Durga

==Outside Hinduism==
===In Buddhism===
[[file:MET DT238.jpg|thumb|Durga statue from the Buddhist [[Pala Empire]], in which Buddhism and Hinduism coexisted peacefully.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Goddess Durga Slaying the Demon Buffalo Mahisha {{!}} Bangladesh or India (Bengal) {{!}} Pala-Sena period |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38583 |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>]]

[[file:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Beeld van Durga als de godin Kwan Yin in een Chinese tempel te Soerabaja TMnr 10026825.jpg|thumb|Image of Durga, interpreted as a form of [[Guanyin]], in a Chinese temple in [[Surabaya]], [[East Java]], [[Indonesia]]. It resembles Chola art and likely pre-dates the Chinese community in East Java.]]
[[File:Sikh mural of Durga from a gurdwara.jpg|thumb|Mural of Durga crushing Mahikasur from the Guru Ram Rai Udasin Akhara  located in [[Dehradun]]]]

The Tantric Buddhist [[Vajrayana]] traditions adopted several Hindu deities into its fold, including Durga.<ref name=":0">Calo, Ambra (2020) [https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/32820/1/Pratu_v1_2020_a3_Calo.pdf 'Durgā Mahiṣāsuramardinī in Likely Tantric Buddhist Context from the Northern Indian Subcontinent to 11th-Century Bali] [Durga Mahiṣāsuramardinī dalam konteks agama Buddha Tantrayana dari Subkontinen India Utara dan Bali pada abad ke-11].'    ''Pratu: Journal of Buddhist and Hindu Art, Architecture and Archaeology of Ancient to Premodern Southeast Asia'', 1 (3).     pp. 1-20.</ref><ref>Wayman, Alex; The Buddhist Tantras light on Indo-Tibetan esotericism, Routledge, (2008), page 23.</ref><ref>Williams, Tribe and Wynne; Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition, chapter 7</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Hajime Nakamura|title=Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w0A7y4TCeVQC&pg=PA315|year=1980|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0272-8|page=315|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217121415/https://books.google.com/books?id=w0A7y4TCeVQC&pg=PA315|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Shoko Watanabe (1955), ''On Durga and Tantric Buddhism'', Chizan Gakuho, number 18, pp.&nbsp;36–44</ref> Numerous depictions of Durgā Mahiṣāsuramardinī (Durgā slaying the buffalo demon) have been found at Buddhist temple sites (c. 8th–11th century) in [[Afghanistan]], [[Indonesia]] and northeastern India. Durga statues have also been found in major Buddhist sites like [[Nalanda mahavihara|Nalanda]] and [[Vikramashila]].<ref name=":0" />

In [[Bengal]], late Indian Mahayana Buddhists during the 17th century worshiped Durga during traditional [[Yogini]] Puja celebrations, and some traces of these Mahayana Durga rites survive today, even though the Bengalis who perform them are no longer Buddhist.<ref>{{Cite web |title=For centuries, Hooghly family worships Durga the Buddhist way |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/for-centuries-hooghly-family-worships-durga-the-buddhist-way/cid/1890024 |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=www.telegraphindia.com |language=en}}</ref>

Images of the Buddhist Durga have also been found in [[Bali]] (surrounded with images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas) and date from the 10th and 11th centuries.<ref name=":0" /> 

Durga also appears in the ''Sarvadurgatipariśodhana tantra'', though in this text, she appears not in her demon slaying form, but mounted on a lion.<ref name=":0" />

Several aspects of the popular Vajrayana Buddhist goddess [[Tara (Buddhism)|Tārā]] are believed to have originated as a form of the goddess Durga or to have been influenced by Hindu stories of Durga, including Tara's [[Wrathful deities|fierce forms]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Mallar Ghosh |title=Development of Buddhist Iconography in Eastern India |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |year=1980 |isbn=81-215-0208-X |page=17}}</ref><ref name=":1">Shaw, Miranda (2006). ''Buddhist Goddesses of India'', p. 313. Princeton University Press.</ref> One form of Tara is even called Durgottāriṇī-tārā who specializes in saving devotees from evil and rides a lion mount, the traditional mount of Durga.<ref name=":1" /> Durgottāriṇī appears in the ''Sādhanamālā'' (237.10; 237.21; 238.4).<ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2019-12-10 |title=Durgottarini, Durgottāriṇī: 2 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/durgottarini |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>

In [[Buddhism in Nepal|Nepalese Buddhism]], the Buddhist tantric goddess [[Vajrayogini]] is "often worshiped interchangeably with Durga" during Durga festivals.<ref>Amazzone, Laura (2010). ''Goddess Durga and Sacred Female Power'', p. 156. University Press of America.</ref> [[Newar Buddhism|Newar Buddhists]] also worship Durgottāriṇī-tārā during some of their [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]] rituals.<ref>Kim, Jinah (2013). ''Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia'', pp. 158-162. University of California Press.</ref> 

In [[Buddhism in Japan|Japanese Buddhism]], the deity [[Cundi (Buddhism)|Cundī]], also known as Butsu-mo (仏母, sometimes called ''Koti-sri''), shares many features with Durga, and some scholars have the two deities as related.<ref>{{cite book|author=Louis-Frédéric|title=Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35NQAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Flammarion|isbn=978-2-08-013558-2|page=174|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217121443/https://books.google.com/books?id=35NQAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":5">Puspa Niyogi (1977). ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756386 Cundā - a Popular Buddhist Goddess.] East and West, 27(1-4), 299–308.''         doi:10.2307/29756386</ref> However, as Gimello notes, they are not the same deity, though they are often confused.<ref name=":7">Gimello, Robert (2004). ″Icon and Incantation: The Goddess Zhunti and the Role of Images in the Occult Buddhism of China." In ''Images in Asian Religions: Texts and Contexts'' ed. Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara: pp. 71-85.</ref>

Likewise, in [[Tibetan Buddhism]], the goddess [[Palden Lhamo]] also has similar features to the protective and fierce Durga.<ref name="shaw240">{{cite book|author=Miranda Eberle Shaw|title=Buddhist Goddesses of India|url=https://archive.org/details/buddhistgoddesse00shaw |url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12758-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/buddhistgoddesse00shaw/page/240 240]–241}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Bernard Faure|title=The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HidpRwrmx4AC|year=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400825615|page=127|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=7 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207063604/https://books.google.com/books?id=HidpRwrmx4AC|url-status=live}}</ref>

===In Jainism===
The ''Sacciya mata'' found in major medieval era Jain temples mirrors Durga, and she has been identified by Jainism scholars to be the same or sharing a more ancient common lineage.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lawrence A. Babb|title=Ascetics and kings in a Jain ritual culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5MRAQAAIAAJ|year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1538-4|pages=146–147, 157|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217121444/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5MRAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[Ellora Caves]], the Jain temples feature Durga with her lion mount. However, she is not shown as killing the buffalo demon in the Jain cave, but she is presented as a peaceful deity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lisa Owen|title=Carving Devotion in the Jain Caves at Ellora|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUszAQAAQBAJ|year=2012|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-20630-4|pages=111–112|access-date=15 February 2017|archive-date=17 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217123151/https://books.google.com/books?id=MUszAQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

===In Sikhism===
{{see also|Chandi di Var}}
Durga is exalted as the divine in ''[[Dasam Granth]]'', a sacred text of Sikhism that is traditionally attributed to [[Guru Gobind Singh]].<ref name=nesbitt109>{{cite book|author=Eleanor Nesbitt|title=Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD8SDAAAQBAJ&q=durga|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-106277-3|pages=108–109|access-date=11 October 2020|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126192114/https://books.google.com/books?id=zD8SDAAAQBAJ&q=durga|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Eleanor Nesbitt, this view has been challenged by Sikhs who consider Sikhism to be monotheistic, who hold that a feminine form of the Supreme and a reverence for the Goddess is "unmistakably of Hindu character".<ref name=nesbitt109/>