Hinduism: A Short History (40 page)

Kṛṣṇa himself exhorts Arjuna to invoke Durgā on the eve of the mighty battle “for defeat of the foe.”
³³
It is not without significance that immediately preceding the
Bhagavadgītā
we find a
Devī-stotra
in the
Mahābhārata
. Durgā is the Goddess of defeat and of victory; probably this Durgā-hymn had been the original introduction for the narration of the
Mahābhārata
war and not the lengthy philosophical discussion between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.
³⁴

The
Stotra
does not appear as an improvisation for the situation. It looks like an established, well-known hymn for such occasions. Durgā is hymned as “identical with Brahman,” “dwelling in the Mandara forest,” “free from decrepitude and decay,” “black and tawny,” ‘bringer of benefits to her devotees,” Mahākālī, “wife of the universal destroyer,” “rescuing from danger,” “fierce,” “giver of victory,” “bearing a banner of peacock plumes,” “bearing an awful spear,” “holding a sword and shield,” “born in the race of the cowherd Nanda,” “always fond of buffalo blood,” “dressed in yellow robes,” “slayer of the
asuras
assuming the face of a wolf,” “white in hue,” “black in hue,” “slayer of the
asura
Kaiṭabha,” “yellow-eyed,” “diverse-eyed,” “grey-eyed.” He implores her: “O great Goddess, let victory always be mine through your grace on the field of battle. In inaccessible regions where there is fear, in places of difficulty, in the abodes of your worshipers and in the nether regions you are at home. You always defeat the Dānavas. You are unconsciousness, sleep, illusion, modesty, beauty. You are twilight, day, Savitrl, mother. You are contentment, growth, light. It is you who supports the Sun and the Moon and who makes them shine.” The recitation of the hymn wins an apparition of Durgā, “who is always graciously inclined towards humankind,” and she promises victory to Arjuna.

There are promises attached to the
stotra:
“One who recites that hymn rising at dawn need not at any time fear Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, or Piśācas. He can have no enemies; he need not fear animals that have fangs and teeth, snakes as well as kings. He is sure to be victorious in all disputes and if bound he is freed from his bonds. He is sure to get over all difficulties, is freed from thieves, is ever victorious in battle and wins the goddess of prosperity for ever. With health and strength he lives for a hundred years.”

A very similar Durgā-storta as preparation for battle is recited by Yudhisthira.
³⁵
But while the first one seems to imply a connection of Durgā with Śiva, the second one suggests an association of Devī with Viṣṇu, though all the characteristic features are in both cases the same -granting that the second hymn is shorter.

Devī is addressed as “the Divine Durgā, the Supreme Goddess of the Universe, born of the womb of Yaśodā, the giver of prosperity, the terrifier of Kamsa, the destroyer of
asuras
, who ascended the skies when dashes on a stony platform, the sister of Vāsūdeva, armed with sword, and shield, always rescuing the worshipers sunk in sin, the eternal giver of blessings.”

The purpose of Yudhisthira’s prayer is to obtain a vision of Devī. It is in this hymn that the Virgin Goddess is particularly invoked: “You who are identical with Kṛṣṇa, O maid, you who has observed the vow of
Brahmacarya.”
Whereas in the other Devī appearances her frightfulness and ugliness are emphasized, here her beauty and comeliness stand foremost. She is described as having four arms and four faces; or as having ten arms, carrying a vessel, a lotus, a bell, a noose, a bow, a discus, and other weapons. She is “the only female in the universe that possesses the attribute of purity.” She has “sanctified the celestial regions by adopting the vow of perpetual virginity.” She is the slayer of the
Mahiṣa-asura
, the protectress of the three worlds, the foremost of all deities. She is battle-victory. Her eternal abode is on the Vindhyā – “that foremost of mountains.”

She is called Fame, Prosperity, Success, Steadiness, Wife, Offspring, Knowledge, Intellect, Twilight, Night, Sleep, Light, Beauty, Forgiveness, Mercy “and every other thing.” She saves her devotees from ignorance, loss of children, loss of wealth, disease, death, and fear. Those are the ever-recurring evils from which Devī saves. Devī appears to Yud-dhisthira, promises victory, happiness, long life, beauty, and offspring. The promises of Devī are universal: “For those who invoke me in exile or in the city, in the midst of battle or of dangers from foes, in forests or in inaccessible deserts, in seas of mountain fastnesses, there is nothing that they will not obtain in this world.”

Besides this Great Goddess the
Mahābhārata
mentions a great number of “mothers” in the company of Kārttikeya (Kumāra) – another war-god. After describing part of the frightful retinue of Kumāra we hear the names of the “illustrious mothers, the auspicious ones, by whom the mobile and immobile universe is pervaded.”
³⁶
It is more than probable that they represent a host of local goddesses, village deities with the same functions. Some of them also occur as names of the Great Goddess, and some seem to indicate a connection with certain localities. Most of them occur only in this place. Their appearance is manifold: “some of them partook of the nature of Yama, some of Rudra, some of Soma, some of Kubera, some of Varuna, some of Indra, and some of Agni, some of Vāyu, some of Kumāra, some of Brahman, some of Viṣṇu, some of Sūrya, some of Varaha. Of charming and delightful features, they were beautiful like the
asuras.”
They are inconceivably strong and powerful. “They have their abodes on trees and open spots and crossings of four roads. They live also in caves and crematoriums, mountains and springs. Adorned with diverse kinds of ornaments, they wear diverse kinds of attire and speak diverse languages. These and many other tribes of mothers all capable of inspiring foes with dread, followed Kārttikeya at the command of the chief of the celestials.”

The
Viṣṇu-parvan
of the
Harivaṃśa
³⁷
recounts with added details the myth, already alluded to in one of the Durgā-stotras of the
Mahābhārata
, in which Viṣṇu asks
nidrā-rūpinī
to become incarnate as the ninth child of Yaśodā at the same time as he would incarnate himself as the eighth child of Devakī. She would join him in heaven after being killed by Kamsa. Devī would be responsible for the destruction of the demons Śumbha and Niśumbha, and she would be worshiped with animal sacrifice. The
Harivaṃśa
contains also some brief Durgā-stotras
³⁸
but on the whole it does not allot much space to Devī.

The epics do give testimony to a variegated and well-established tradition of Devī worship and the character of Devī as a savior from distress is also present, although her character is predominantly that of a goddess of death and war. It is the
Purāṇas
that depict Devī-religion in all its aspects and develop its philosophy and worship.

All Devī Purāṇas are Upa-Purāṇas of comparatively late date: the major ones are
Devī Purāṇa
(seventh century C.E.),
Kālikā Purāṇa
(c.1100 C.E.),
Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa
(eleventh or twelfth century C.E.), and
Mahābhāgavata Purāṇa
(after twelfth century C.E.).
³⁹
There are references to numerous other
Devī Purāṇas
, which are, however, lost.
⁴⁰

Though none of the Mahā Purāṇas are Śākta Purāṇas, several of them contain important sections concerning Devī.
⁴¹
Some of these sections may be later interpolations, but they have become integral parts of those Purāṇas, and very often the most popular ones.
⁴²

The same basic pattern which we have seen in the Epics is repeated in the Purāṇas: Devī is associated with Śiva as Pārvatī-Śakti, and with Viṣṇu as Lakṣmī-Rādhā. But more and more the tendency grows to consider Devī as the Supreme Being, the Mother of the Great Gods, as prakṛti, and as all-pervading Śakti, who is responsible for bondage and for liberation. The innumerable names and titles given to Devī reveal a multitude of local goddesses who coalesced into the Great Goddess as conceived by the Śākta-theologians of later times. Some of these are personifications of abstract ideas or qualities ascribed to Devī. The
Purāṇas
also preserve the worship of the Mātṛkās, who are treated as different from the Great Goddess.

One of the favorite distinctions of the various forms of the Great Goddess is in “fierce” and “auspicious.” However, all the “fierce” goddesses are at times “auspicious” and act as saviors, and all the “auspicious” goddesses can become hostile and “fierce” and destroy those who act as their enemies. It will not be possible, therefore, to construct a consistent and comprehensive Devī mythology; we have to be content with describing some of the individual goddesses and make some tentative generalizations. Even the Śākta Purāṇas, which try to universalize Devī and to make her the One Supreme Goddess, whose various forms and manifestations are locally worshiped, betray their origin and local background: the
Devī Bhāgavata
with its Rādhā mysticism points to a southern form of Devī worship; the
Kālikā Purāṇa
, on the other hand, with its emphasis on
yoni
worship and human sacrifice, reflects the form of Devī worship in Kāmarūpa, where it was written.
⁴³

It is worth noting that the Devī religion of the Purāṇas consists more of hymns and rituals than of myths, an indication perhaps of the time in which it developed. As regards the myths, they are very often occupied with the origin of the Goddess, a motif completely absent from Vaiṣṇava and Śaiva mythology in which it is always presupposed that Viṣṇu or Śiva have existed from eternity. The entirely different myths concerning the origin of the Goddess again reflect various Devī traditions. Umā-Pārvatī is the daughter of King Himavat and Menā. Sātī is the daughter of Dakṣa. Laksmī owes her origin to the gods’ churning of the milk ocean. In another version she is the ninth child of Yaśodā.

The
Devīmahatmya
⁴⁴
refers to two different traditions regarding the origin of the Great Goddess: in the first Devī is explained as the Mahanidra of Viṣṇu embodied as the universe, eternal, incarnated in many forms. She is “drawing herself out from the eyes and the various organs and limbs” of Viṣṇu: when “Great Sleep” leaves Viṣṇu, he awakens. In this form she is the great creator: she creates the entire universe, she is the cause of bondage and transmigration, the cause of final liberation too. She is both fierce and auspicious: she gives to mankind boons for their final liberation.

The second account of Devī’s origin has a different ring and seems to be the older one. It not only mentions the Vedic gods but is somewhat reminiscent of the Indra-Vṛtra myth – the fight of the High God against the demon usurper, who has conquered the gods and assumed the place of Indra. Devī here is no longer the
prakṛti
of Viṣṇu but the essence of all the gods, “godhead” in a concrete sense. She surpasses all the individual gods in power and glory because in her all the qualities of the gods are embodied.

Various other Devīs originate from the existing Devī: thus Kauśikī comes out of the body of Pārvatī, Kālī issues from the forehead of Kauśikī, out of Cāmuṇḍā comes Caṇḍikā: all of them act then as individually different Devīs, as the Mātṛkās.

The most prominent myth connected with Devī is her killing of the buffalo demon. It is narrated in several
Purāṇas
⁴⁵
with significant differences, and even in village religion it seems to feature prominently.
⁴⁶
It may in fact constitute an ancient myth connected with an ancient ritual.

The
Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa
reports how for a hundred years
devas
and
asuras
fought against one another. The
devas
were defeated and Mahiṣa-asura became the lord of heaven. The gods approached Śiva and Viṣṇu for help. Out of the anger of Śiva, Viṣṇu, and the other gods, Devī was born, “a concentration of light like a mountain blazing excessively, pervading all the quarters with its flames.”
⁴⁷
She received the combination of the essence of all the weapons the gods possess. Several other objects are mentioned that have their importance in Devī worship: bell, noose, string of beads, waterpot, sword, shield, necklace, crest-jewel, ear-rings, axe, lotus, lion, drinking cup filled with wine, and so forth. Specially mentioned is her “loud roar with a defying laugh.” This roaring laughter of Devī terrified earth and sky. This roar is also the sign of the beginning of the battle between Devī and Mahiṣāsura. Both Devī and her lion are important for the battle; all the different weapons that she received help her to kill thousands of the demons that follow Mahiṣāsura. Before Mahiṣāsura falls, all the demon-generals, whose names are mentioned, are killed by Devī:

Mahiṣāsura terrified the troops of the Devī with his own buffalo-form: some he killed by a blow of his muzzle, some by stamping with his hooves, some by the lashes of his tail, and others by the pokes of his horns, some by his speed, some by his bellowing and wheeling movement, some by the blast of his breath. Having laid low her army Mahiṣāsura rushed to slay the lion of Mahadevī. This enraged Aṃbikā. Mahiṣāsura, great in valour, pounded the surface of the earth with his hooves in rage, tossed up high mountains with his horns, and bellowed terribly. Crushed by the force of his wheeling, the earth disintegrated, and lashed by his tail the sea overflowed all around. Pierced by his swaying horns the clouds went into fragments. Cast up by the blast of his breath, mountains fell down from the sky in hundreds.

This description of the evil incorporated in Mahiṣāsura provides the background for appreciating the great salvific deed of Devī, who saved the universe from this destruction.