Devi The Mother Goddess Who Vanquished Mahishasura

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Devi, the Mother Goddess was created from the collective energies of the Gods and Devas in order to create a divine being that could defeat the demon Mahishasura. The energy emitted by God Brahma the creator, God Vishnu the provider, God Shiva the destroyer , and other deities or demigods and the Devas  or the Gods combined into a huge mass of fire and light, out of which appeared as Devi the Mother Goddess.

 

According to description in the Devi Bhagavatham, a minor Purana dedicated to the Goddess Shakti in this case  which is similar to other puranas devoted exclusively to the respective Gods and Goddess,  her lotus white complexioned face was created from the energy emitted by God Shiva, her long glossy black hair from Yama’s energy the God of death, her three eyes similar to those of God Shiva were created from Agni’s energy the Fire God, Sandhya’s energy created her perfectly arched eyebrows.

 

Vayu’s the Wind God’s energy formed her two ears, Kubera the God  of Wealth’s energy formed her nose this God is also the God King of semi divine Yakshas, her teeth were created from Daksha’s that is Daksha Prajapathi’s energy, lower lip from Surya’s charioteer Aruna, upper lip from Kartikeya the Hindu God of War, eighteen hands from God Vishnu, fingers from the Vasus the attendant deities of God of Rain Indra and later of God Vishnu, they are called Ashta Vasus or Eight Vasus representing the aspects of nature, breasts from the moon God Chandra.

 

Navel from God Indra the God of Gods whose weapon is the thunderbolt, legs and thighs from Varuna the God of Ocean and reproductive organs from Dharani the Goddess Earth.. The Gods and the Devas then armed the Goddess with their favorite weapons and sent her to defeat Mahishasura the demon. A great battle ensued for a long time and Devi the Mother Goddess finally killed Mahishasura.

 

This signified the victory of good  or evil. As Mahishasura had started troubling men, women, sages, Gods and Goddesses too after obtaining  divine powers after a lot of penance and misused it. All the three worlds faced problems from Mahishasura and cried for help from the Gods leading to  this duel in which he was ultimately vanquished by Devi the Mother Goddess. This in one way also signified woman power from ancient times in Hindu religion.

 

Hence the Goddess is also called as Mahishasura Mardhini meaning the vanquisher of Mahishasura. There are temples dedicated to this powerful Goddess all over India and many parts of the world too. The festival of Dasara is also celebrated for this victory of good over evil. There are many more festivals which are celebrated too, which are dedicated to this Goddess and celebrated  by  her devotees all over India and in many parts of the world.