Durga – The Goddess Of Righteousness

Worshipping God in the form of Mother is a unique feature of Hindu religion. Through the ages, the doctrine of the Motherhood of God has established a firm root in Hinduism. When a devotee worships God as Divine Mother, he or she appeals to Her tenderness and unconditional love. As a child feels safe and secure in the lap of its mother, a devotee feels safe and secure in the presence of the Divine Mother. Sri Ramakrishna Pararnaharnsa, one of the greatest Indian sages of modern times, worshipped the Divine Mother Kali all through his life. He established a personal rapport with Her and was always conscious of Her presence by his side. Hindus worship the Divine Mother in many popular forms such as Durga – the goddess of righteousness (she is called Durga because she slayed arch-demon Durg, son of Ruru), Bhadrakali – the auspicious power of time, Amba or Jagdamba – Mother of the world, Annapurna – Giver of food in plenty, Sarvamangala – well-wisher of everyone, Bhairavi- power of death, Chandi- killer of demons, Lalita or Lakshmi- Goddess of beauty and prosperity, Saraswati- Goddess of music and learning, Kumari – the virgin, most pure and Uma or Bhavani (consort of Lord Shiva)- Giver of existence. The metaphor is that she is well-wisher of all but cruel to the demonic i.e., to the proud ego of man.

Mythological significance :The birth of Mother Goddess has an interesting origin. It has found mention in the Skanda Purana, in Chandi, itself a part of the Markandeya Purana, the Brahmanda Purana and also in the famous epic, the Mahabharata. According to these mentions, in the ancient times, Lord Shiva, pleased with the devotion of the demon-king, ‘Mahishasura’ blessed him with a boon that no man or God would be able to kill him. Empowered with the boon, Mahishasura started his reign of terror over the world. People were killed mercilessly and even the Gods were driven out from heaven. The Gods went to Lord Shiva for the protection from the demon-king. Knowing their plight, Lord Shiva, became very angry. This anger came out in the form of energy from Shiva’s third eye and concentrated to form a female deity. All the Gods who were present there contributed their share of energy to this Goddess and thus Durga, the eternal mother, was born. Riding a lion, she attacked Mahishasura. After a fierce battle, Durga transformed into Devi Chandika, the most ferocious form of the Goddess, and beheaded Mahishasura.

In ‘Ramayana’, Lord Rama went to Lanka to rescue his abducted wife, Goddess Sita, from the grip of demon-king,Ravana. Before starting for his battle with Ravana, Rama wanted the blessings of Devi Durga While worshipping He proposed to please the Goddess with one hundred NeelKamal or blue lotuses. But He could gather only ninety nine of them. He finally decided to offer one of his eyes, which resembled blue lotuses. Durga, being pleased with the devotion of Rama, appeared before him and blessed him with the success. The battle started on the Saptami (seventh day) and Ravana was finally killed on the Sandhikshan i.e. the crossover period between Ashtami (eighth day) and Navami (ninth day). Ravana was cremated on Dashami. Since the period of this worship was different from the conventional period (during the spring - Basanta), this puja is also known as Akal-Bodhan - a worship (Bodhan) in an unconventional time (A-Kaal). According to a Bengali myth, Daksha, the king of the Himalayas, and his wife, Menaka, had a daughter called Uma. Uma, right from her childhood, started worshipping Lord Shiva as her would-be-husband. Lord Shiva, being pleased with the worship of Uma, came to marry her. Daksha was against their marriage but could not prevent it to happen. A liitle time later, Daksha arranged a ‘yagna’ where everyone except Lord Shiva was invited. Uma, feeling ashamed of her father’s behaviour and shocked by the attitude metted towards her husband, killed herself. There was no end to his anguish when Lord Shiva came to know about this. He lifted the body of Uma on his shoulders and started dancing madly. With the supreme power dancing with wrath, the World was on the verge of destruction. Then Lord Narayana came forward as a saviour and used his ‘Chakra’ to cut Uma’s body into pieces. Those pieces started falling off from the shoulder of the dancing Shiva into different parts of the World. Shiva was finally pacified when the last piece fell off from his shoulder. Lord Narayana, however, revived Uma to new life. The places where the pieces had fallen are known as the ‘Shakti Piths’ or energy pits. Kalighat in Kolkata , Kamakshya near Guwahati and Vaishnav Devi in Jammu are three of these places. Ever since peace was restored, Uma, with her four children, Ganesh, Kartick, Saraswati and Laxmi and her two ‘sakhis’ - Jaya and Bijaya, comes to visit her parent each year during the season of ‘Sharatkal’ or autumn when Durga-Puja is celebrated. Thus the other name of Durga-puja is "Sharodotshob".

Celebrations In Bengal, the nine-day festival, Durga-Puja is celebrated with great reverence and gusto. It begins with the commencement of Mahalaya. It signifies the termination of Pitri-Paksha and the beginning of Devi Paksha, thus ushering in the season of religious festivals. Several important rituals are performed on this auspicious occasion. It is said that Devi Durga begins her journey from her husband’s abode in Kailash to her paternal home on this day. Maharaja Krishnachandra of Nadia introduced the tradition of worshipping clay images in Bengal early in his reign. Since then months before the festival, a special clay image of the goddess is made showing her in the act of killing the demon Mahishasura. The clay for the image is brought from ten places of work - of a farmer, weaver, painter, carpenter, musician, drummer, blacksmith, sweeper, bricklayer and a prostitute. Durga is also called Sarba Jananni, a goddess for all, and is shown riding her mount, the lion. The image of Durga is lavishly decorated. For nine days, she is worshipped. On Vijayadashami, the tenth day, when the goddess was victorious by killing evil asura, her clay image is immersed in the ocean or river. This immersion symbolises Durga’s return to her husband Lord Shiva on the conclusion of her annual visit to her parental home. . The worship of God as Mother has had a significant impact on Hindu beliefs. It not only signifies the victory of good over evil but also offers a unique reverence to womanhood.