The Mother Goddess Durga’s most iconic legend – of vanquishing the demon Mahishasura – is visually presented in this ‘panchaloha’ bronze sculpture. The shape-shifting great-grandson of Brahmarishi Kashyapa, after severe austerities and penance, was granted by Brahma the boon that Mahishasura could only be killed by a woman. The demon’s wrathful and fearless wake of destruction troubled the gods, who channelled their divine energies into the Trimurti of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu in order to create a warrior goddess that would conquer the demon’s powers.
Durga’s conception was accompanied by the gods providing her with a copy of their weapons, along with the lord of Himalayas, Himavan, providing a lion as Durga’s fearless mount or ‘vahana.’ While we do not have the sculptural visualisation of the ‘vahana’ here, we see a variety of weapons from different traditions, acknowledging the syncretic fate Durga (and the larger Shakta tradition) has had in Hindu mythology. As detailed in the iconographic conventions of texts Devi Mahatmya and Devi-Bhagavata Purana, this eight-armed form of the goddess carries the attributes of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma: the ‘sudarshana chakra’ or war discus, the ‘shankh’ or conch, a bow and an arrow, a dagger, a cup, and an iconic ‘trishula’ or trident, held against the neck of Mahishasura. The demon spawned several avatars, which Durga easily annihilated, and is said to have been overcome while he was in the process of shapeshifting into a buffalo – hence we see a zoo-anthropomorphic form of the demon at the feet of the goddess. This act exemplified her existence as Mahishasuramardini.
Durga’s universal nature of being the goddess of preservation, power, energy, strength, and protection has meant that she has amassed a large following; a following that is not confined to Hinduism. Nepal (celebrating the Dashain festival for the goddess), Bangladesh (celebrating the Sharadiya Durga Puja), and Sri Lanka (celebrating Durga as Vaishnavi) compliment Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh celebrations revering the goddess – as do Hindus in Java, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Such a unified belief makes this high-standing fearsome yet blissful image of the goddess not simply an artistic masterpiece, but also a testament to the mythic and religious camaraderie the Asian continent has experienced for centuries.
A fantastic iteration of Durga vanquishing the demon Mahishasura in a Kalamkari painting can be accessed here.
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