Durga is a Hindu goddess who embodies both nurturing mother and vengeful warrior. She is part of the duality of Hindu goddess theology, as each goddess has her own identity but is also considered part of the Great Goddess, Maha Devi. Durga is the protagonist of the Devi Mahatmya, an important religious text that tells of her battles against evil demons. The text is significant because it is the first crystallized text dedicated to a goddess in Sanskrit, the language of the elite. The stories within the Devi Mahatmya demonstrate the power and hostile nature of the goddess, as well as her ability to defeat evil forces.
Durga is a Hindu goddess whose name means “hard to reach” or “far away”. She is known as both a nurturing mother and a vengeful warrior. While the Hindu pantheon includes a number of goddesses, Durga is particularly popular and holds special importance to many Hindus. In discussing Durga, mention must be made of the nature of goddesses within Hindu theology.
Hindu goddess theology is never monistic. Goddesses are about duality. The nature of the Hindu goddess is both one and many. That is to say, each goddess has her own iconographic identity, yet they are all considered simultaneously as one goddess, Maha Devi, which simply means Great Goddess. That said, every Hindu goddess, including Durga, can be referred to by name or as Maha Devi.
This can certainly be confusing, but one way to understand this concept is to look at each individual goddess as a manifestation of the Great Goddess, Maha Devi. Each manifestation of Maha Devi has its own name, form, function and anecdotal identity within Hindu religious literature. Another example of the dualistic nature of Hindu goddesses is the seemingly conflicting aspects of their character. All Hindu goddesses are motherly, yet many of them, including Durga, engage in battle as warriors, thereby causing suffering. The goddess is both intimate and transcendent.
Durga is a particularly important goddess. She is the protagonist of an important religious praise text called the Devi Mahatmya, which dates back to the 5th century. The Devi Mahatmya is very important because it is the first crystallized text dedicated to a goddess. Devi Mahatmya is also known as Durgasaptasati, or “Durga 5”, as there are 700 verses in the text, most of which refer to her by her name, Durga. The Devi Mahatmya is part of a larger text called the Murkandeya Purana. The Puranas are a group of texts which speak of Hindu deities.
Although goddess worship was practiced in India long before the crystallization of the Puranas, the Devi Mahatmya is the earliest mention of goddesses in Sanskrit, the language of the elite. Sanskritization, also known as Brahminization, is the recognition of an idea or concept by Brahmins, the most elite group within the traditional Indian caste system. Brahmins were priests, guardians of knowledge and religious holiness. Sanskrit was their sacred language. Hence, the idea of Great Goddess Maha Devi was not canonized till Devi Mahatmya.
The Devi Mahatmya tells the story of a time when the world was overrun by asuras, or demons. Unable to fight the evil asuras on their own, all the male gods concentrated their energies and powers into a sphere of light, from which Maha Devi sprang. Ideas about Maha Devi, Durga, and goddesses in general are expounded through a series of battle stories in which the goddess defeats an evil asura.
For example, in the first section of the Devi Mahatmya, Maha Devi takes the form of Yoganidra, or sleep yoga. The goddess like Yoganidra is the force that keeps Vishnu asleep, while Brahma prepares to create the universe. Two asuras named Madhu and Kaitabha emerge from the wax of sleeping Vishnu’s ear and attempt to attack Brahma. Brahma sings to Yoganidra, asking her to allow Vishnu to awaken and defeat the demons. This story demonstrates the goddess power of Maya, or illusion, as it is the force that controls the mind of Vishnu.
In the second section of the Devi Mahatmya, the buffalo demon Mahishasura engages in battle with Durga. While Durga is defeating him, Mahishasura keeps changing his form, impersonating all the evil characters of him. The true and ultimate form of him is that of a human being. When Durga sees him, he cuts off his head, his sense of conceit and ego. In this way, Durga is both fearsome and kind because he releases the evil demon by killing it. This demonstrates both the shakti, or power, of the goddess and her hostile nature as a mother/warrior.
In the third section of the Devi Mahatmya, Durga is having trouble defeating the demon Raktabija. Whenever Durga slices Raktabija with her sword, drops of his blood hit the ground and he transforms into another Raktabija. Thus Durga appeals to another of Maha Devi’s manifestations, Kali. Kali is a fearsome goddess with a long tongue and an emaciated body. With her long tongue, hungry Kali collects all the blood spilled by Durga’s sword. This section of the Devi Mahatmya demonstrates the aspect of the goddess known as Prakrti, or form/nature of her, as the form taken by the goddess enables her to perform the function of defeating Raktabija.
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