Durga

Durga puja is the life and soul of Bengal, a ten-day-long festival for the ten-handed goddess. Goddess Durga is like a mother figure and so calling her Ma Durga feels much warmer. She is also called Dashabhuja and Mahisasuramardini.

She is a mother, 

a warrior,

 the epitome of power, 

the power that runs the universe, 

shakti,

She has ten forms, 

some that are motherly and gentle,

 some fierce and dangerous.

And so it is said 

the same woman, 

who is gentle and calm, 

can be fierce and perilous.

So beware!

Before you call them weak.

As the puja season has begun ...

So, it is the perfect time for sitting with a cup of chai or coffee along with some pakoras and delve into the very interesting Indian mythology.

Before we begin let us know about three major gods of Indian mythology

Bramha - the god of creation

Vishnu/ Narayan- the protector of the universe

Shiva- the destroyer

According to mythology, the universe revolves around three major concepts creation, propagation and destruction. Destruction leads the path to the creation of a new era. 

Pretty simple right!

Nah ! as I try to explain the concepts you will just get caught up in a cobweb of confusion.

Before I come to the legend of Durga, let me tell you about Sati and Parvati.

Goddess Sati was the first wife of  Lord Shiva, she was the daughter of  Daksha Raj. Now, Daksha Raj was not very fond of his son-in-law. It so happened that Daksha Raj wanted Lord Shiva to bow in front of him since he is the elder in a relationship. But as Lord Shiva is one of the three main gods he refused to bow as that would be a sign of immense disrespect to the gods.

Daksha Raj's hatred towards Lord Shiva was so immense that he refused to accept Sati as his daughter. One day he organized a yajna ( a kind of puja) and invited everyone except his daughter and son-in-law.

Now, for any yajna offering tributes to Lord Shiva is important but Daksha Raj said that he will complete the yajna successfully without including Lord Shiva.

After hearing the news Sati was enraged and wanted to confront her father but lord Shiva warned her not to interfere with her father's affair, as he may insult her badly. This is the time that Sati showed Shiva her true form that she is not weak but powerful, and showed the different forms she has taken to kill numerous asuras. Lord Shiva was shocked to find out that his human wife was actually the Shakti so in the end he hesitantly accepted her request and let her go.

Now, when she arrived at her father's palace, he was in the middle of the yajna but Sati stopped him by saying no yajna can be completed without Shiva that is when everything started going downhill. The argument between father and daughter turned heated and he started insulting Lord Shiva. Sati who couldn't tolerate the disrespect of her husband decided to release her soul from her body. So she decided it was better to die than to hear her father insult her husband.

Lord Shiva felt her soul leaving her body and went ballistic. Since he is the god of destruction, you can imagine how much chaos his rage could create. Let me make the picture clearer he killed Daksha Raj with his Trishul (trident). Then took the lifeless body of his wife and started a dance of destruction ( tandrav). His emotions were storming inside grief, rage, and loss ( can you imagine a God who is immortal losing his beloved so early). His dance was so intense that the creation was on the verge of destruction.

All the gods were terrified since no one was able to stop him. At this point, Vishnu figured out that as long as he saw the dead body of his wife he wouldn't stop. So Vishu used his chakra to cut Sati's body into  52 pieces. Those pieces fell in different parts of India where according to the legend shrines were built later.

After realizing his wife's body was no longer on his shoulders lord Shiva fell down in devastation and the tandrav stopped. So the world did not end that night.

Years later Parvati was born to Himalaya and his wife, she was the reincarnation of Goddess Sati. She was a loved and cherished princess whose heart was already given to Lord Shiva. Her parents were also worshippers of lord shiva and were immensely pleased to marry off their daughter to him. But it was not easy for Parvati to be noticed by Lord Shiva. Parvati took the task of worshipping Lord Shiva wholeheartedly while he was deep in Tapasya (meditation). Now, Lord Shiva wanted to test her loyalty, so he disguised himself as a Brahmin. The Brahmin approached Parvati and said that she should marry a rich king rather than a god who lived like a beggar but Parvati replied that if she married someone it would be none other than Shiva.

 Lord Shiva was pleased with her answer and agreed to marry her and they lived happily ever after!

Nops!

Happily ever after happens in fairytales, not in mythology, at least not when you always have a bunch of asuras wreaking havoc frequently and a God who always grants amazing wishes which leads to disaster.

One of these Asuras was Mahisasura, Mahish means buffalo and asura demon. Since Mahisasur could shapeshift into buffalo and is also known as the buffalo demon.

Now Mahisasura was an immensely ambitious person, he wanted to achieve all three realms, Swarga ( adobe of gods), Marta ( adobe of humans), and Patala ( adobe of demons) and so he began to worship Brahma. 

After doing Tapasya for years, Brahma was pleased with him and decided to relieve him of his duty. So Brahma visited him and offered to grant him a wish. But there were terms and conditions, he could not wish for immortality, so Mahisasura being his smartass self asked that no man, animal, or god could kill him. His wish was granted making him ecstatic, he thought that he was immortal as no god, man or animal could harm him now, no matter what he did.

And the show begins, Mahisasura concurred the whole of Patala and Marta without any difficulty, torturing innocent souls and rampaging life. The minor gods being terrified of his power decided to approach the council.

The council now is very funny they had no idea what was going on below until the Marta was completely conquered. 

So what were they doing all this time?

Watching Apsaras dance while munching on snacks. 

Now, let me make it clear the three major are not included in the council, maybe because they are actually busy.

Coincidently, while the council was having such relaxing entertainment, after a long discussion period, Mahisasur barged in with his army and trampled the whole area. Some of the gods tried to fight him but in vain. So they fled.

Yup, you heard me right!

The gods fled from Swarga and came running to Kailash - the adobe of Lord Shiva.

Lord Vishnu and Lord Bramha were also informed of the situation and they also arrived at Kailash. Lord Vishnu found the loophole in the wish and decided to send a woman to fight Mahisasuara.

So, the three major gods created a powerful form with the Jyoti released from their third eye, the form was taken up by Parvati and the goddess Durga was born.

Each god gifted her some weapon and so in the end she had nine weapons in her ten hands and a lion.

She went into the battle like a fierce warrior, yet keeping her motherly features intact.

When Mahisasura saw Goddess Durga he laughed out loud. he couldn't believe the gods sent a woman to fight him. Goddess Durga warned him not to consider women as weak and that his death was written in her hands. Mahisasura was enraged hearing her words, when the gods and bravest of men are afraid of him what will a pitiful woman do but if she wants to fight then be it.

And so the war continued...

On the eight days, Mahisasura understood that the lady standing in front of him was no ordinary woman to mess with and his death was imminent. So, before they began fighting Mahisasur bowed in front of goddess Durga and asked her permission to worship her before fighting. The goddess was startled but nevertheless, she agreed, after doing the puja Mahisasur asked her to bless him so that he could do his best in the fight since he would be dying soon. The goddess was flabbergasted, she said that she would let him live if he gave back the Swarga and Marta, but he refused. he replied that if he had to die he would go down on the battlefield like a gallant person and by her hands. The goddess was pleased with him and said that whenever she would be worshipped by people Mahisasuara would also be worshipped with her.

On the evening of that day, Goddess Durga plunged the Trishul straight through Mahisasur's heart, ending a reign of terror.

Thus, the good won over the evil. 

Once again.

                                                                                      

blue rose belles

(Archie)