Durga

== History and texts ==
Evidence of Durga-like images can probably be traced back to the [[Indus Valley civilization|Indus Valley civilisation]]. According to [[Asko Parpola]], a cylindrical seal from [[Kalibangan]] shows "a Durgā-like goddess of war, who is associated with the tiger".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hiltebeitel |first=Alf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgbKqxx1j1EC&pg=PA386 |title=The Cult of Draupadi, Volume 2: On Hindu Ritual and the Goddess |year=1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-34048-7 |page=386 |language=en |access-date=1 October 2020 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723055226/https://books.google.com/books?id=wgbKqxx1j1EC&pg=PA386 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Thapar |first=Valmik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Dvx6EoLwa4C&pg=PA15 |title=Land of the Tiger: A Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent |year=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21470-5 |page=15 |language=en |access-date=1 October 2020 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723055227/https://books.google.com/books?id=9Dvx6EoLwa4C&pg=PA15 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Reverence for [[Devi]], the feminine nature of God, first appears in the [[Mandala 10|10th Maṇḍala]] of ''[[Rig Veda]]'', one of the scriptures of Hinduism. This hymn is also called the Devi Suktam hymn (abridged):{{Sfn|June McDaniel|2004|p=90}}{{Sfn|Cheever Mackenzie Brown|1998|p=26}}
<blockquote style="background-color:none;margin-right:5em;margin-left:0em;border-left:solid 6px #FFE0BB;padding:1.0em">
<poem>
I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.
     Thus gods have established me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in.
Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them, – each man who sees, breathes, hears the word outspoken.
     They know it not, yet I reside in the essence of the Universe. Hear, one and all, the truth as I declare it.
I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that gods and men alike shall welcome.
     I make the man I love exceedingly mighty, make him nourished, a sage, and one who knows Brahman.
I bend the bow for Rudra, that his arrow may strike, and slay the hater of devotion.
     I rouse and order battle for the people, I created Earth and Heaven and reside as their Inner Controller.
On the world's summit I bring forth sky the Father: my home is in the waters, in the ocean as Mother.
     Thence I pervade all existing creatures, as their Inner Supreme Self, and manifest them with my body.
I created all worlds at my will, without any higher being, and permeate and dwell within them.
     The eternal and infinite consciousness is I, it is my greatness dwelling in everything.
</poem>
– Devi Sukta, ''[[Rigveda]] 10.125.3 – 10.125.8'',{{Sfn|June McDaniel|2004|p=90}}{{Sfn|Cheever Mackenzie Brown|1998|p=26}}<ref name="Hymn 125">[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_10/Hymn_125 The Rig Veda/Mandala 10/Hymn 125] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011200839/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Rig_Veda/Mandala_10/Hymn_125 |date=11 October 2016 }} Ralph T.H. Griffith (Translator); for Sanskrit original see: [https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१२५ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १०.१२५] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011200515/https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6:_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82_%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A6.%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A8%E0%A5%AB |date=11 October 2016 }}</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Durga slaying buffalo composite, 2nd-century to 13th-century Devi Mahatmya.png|thumb|right|Artwork depicting the "Goddess Durga Slaying the Buffalo demon Mahishasura" scene of ''Devi Mahatmya'', is found all over India, Nepal and southeast Asia. Clockwise from top: 9th-century [[Kashmir]], 13th-century [[Karnataka]], 9th century [[Prambanan]] Indonesia, 2nd-century [[Uttar Pradesh]].]]
Devi's epithets synonymous with Durga appear in [[Upanishad]]ic literature, such as ''Kali'' in verse 1.2.4 of the ''[[Mundaka Upanishad]]'' dated to about the 5th century BCE.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=162–163}} This single mention describes ''Kali'' as "terrible yet swift as thought", very red and smoky coloured manifestation of the divine with a fire-like flickering tongue, before the text begins presenting its thesis that one must seek self-knowledge and the knowledge of the eternal [[Brahman]].<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n389/mode/2up Mundaka Upanishad], Robert Hume, ''The Thirteen Principal Upanishads'', Oxford University Press, pp.&nbsp;368–377 with verse 1.2.4</ref>

Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Epics period of ancient India, that is the centuries around the start of the common era.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|p=162}} Both [[Yudhisthira]] and [[Arjuna]] characters of the ''Mahabharata'' invoke hymns to ''Durga''.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=162–163}} She appears in ''Harivamsa'' in the form of Vishnu's eulogy, and in Pradyumna prayer.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|p=162}} Various [[Purana]]s from the early to late 1st millennium CE dedicate chapters of inconsistent mythologies associated with ''Durga''.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=162–163}} Of these, the ''[[Markandeya Purana]]'' and the ''[[Devi-Bhagavata Purana]]'' are the most significant texts on ''Durga''.{{sfn|Ludo Rocher|1986|pp=168–172, 191–193}}{{Sfn|C Mackenzie Brown|1990|pp=44–45, 129, 247–248 with notes 57–60}} The [[Devi Upanishad]] and other [[Shakta Upanishads]], mostly dated to have been composed in or after the 9th century, present the philosophical and mystical speculations related to ''Durga'' as ''Devi'' and other epithets, identifying her to be the same as the [[Brahman]] and [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (self, soul).{{Sfn|Douglas Renfrew Brooks|1992|pp=76–80}}{{Sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp=89–91}}

In the ''[[Narada Purana]]'', Durga is associated as a form of [[Lakshmi]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Lakshmi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpkRAQAAIAAJ|author1=Chitralekha Singh|author2=Prem Nath|publisher=Crest Publishing House|year=2001|page=20|isbn=9788124201732|access-date=16 November 2021|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816064538/https://books.google.com/books?id=xpkRAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In the ''[[Garuda Purana]]'' and the ''[[Vishnu Purana]]'', Lakshmi is considered Prakriti (Mahalakshmi) and is identified with three forms — Sri, Bhu and Durga.<ref>{{cite book|title=Seeking Mahadevi: Constructing the Identities of the Hindu Great Goddess|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-c_j8Xggl0gC|author=Tracy Pintchman|publisher=SUNY Press|page=82|date=21 June 2001|isbn=9780791450079|access-date=16 November 2021|archive-date=16 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816064628/https://books.google.com/books?id=-c_j8Xggl0gC|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Pancharatra]] texts such as the ''[[Lakshmi Tantra]]'', Lakshmi has Durga as one of her forms and acquires the name Durga after killing the demon Durgamasura.<ref>{{cite book|title=Laksmi Tantra|url=https://archive.org/details/LakshmiTantraAPancharatraTextSanjuktaGupta|first=Sanjukta|last=Gupta|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|year=2000|isbn=978-8120817357}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Philosophy of Pancaratras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1o3XAAAAMAAJ|page=94|author=S. Rangachar|publisher=Sridevi Prakashana|year=1991|access-date=10 January 2022|archive-date=1 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001134343/https://books.google.com/books?id=1o3XAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Goddess Laksmi: Origin and Development|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSQKAQAAIAAJ|page=195|author=Upendra Nath Dhal|publisher=Oriental Publishers & Distributors|year=1978|quote=Like the Devi Māhātmya , the Lakşmi Tantra describes the individual incarnations of Lakşmi thus : During the reign of Svāyambhuva (Manu) for the destruction of the demon Mahisa, Mahālakṣmi appeared Mahişāmardini.|access-date=18 January 2022|archive-date=30 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930074922/https://books.google.com/books?id=pSQKAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> These texts identify Durga as Vishnu's [[Maya (religion)|māyā]]".{{Sfn|David Kinsley|1998|p=104}}

The ''[[Mahishasura Mardini Stotra]]'' by [[Adi Shankara]] was written in her praise.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marlow |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFvTDwAAQBAJ&dq=mahishasura+mardini+stotra+adi+shankara&pg=PA168 |title=Navaratri: Prayers, Praises and Hymns |date=2019-10-29 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-0-244-22986-3 |pages=168 |language=en}}</ref>

===Origins===
The historian Ramaprasad Chanda stated in 1916 that Durga evolved over time in the Indian subcontinent. A primitive form of Durga, according to Chanda, was the result of "[[syncretism]] of a mountain-goddess worshipped by the dwellers of the [[Himalaya]] and the [[Vindhya]]s", a deity of the [[Abhiras]] conceptualised as a war-goddess. In the [[Virata Parva|Virata Parvan stuti]] and [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnava]] texts, the Goddess is called the Māhāmāyā, or the Yoganidrā of [[Vishnu]]. These further points her Abhira or [[Gopa (caste)|Gopa]] origins.<ref>{{cite book |first=Indira S. |last=Aiyar |title=Durga As Mahisasuramardini |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4bXAAAAMAAJ&q=parvan+stuti |publisher=Gyan Publishing House, 1997 |isbn=9788121205108 |page=217 |access-date=2 January 2022 |archive-date=1 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001134415/https://books.google.com/books?id=L4bXAAAAMAAJ&q=parvan+stuti |url-status=live }}</ref> Durga then transformed into [[Kali]] as the personification of the all-destroying time, while aspects of her emerged as the primordial energy ([[Adya Sakti]]) integrated into the [[samsara]] (cycle of rebirths) concept and this idea was built on the foundation of the Vedic religion, mythology and philosophy.{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|p=214}} There are total of nine avatars of Goddess Durga in Hinduism.

Epigraphical evidence indicates that regardless of her origins, Durga is an ancient goddess. The 6th-century CE inscriptions in early Siddhamatrika script, such as at the Nagarjuni hill cave during the [[Maukhari]] era, already mention the legend of her victory over Mahishasura (buffalo-hybrid demon).<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509984-3|pages=200–201|access-date=16 April 2017|archive-date=17 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417162346/https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Durga'' as a demon-slaying goddess was likely well established by the time the classic Hindu text called ''[[Devi Mahatmya]]'' was composed, which scholars variously estimate to between 400 and 600&nbsp;CE.{{Sfn|Cheever Mackenzie Brown|1998|p=77 note 28}}{{Sfn|Thomas B. Coburn|1991|pp=13}}{{Sfn|Thomas B. Coburn|2002|pp=1–7}} The ''Devi Mahatmya'' and other mythologies describe the nature of demonic forces symbolised by Mahishasura as shape-shifting and adapting in nature, form and strategy to create difficulties and achieve their evil ends, while Durga calmly understands and counters the evil in order to achieve her solemn goals.{{sfn|Alain Daniélou|1991|p=288}}{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp=215–219}}{{refn|group=note|In the Shakta tradition of Hinduism, many of the stories about obstacles and battles have been considered metaphors for the divine and demonic within each human being, with liberation being the state of self-understanding whereby a virtuous nature and society emerging victorious over the vicious.{{sfn|June McDaniel|2004|pp=20–21, 217–219}}}}