Durga is the warrior goddess of Hinduism, who rides a lion or tiger and defeats the buffalo demon Mahishasura. Her name is usually explained as "hard to approach" or "invincible", and Hindus see in her the power that protects the world against evil. In Nepal she is at the heart of Dashain, the country's longest and most important festival.
How she is shown
- Many arms, usually eight or ten and sometimes up to eighteen, each holding a weapon given to her by the gods: among them a trident, a discus, a thunderbolt, a sword, a bow and arrows, a conch and a lotus.
- A lion or a tiger, her mount, often shown roaring or springing forward.
- A calm face, even in the middle of battle. Her fight is understood as protection, not anger.
- The silks, crown and jewels of a queen, often in red.
- Mahishasura, in the battle scene known as Mahishasuramardini, "slayer of the buffalo demon": the demon emerges from the body of a slain buffalo as she strikes him with her trident.
The story
Her best-known story is told in the Devi Mahatmya ("Glory of the Goddess"), a Sanskrit text of around 400 to 600 CE. The buffalo demon Mahishasura had won a boon that no male opponent could kill him, and he drove the gods out of heaven. The gods, led by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, joined their powers, and from their combined energy the goddess arose. Each gave her a weapon: Shiva his trident, Vishnu his discus, Indra his thunderbolt. Riding her lion, she fought Mahishasura as he changed from one shape to another, and finally killed him as he emerged from the body of the buffalo.
Durga in Nepal
Dashain lasts fifteen days in September or October and celebrates her victory. On the first day, barley is sown in a sacred vessel that represents the goddess; on the tenth, Vijaya Dashami, elders give younger relatives a tika of rice, yogurt and vermilion, together with the young barley shoots (jamara). In the Kathmandu Valley, the royal goddess Taleju, regarded as a tantric form of Durga, has her temple in Kathmandu's Durbar Square, which opens to the public only on the ninth day of Dashain. Newar painters of the valley have also long painted Hindu deities alongside Buddhist ones in their scroll paintings (paubha).
In a painting
A many-armed goddess on a lion or tiger, often with a buffalo demon at her feet, is Durga. Look for arms that fan out evenly behind her without crowding, each hand clearly holding its weapon; a serene face; and a mount with real energy in its stripes or mane, its claws and its stride. Some of our paintings show her alone, with eight arms, riding a striped tiger on a lotus and holding a sword, a trident and a lotus among her emblems. Beside Kali the difference is clear: Durga is usually fair or golden and composed, while Kali is dark and wild.
