Durga Puja Festival & The Legend of Durga

 

(Collected from many sources – not entirely my own)

 

Once upon a time there lived a demon (Asura) king of the underworld who roamed the three worlds (heaven, earth and the underworld) in the guise of a buffalo (Mahish). He was thus called “Mahish-asura”. Mahishasura was extremely power-hungry and ambitious. But he became an ascetic and undertook a long and arduous penance to appease the Lord Brahma, who finally appeared before him. Mahishasura asked for a boon that no man or god could kill him, and Brahma granted it.

 

This made Mahishasura virtually invincible and he began to torment the three worlds. In sheer desperation, the gods of Heaven and the people on Earth approached the Supreme Trinity (Brahma – the creator, Vishnu – the Preserver, and Shiva – the destroyer) to do something.

 

The Supreme Trinity combined their powers to create the Goddess Durga to circumvent Brahma’s boon. She was duly armed with all the weapons of the Gods and the lion became her mount. The battle between Durga and Mahishasura lasted 10 days and nights, with the last four days being the fiercest.

 

In the end, as Mahishasura lay dying he realized his folly and repented. He realized that Durga was the combination of all the powers in the Cosmos and asked one last boon from her – that he be worshipped along with Durga for all eternity. Durga granted this boon and that is how the image of the Goddess killing the demon (Mahishasur – mardini) was born.

 

***

 

At the philosophical level, this story represents many things :

·         The Supreme Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva – the Creator, the Preserver & the Destroyer respectively – represent the Supreme, Powerful Cosmic energy of the Universe, where all three phenomena keep happening simultaneously.

 

A particular Sanskrit “sloka” (verse) illustrates this :

        “Shrishti – Sthiti – Vinasanam – Shakti – Bhoote – Sanatani

        Gunashrayee – Gunamayee – Narayani – Namostute”

 

A rough translation would be : (You are the embodiment of Primordial Force that drives Creation, Preservation, Destruction;  O Narayani, we salute thee...)

 

·         Durga represents virtue (dharma) while Mahishasura represents vice (adharma). These two are always present all the time. Even during worship. That is reality.

·         Mahishasura being worshipped along with Durga means that there is nothing in this world as “pure evil” or “pure good”.  Even Mahishasura was an ascetic once and powerful enough to appease Lord Brahma. But pride, avarice and tyranny brought about his downfall. Even a boon from the Creator could not save him.

·         Most importantly it also tells the tale that when crime, tyranny, and evil forces try to overrun the general scheme of things, the Gods put in their best efforts to counter the evil and re-establish the rule of dharma, or virtue.  A sloka from the Bhagwad Gita that talks about the periodic advent of prophets on this Earth, is perhaps relevant here :

“paritranaya sadhunam,   vinasaya ca duskritam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya,  sambhav ami yuge yuge”  -

(To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion,  I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.)