as of any male help, in Durga’s angry battles with the male demons, is surely worth observing. The most fascinating side of the tales of her source is not that she is shown as Shakti (the divine power) but instead, that she shoulders the powers of the male deities to save the universe.
The birth of Durga Devi
The Hindu mythology tells a great tale of the brutal battle of Devi Durga with Mahishasura, a buffalo demon who received the favor of Lord Shiva after long and tough penance. Lord Shiva was pleased with the dedication of the demon and so blessed him with an advantage that no man or god would be able to slay him.
Strengthened by the boon, Mahishasura began his reign of fear over the entire Universe, and mankind was slain mercilessly. He even confronted the house of the gods. The battle between gods and demons lasted for over a hundred years, in which Mahishasura was the head of the Asuras or the demons and Indra was the main chief of the deities. In this challenge, the army of the deities was overcome by the mightier demons. And when Mahishasura won over the gods, he has become their chief.
Then the gods who were miserably defeated took protection under Lord Brahma, who then took the deities to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. After listening to the wrongs of the demons, pure energy burst forth from Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva who are the trinity creating the clean energy of Godhood.
As the deities saw this scorching crest of energy infusing all the directions and coming forth like a mountain peak fired with the sun, this outstanding energy that came from the bodies of all the deities, its light enlightening the three worlds, became intense in one spot and took the form of the Durga Devi. Her face was formed from the light of Lord Shiva. Her ten arms were formed from Lord Vishnu. Her feet were formed from the light Lord Brahma.
The hair was created from the light of Yama, the god of death, and the two breasts were created from the light of Somanath, the god of the moon. Her waist was formed from the light of Indra who is the king of gods, the legs and thighs were formed from the light of Varun the god of the oceans, and the hips from the light of Bhoodev.
The toes were created from the light of Surya the god of the sun, the fingers of the hand from Vasus, and her nose was formed from the light of Kuber who is the keeper of the wealth of gods. The teeth were created from the light of Prajapati, the Triad of her eyes was made from the light of Agni the god of fire, the eyebrows were formed from the two Sandhyas, the ears from the light of Vayu the god of wind. Therefore, from the energy of these deities, and also from many other gods, goddess Durga was brought into existence.
Her eyes and the vahana
Similar to Lord Shiva, Durga is also denoted as Triyambake, which means the three-eyed Goddess. The left eye portrays want and has the peace and serenity of the moon. The right eye shows action and embraces the power of the sun. And the central eye is the one who knows everything with the capacity to burn with its control of fire.
The vahana of Durga Devi is a Lion. The Mother Goddess’ vahana is a sign of unrivaled might and is one of the most remarkable vehicles. The animal is might and power embodied and the undeniable king of the jungle. The lion is, therefore, the best-suited vehicle for the most powerful goddess of Hindu mythology. Durga is seen standing on her lion in a courageous pose known as the Abhaya Mudra or sign of no fear, which is a vision that can fill any devil with utmost fear.
Durga Devi, in all her forms, shows the essence of redemption and sacrifice. She is the mother of abundance and wealth, and also of beauty and wisdom, for her daughters are the vastly worshipped goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati. She is the embodiment of cleanliness, wisdom, truth, and self-understanding. The uppermost form of truth in any human being or Jeeva is called “Aatman” or highest awareness.
This supreme awareness or the complete soul is endless, birthless, eternal, beyond time and space, and also ahead of the law of action. Durga Devi is the integral dynamic energy by which this supreme awareness shows itself. Deity Durga shows the might of her Supreme Being that sustains moral order and virtue in the universe. She is the source of energy. Lord Shiva has no expression without Durga Devi and without Lord Shiva, Durga has no life.
