Durga

===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}}}}