Durga's Tale with a Twist

I was probably 4-5 years old when my father first narrated the story of the battle between Durga and Mahishasura. My father is a gifted and dramatic storyteller. He had to repeat this story every year and sometimes everyday during Navratri. He confesses to have fudged up the sequence to make it more interesting for me. The story I heard as a five year old, is the story I believe in till date. 

A demon named Mahishasura was causing havoc on Earth. Humans lived in constant terror of his atrocities. Each day they prayed for someone to come and save them from his destructive streak.

Unlike these days, Gods used respond to such calls of help. So they heard and saw all the trouble on Earth and decided that something had to be done soon. The big three of Indian mythology; Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh met and sanctioned immediate action. Neither of them could handle this on their own so they called Mahesh or Shiva's consort Parvati to create a version of herself to fight this mighty demon.

So Durga was created. She had in her the power of all the Gods. Ten hands with ten weapons is how she's depicted in most images. But she had two hands with the power of ten and the ability to yield every weapon (it's my version). All set for combat, she calls for her lion and sets out to fight this monster.

She lands at Mahishasur's home and asks for him. His servant answers the door and asks her to wait. He tells his master demon that a beautiful woman, astride a lion is here to see him. "She wants you to stop these atrocities."

The demon laughs and says, "Oh really? Ask her what will she do if I don't?"

The servant runs back to Durga with this question. She says, "Then I will fight him and kill him." When Mahisasur hears this, he laughs even louder. He says, "Let's fight then."

He is so sure about winning that he does not even take his armour. He walks out in his chaddis (again, my version) to fight the all mighty Durga. Thus begins a single combat between Durga and Mahishasur. 

The demon is in for a shock when every move of his is returned by her and each time it's a deathly blow. He has lost his weapons and has no armour. To save his life he hides inside a buffalo.

Eager to finish this task Durga starts looking for the demon who is now disguised as a buffalo. That's when her lion catches the buffalo by its neck and rips open its stomach. Mahishasura makes a last attempt to attack Durga, but she finishes him by thrusting her spear into his heart.

People were happy and celebrated their liberation at the hand of this powerful goddess for nine days. Mahishasura must have been a good demon for his death is being celebrated till today. People dance, sing, shop, eat and a close to bankrupt State spends crores to celebrate this nine-day war.  

There are different interpretations of this celebration. For some Navratri is a celebration of Durga's homecoming after she defeats Mahishasur. There are others who celebrate to remind themselves that good always wins over evil. Some celebrate all of it and some don't really need a reason to celebrate anything. None of these are reasons for my celebration.

The tale I heard as a child was slightly twisted, unintentionally. The moral I derived from it wasn't the usual either. I knew Mahishasur was in for trouble when he laughed at the peace proposal offered by a beautiful woman. He made it worse by going out to fight her unarmed. She was dead serious, as he found out later.

That man lost his head for thinking he could get away easily with a woman. He assumed that being a man and a demon made him superior. That's the defeat I celebrate.

After all these years, there a humans who still swear by Mahishsura's assumption. They celebrate his death without realising that their beliefs are not too different from the demon's.  For even while worshipping the great diety, Durga, they continue with their demeaning ways with women.

Experts in mythological story telling will find a zillion mistakes with my story. I've heard the so called accurate version too, but I stand by my version of the story. 

This is the version I'll pass on to my children. I suggest you do the same. Tell your children how a man's assumption of superiority to a woman cost him his head.

Happy Navratri!