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Durga and the Buffalo Demon
The buffalo demon, Mahisha stomped
across the three worlds, kicking up dust, polluting the earth and
sea.
Neither Indra, king of gods, nor
Kumara, commander of the celestial armies could stop him. In
despair the gods called on
Vishnu
for help.
Vishnu confronted the
demon Mahisha first as Narasimha the man lion and then as
Varaha,
the boar, but each time he failed to subdue the demon.
Shiva, the supreme ascetic,
disturbed by the violence opened his third eye unleashing the fire
of doom. Even the power of
Shiva’s third eye capable of destroying
the three worlds could not arrest Mahisha’s march.
“Nothing can stop Mahisha now: he
will soon control the universe and make Nature dance to his tunes,”
said Brahma the creator.
“It will never be so, Nature can
never be conquered,” said Brahma as his divine strength, his
shakti, emerged from his body in the form of the goddess Brahmi.
She rode a swan and held books of wisdom in her hands.
Simultaneously, the
shaktis of the other
gods emerged taking female forms. From Indra, rose Indrani bearing
a thunderbolt, riding an elephant, from Kumara rose Kaumari holding a
lance and riding a peacock, from
Vishnu rose Vaishanavi on an eagle with
a discus whirling on her finger, from
Varaha came the sharp tusk sow
Varahi, from
Shiva came Shiavani riding a bull bearing a trident.
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The seven shaktis, unrestrained by the
bodies of the gods, were fearsome beings – unbridled, untamed, restless
energies of the cosmos. They would not submit to the authority of any
man, beast or god, let alone a demon.
They rose to the sky and merged with
each other in a blinding light. The sounds of the conchs, drums and
bells filled the air. With bated breath, the gods watched the light.
From the heavenly light arose a beautiful goddess.
“Who are you?” asked the gods.
“I am Durga, the inaccessible one,”
replied the goddess. “I am Prakriti, the substance that gives form and
identity to all things. I am Shakti, the power that enables all
creatures to exist, to feel, think, act and react. I am Maya, the
delusion that makes life alluring yet elusive.”
The gods saluted the great goddess.
“Give me your weapons and I shall destroy he who seeks to dominate me,”
said the great goddess.
The goddess acquiesced.
Shiva gave his
trident, Vishnu his discus and mace, Indra his thunderbolt, Kurmara his
lance, Brahma his bow. Then mounting a lion,
Durga prepared for battle.
News of Durga, the beautiful goddess who
resides upon a mountain, mount Meru, reached Mahisha. “She
shall be my queen,” declared the buffalo demon. He ordered his two
generals, Chanda and Munda, to fetch her.
Chanda and Munda placed the Buffalo
Demon's marriage proposal before
Durga.
Durga did not reply. The
demons viewed this as insubordination and threatened
Durga. The mighty
goddess responded by swinging her sword in one grand sweep she cut off
both the generals heads.
The violent rejection of his marriage
proposal enraged Mahisha. “Bring that proud woman before me in chains
and I shall show her who is master.”
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A hundred thousand asuras armed with
bows, arrows, spears and swords surrounded Mount Meru, determined to capture
Durga. They marched up the mountain, before long a hundred thousand
demon heads were seen rolling down Mount Meru smearing its slopes red.
Durga drank the blood of the demons.
Seizing a lute and drum she made music to celebrate her victory.
Humiliated by the defeat Mahisha asked,
“Why won’t you marry me, am I not lord of the three worlds?”
“I shall marry only he who defeats me in
battle,” revealed the goddess.
“Then let us fight,” responded the
buffalo demon.
A great battle commenced. Mountains
shook, oceans trembled, clouds scattered across the sky, as the
buffalo demon attacked
Durga. He rushed towards her, sometimes as a
buffalo, sometimes as a lion, sometimes as an elephant. The goddess
broke the buffalo’s horns with her mace, sheared the lion’s mane
with her lance, cut the elephant’s trunk with her sword.
Weapon after weapon, when hurled at
the buffalo demon, but each time he managed to rise up undefeated.
Realizing that her weapons had no
effect on Mahisha,
Durga threw them aside, dismounted from her lion
and with her bare hands sprang upon Mahisha’s back. With her tender
feet she kicked his head. The demon, immune to the weapons of all
the gods, fell senseless at the touch of
Durga’s feet.
Durga then raised her trident and
plunged it into the buffalo demons heart conquering the
unconquerable.
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