Durga | |
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Devanagari | दुर्गा |
Goddess Durga (Hindustani pronunciation: [d̪uːrgaː]; Sanskrit: दुर्गा), meaning "the inaccessible"[1] or "the invincible"; durga) is the most popular incarnation of Devi and one of the forms of Goddess Shakti, a partial incarnation of Parvati. For Shaivas Durga is the wife of Shiva, for Vaishnavas and Shaktas Durga is another form of Uma or Parvati. Durga is often known as the Mother of the universe and believed to be the power behind the work of creation, preservation, and destruction of the world. Since time immemorial she has been worshipped as the supreme power of the Supreme Being and has been mentioned in many scriptures - Yajur Ved, Vajasaneyi Samhita and Taittareya Brahman. The word Durga in Sanskrit means a fort, or a place which is difficult to overrun. Another meaning of Durga is Durgatinashini, which literally translates into the one who eliminates sufferings and the name Durga means invincible in Sanskrit. the syllable Du is synominous with the four devils of poverty, sufferings, famine and evil habits. The R refers to diseases and the Ga is the destroyer of sins, injustice, irreligion, cruelty and laziness. Thus, Hindus believe that Goddess Durga protects her devotees from the evils of the world and at the same time removes their miseries. There are several incarnations/forms of Durga: Kali, Tara Devi, Shitala Devi, Kaushiki, Satakshi, Shakambhari, Shanta Durga, Muthyalamma, Rudrani, Kaal Ratri, Katyayani, Bhairavi, Maha Gauri, Chandi, Bhadrakali, Shivadooti, Chamundeshwari, Ekanamsha, Chandraghanta, Harsiddhi, Aparajita, Maha Durga, Modeshwari and Vindhyavasini. The Hindu Goddess Durga manifested herself as when evil forces threatened the very existence of all the Gods. To destroy these demons, the united power of all the Gods, who offered her the required physical attributes to her creation and each formed a part of Durga's body. Durga also obtained very powerful weapons such as a conch shell in Durga's hand symbolizes the Pranav or the spritual word Om, which indicates her holding on to God in the form of sound. The bow and arrows represent energy. By holding both the bow and arrows in one hand Mother Goddess Durga is indicating her control over both aspects of energy - potential and kinetic. The thunderbolt signifies firmness. The devotee of Mother Durga must be firm like thunderbolt in one's convictions. Like the thunderbolt that can break anything against which it strikes, without being affected itself, the devotee needs to attack a challenge without losing his confidence. The lotus in Durga's hand is not in fully bloomed, It symbolizing certainty of success but not finality. The lotus in Sanskrit is called pankaj which means born of mud. Thus, lotus stands for the continuous evolution of the spiritual quality of devotees amidst the worldly mud of lust and greed. The beautiful discus, which spins around the index finger of the Goddess, while not touching it, signifies that the entire world is subservient to the will of Durga and is at her command. She uses this unfailing weapon to destroy evil and produce an environment conducive to the growth of righteousness. The sword that Durga holds in one of her hands symbolizes knowledge, which has the sharpness of a sword. Knowledge which is free from all doubts, is symbolized by the shine of the sword. Durga's trident is a symbol of three qualities- Sattva (inactivity), Rajas (activity) and Tamas (non-activity)- and she is remover of all the three types of miseries- physical, mental and mystical, the mace has a pointy end at the top and it is extremely golden, the battle-axe she holds is used to chop demon heads off, the scimitar is also symbolized as knowledge with a pointy top on the end to chop demon heads off as well, the bell she holds is used to ring in many directions to call the demons, the elephant goad she holds symbolizes her son Ganesh with a pointy top on the end, the container she holds is extremely golden, the shield she holds is extremely gold as well but sometimes dark, the baton she holds is to smack demons in the face, the lasso or noose that she holds is to tie the demons up, the spear she holds symbolizes sharpness and the snake that she holds does not harm Goddess Durga, the snake is also the energy of Lord Shiva and Mother Durga. She also destroyed Mahishasur and his fellow demons. Demonic forces are self-destructive but very powerful. Divine forces are constructive but slow and efficent. When demonic forces create imbalance, all Gods unite, becoming one divine force called Shakti or Durga. Her nine forms are Kushmanda, Shailputri, Brahmacharini, Skand Mata, Maha Gauri, Chandraghanta, Kaal Ratri, Katyayani and Siddhidatri. Durga is depicted as having eight hands, ten hands or eighteen hands. These represent eight quadrants, ten or even eighteen directions in Hinduism. This suggests that she protects the devotees from all directions. Like Lord Shiva, Ma Durga is also referred to as Triyambike meaning the three eyed Goddess. The left eye represents desire (the moon), the right eye represents action (the sun), and the central eye knowledge (fire). The lion/tiger represents power, will and determination. Maa Durga riding the lion/tiger symbolises her mastery over all these qualities. This suggests to the devotee that one has to possess all these qualities to get over the demon of ego. Mata Durga stands on a lion/tiger in a fearless pose.
Origins and evolution
Ramprasad Chanda writes the following about the evolution of Durga from primitive goddess to her current form.[2]
- "...it is possible to distinguish two different strata — one primitive and the other advanced. The primitive form of Durga is the result of syncretism of a mountain-goddess worshiped by the dwellers of the Himalaya and the Vindhyas, a goddess worshiped by the nomadic Abhira shepherd, the vegetation spirit conceived as a female, and a war-goddess. As her votaries advanced in civilization the primitive war-goddess was transformed into the personification of the all-destroying time (Kali), the vegetation spirit into the primordial energy (Adya Sakti) and the saviouress from “samsara” (cycle of rebirths) , and gradually brought into line with the Brahmanic mythology and philosophy."
Story
After the death of Tarakasur by Shiva's son Kartikeya, the demon brothers Rambh and Karambh came on the throne. Their mother Danu instructed them to do penance and obtain desired boons. Hence, Rambh and Karambh did penance to please Agni and Varun (Fire/Water) respectively. Rambh started doing penance in Agni chakra whereas Karambh was being half immersed in river water while doing penance. Lord Indra took disguise of a crocodile and killed Karambh while Rambh successfully comepletely his penance and got a boon from Agni that he will obtain an extremely powerful son, who will rule over the three worlds in this universe. Rambh fell in love with Mahishi (buffalo woman) and got married to her. Mahishi soon got pregnant by Rambh. Once her lover, a Mahish, tried to abduct her. Rambh came in forefront to protect his wife. It happened so that Rambh got killed by the Mahish. In the cremation process of Rambh, Mahishi jumped into the fire, to sacrifice her life to express her love for her husband. Hence, Yama was stopped from taking away the soul of Rambh. Hence, Rambh got retained into the womb of Mahishi. Hence, from cremation fire, emerged two demons namely Rakthbeej (rebirth of Rambh) and Mahishasur (the child of Rambh). Mahishasur also did penance and obtained a boon from Lord Brahma, that he wont be killed by any man. Mahishasur thought that he has obtained immortality indirectly by this boon as according to him, a lady would never be able to kill a powerful demon like him. At the same time, while Mahishasur was doing penance, Parvati too started with a penance to get rid of her dark complexion, which was developed over her fair skin, due the penance she had done to obtain Lord Shiva as her husband. While she was engrossed in her penance, Shiva came up to her and washed off her face with the water of Ganga (Ganges), due to which, Parvati's dark complexion shedded from her and got accumulalted over the plants present there. In this way, Parvati justified her name Maha Gauri. The very place where she had shedded her dark complexion was the place, where Rishi Katyayan's wife used to do gardening and used the same plantations for cooking purpose. In course of time, Narayani got pregnant. At the same time, Mahishasur reached the peak of evilness by mercilessly killing human beings, who were doing worship of gods. All the Gods including Indra, Varun, etc. and also Shiva and Brahma gathered at the Vishnu's realm to seek help from the protector of the world as to what could be done. Lord Vishnu (protector) instructed all the gods to combine their powers. The combination of the powers of all Gods including Trinity, Indra, etc. fell upon Mars. The planet Mars directed that combination of that powers to Katyayan's child who was about to take birth, as it's ruling planet was Mars. Narayani gave birth to a girl who was named as Katyayani being the daughter of sage Katyayan. She was the incarnation of Mahalakshmi as she had the powers of all Gods and those powers were nothing but brightness and the beej mantra was 'Hreem'. She was so powerful and independent that as she grew up, she started living in the forest Madamba Kadamba. The only thing that was missing was beauty as she was born from the dark cell of Parvati. But as she grew up, all the Gods started praying to her (Mahalakshmi) and gathered near her. The Sea God presented her various ornaments, jewelleries, beautiful look, a beautiful crown to wear. All the Gods presented her with the clone of their weapons like Lord Vishnu gave a clone of his discus, Lord Shiva gave trident, etc. In this way, she had to develop eighteen hands to hold all the weapons presented by various male Gods. Hence, she came to be known as eighteen-handed Mahalakshmi. Himavan, father of Parvati, present a Lion to Goddess Katyayani to ride upon. Soon the battle between Goddess Katyayani and demons army started. She created the same number of female warriors to fight the male demons army. Finally, her army won over the demon army and Katyayani herself killed many demons like Shichsur, Asiloma, Vidhan, Vashkaal, Ugrasen, Ramchandi etc. Finally, Mahishasur came in forefront to battle the Goddess. Mahishasur failed to battle with goddess without using his supernatural powers, which he had to use. Finally he kept changing form from lion to elephant to buffalo. At last, Goddess removed ornaments, removed all pure attributes and transformed into Chandi (with ten arms, not eighteen) and killed Mahishasur. She promised all the Gods mainly Indra that she will reappear at the time, when they needed her again. Afterwhich, she fused back into Parvati's body.
Relationship with Kali
Goddess Kali is a darker form of Adi Shakti, Parvati or Durga, they work together in battles killing demons like Shumbh and Nishumbh and many demons, for Raktabeej, Durga had to invoke the nine Matrikas from her.
Worship
The four-day-long (Saptami to Dashami) Durga Puja is the biggest annual festival in Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal, where it is known as Dashain. It is celebrated likewise with much fervour in various parts of India, especially the Himalayan region, but is celebrated in various forms throughout the Hindu universe.
The day of Durga's victory is celebrated as Vijayadashami (Bihar, Bengali), Dashain (Nepali) or Dussehra (Hindi) - these words literally mean "the Victory Tenth" (day).[3]
In Kashmir she is worshipped as shaarika (the main temple is in Hari Parbat in Srinagar).
The actual period of the worship however may be on the preceding nine days (Navaratri) followed by the last day called Vijayadashami in North India or five days in Bengal (from the sixth to tenth day of the waxing-moon fortnight). Nine aspects of Durga known as Navadurga are meditated upon, one by one during the nine-day festival by devout Shakti worshippers. In South India especially Andhra Pradesh Dussera Navaratri is also celebrated and the goddess is dressed each day as a different devi like Saraswati, Parvati, Laksmi etc. for the nine days.
In North India, the tenth day, is celebrated as Dussehra, the day Rama emerged victorious in his battle against the demon, Ravana - gigantic straw effigies of Ravana are burnt in designated open spaces (e.g. Delhi's Ram Lila grounds), watched by thousands of families and little children.
In Mysore (which originated from Mahishasooru) in Karnataka, she is worshiped as Chamundeshwari, the patron goddess of the city during Dussehra (Dasara).
In Gujarat it is celebrated as the last day of Navaratri, during which the Garba dance is performed to celebrate the victory of Mahishasura-mardini, Durga.
The Goddess Durga is worshipped in her peaceful form as Maha Gauri, The Fair Lady, Shree Shantadurga also known as Santeri, is the patron Goddess of Goa. She is worshipped by all Goan Hindus.
In Maharashtra, Tulja Bhavani and Ambabai are worshipped as Mahishasur Mardini, who is the patron goddess of the land. Bhavani is known as Tulaja, Amba, Renuka, Yamai Saptshrungi and Jogai in different places of Maharashtra. She is the inspirational goddess of Raja Shivaji. As per legends, Bhavani appeared after Shivaji prayed to her and blessed him to be able to make Hindustan or the then India (ruled by the Mughals) independent - the kingdom he established eventually became the Hindu Pad Padshahi (sometimes also called the Maratha Empire), which comprised all the land ruled by the Mughals and brought India back under Hindu sovereignty.
In Bangladesh also, the four-day long Sharadiya Durga Puja (Bengali: শারদীয়া দুর্গা পুজো, ‘autumnal Durga worship’) is the biggest religious festivals for the Hindus and celebrated across the country with Vijayadashami being a national holiday.
Western references
Some early Western accounts refer to a deity known as Deumus, Demus or Deumo. Western (Portuguese) sailors first came face to face with the murti of Deumus at Calicut on the Malabar Coast and they concluded it to be the deity of Calicut. Deumus is sometimes interpreted as an aspect of Durga in Hindu mythology and sometimes as deva.
It is described that the ruler of Calicut (Zamorin) had a murti of Deumus in his temple inside his royal palace.[4][5] The temple was two paces wide in each of the four sides and three paces high, with a wooden door covered with gods carved in relief. At the centre of the temple, there was a metal idol of Deumus placed in a seat, which was also made of metal.
Western accounts also describe the ruler of Calicut worshiping an ultimate god called Tamerani ("Tamburan"). The accounts also describes a misunderstood form of the "hook-swinging" ritual once commonly performed as part of some popular Hindu religious festivals.
Notable temples of Durga
In India
- Shitla Mata temple at Patna Bihar
- Vindhyachal temple near Varanasi
- Kalka Mandir, near Nehru Place, New Delhi.
- Shitla Mata temple at Gurgaon Haryana
- Bala Sundari Temple Trilokpur in District Sirmaur Himachal Pradesh
- Shoolini devi temple at Solan Himachal Pradesh
- Bahu Fort Temple in Jammu
- Bala Sundri Temple in Billawar Jammu
- ChiChi Mata Temple in Jammu
- Kol Kandoli Temple in Jammu
- Mahamaya Temple in Jammu
- Sukrala Mata Temple in Jammu
- Vaishno Devi Temple in Katra Jammu
- Chamundeshwari Temple, Mysore Karnataka
- Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple, near Mangalore, Karnataka
- Kollur Sri mookambika Temple, near Udupi, Karnataka
- Adichikkavu Sree Durga Devi Kshetram, Pandanad, Kerala
- Ammathiruvadi Temple, Thrissur, Kerala, India
- Vengoor Sree Durga Devi Temple, near Perumbavoor- Kerala[6]
- Biraja Temple, Jajpur, Odisha
- Durga Temple, Baideshwar, Odisha
- Katak Chandi Temple, Cuttack, Odisha
- Kichakeshwari Temple, Odisha
- Manikeshwari Temple, Bhawanipatna, Odisha.
- Ambika Mata Temple in the village of Jagat near Mount Abu in Rajasthan
- Shila Devi temple at Amber, Jaipur, Rajasthan
- Kanak Durga Temple, Chikligarh, Medinipur, West Bengal
- Nava Durga Temple, Kolkata, West Bengal[7]
- Tarakeswar, Hooghly District, West Bengal
- Tarapith, Birbhum, West Bengal
Outside India
- Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Prambanan Temple, Indonesia
- Sri Santha Durga Devi Army Camp in Sungai Petani, Malaysia
- Sri Thurgha Parameswary Amman Alayam, Kampung Tumbuk Pantai, Tanjong Sepat,in Selangor, Malaysia
In her aspect of Kali
- Belur Math, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata, West Bengal
- Kalighat, Kolkata, West Bengal
See also
References
- ^ "Durga,". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
- ^ McDaniel, June (2004). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516791-0. Pp. 214.
- ^ Esposito, John L. (2007). Religion & globalization: world religions in historical perspective. Oxford University Press. p. 341. ISBN 0-19-517695-2.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Jörg Breu d. Ä. zugeschrieben, Idol von Calicut, in: Ludovico de Varthema, 'Die Ritterlich und lobwürdig Reisz', Strassburg 1516. (Bild: Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich
- ^ A briefe collection and compendious extract of straunge and memorable thinges, gathered out of the Cosmographye of Sebastian Munster, wherein is made a plaine description of diuers and straunge lawes, rites, maners and properties of sondrye nations, and a short report of straunge histories of diuers men, and of the nature and properties of certaine fovvles, fishes, beastes, monsters, and sondry countryes and places, published in London in 1574 by Tomas Marshe
- ^ http://www.durgadevitemplevengoor.com/contact_us.php
- ^ http://wikimapia.org/811725/NAVA-DURGA-MANDIR
- ^ "Stone sculpture of Durga Mahishasuramardini". British Museum. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
Further reading
- Amazzone, Laura (2010). Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power. University Press of America, Lanham. ISBN 0761853146.
- Bandyopadhyay, Pranab (1993). Mother Goddess Durga. United Writers, Calcutta. ISBN 81-85328-13-7.
- Kinsley, David (1986). Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious Traditions. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., Delhi. ISBN 81-208-0379-5.
- Sen Ramprasad (1720–1781). Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess. Hohm Press. ISBN 0-934252-94-7.