Durgaਦੁਰਗਾ

Durga is the Hindu goddess as warrior: the concentrated power of all the gods, created for a battle none of them could win alone. Her name means the invincible, the one hard to reach, and her image is unmistakable, a serene-faced goddess with many arms holding the weapons of the gods, riding a lion into battle. For the Shakta tradition, which worships the goddess as supreme, Durga is not a consort or a helper but ultimate reality itself, the mother of the universe in her fighting form.

Who is Durga?

Durga is a form of the great goddess, the divine feminine power called Shakti, closely linked with Parvati, the wife of Shiva. Where Parvati is gentle, Durga is the goddess armed. Hindus turn to her as a mother who protects fiercely: she is worshipped as the power that stands between her children and every form of evil, from demons in the old stories to disease, injustice and fear in daily life.

The slaying of Mahishasura

Her most famous story is told in the Devi Mahatmya, the scripture at the heart of goddess worship. The buffalo demon Mahishasura had won a boon that no man or god could kill him, and he drove the gods from heaven. In their anger and desperation, the gods poured out their energies, which fused into a blazing goddess: Durga. Each god gave her his weapon: a trident, a discus, a conch, a bow. Riding her lion, she fought Mahishasura's armies for days as he changed shape, buffalo, lion, man, elephant, until at last she pinned the buffalo form and cut off the head of the demon emerging from its neck. The same text tells how Kali sprang from Durga's forehead in battle, and how the goddess destroyed the demon brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha.

The nine forms of Navratri

At Navratri, the festival of nine nights kept in spring and, most grandly, in autumn, devotees worship Durga in nine forms, one for each night: Shailaputri the daughter of the mountains, Brahmacharini the ascetic, Chandraghanta with the moon-bell on her forehead, Kushmanda the creator of the cosmic egg, Skandamata the mother of the war god, Katyayani the warrior born to a sage, Kalaratri the dark destroyer, Mahagauri the radiant one, and Siddhidatri the giver of powers. Each form carries a different gift, from courage to knowledge to peace.

Festivals and temples

Sharad Navratri in autumn is her great season. In Bengal it becomes Durga Puja: huge decorated pandals house clay images of the goddess slaying the demon, and on the final day, Vijayadashami, the images are carried in procession and immersed in rivers; Kolkata's Durga Puja was placed on UNESCO's heritage list in 2021. In Gujarat the nights belong to garba dancing, and in the north the same season closes with Dussehra. Her temples draw millions: the cave shrine of Vaishno Devi in the Trikuta hills, where the goddess is worshipped as three rock forms; Kamakhya in Assam, one of the greatest Shakti Peethas; and Hinglaj Mata in Balochistan, reached by a desert pilgrimage.

Durga in Punjab

The nine forms of Navratri

Across the nine nights of Navratri, devotees honour Durga in nine successive forms, the Navadurga. She is Shailaputri, daughter of the mountain; Brahmacharini, the ascetic who won Shiva by penance; Chandraghanta, with a crescent moon like a bell on her brow, riding a tiger; Kushmanda, who is said to have smiled the universe into being; Skandamata, mother of the war god Kartikeya; Katyayani, the warrior maiden born to the sage Katyayana; Kalaratri, her dark and fearsome night form; Mahagauri, radiant and forgiving; and Siddhidatri, giver of supernatural powers, worshipped on the ninth night. In Bengal the same festival narrows to the last five days, when the great public images of Durga with her four children are unveiled in thousands of pandals.

For Punjabi devotees the goddess's most visited shrines are close at hand in the Shivalik hills of Himachal Pradesh. Jwalamukhi, where natural flames burn from the rock without fuel and are worshipped as the goddess's nine forms, and Chintpurni, the mother who takes away worries, draw processions of pilgrims from every Punjab town, above all in Navratri, when buses run through the night and the hill roads are lined with langar stalls feeding all who pass.

Punjab honours Durga with unusual warmth. Amritsar's Durgiana Temple, built in the style of the Golden Temple in the middle of a sacred pool, is dedicated to her and draws devotees through the year. At Jalandhar, the Devi Talab Mandir stands by its ancient tank, and its Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan is among India's oldest classical music festivals. Punjabi families keep the Navratri fasts, sow barley shoots for the goddess, and on Ashtami and Navami feed young girls as living forms of the goddess, a custom called kanjak. Vaishno Devi, a few hours from Punjab's plains, is among the most loved pilgrimages of Punjabi Hindus.