Durga

“ According to certain interpretations of the Puranas and Tantras, Durga has been made to assume a different character, that is Force, Prakrti, Sakti. But when it is remembered that man's idea of the godhead in the infancy of the world was derived from the manifestations of the sun, moon and stars, the identification of Durga with Dawn, it is to be hoped, will not appear altogether extravagant. Indeed, this theory finds a remarkable confirmation in the Invokation to the Goddess sung by Kalidasa in his Sakuntala or the Lost Ring quoted in the title-page. ”

“ Durga has a face of silver, is draped in gorgeous apparel, and has a necklace composed of massive gold coins. In front of her is a silver bath, before which a lamp burns continually. Outside, on the northern side of the temple, is a large tank.
As the name implies, this temple is devoted to the worship of monkeys, as well as to the reverence of Durga. Monkeys in incalculable numbers crowd round the temple and the tank, in which it is most amusing to see them bathing. Indeed, long before the precincts of the temple are reached, monkeys are met with on the road-side. ”

“ Thus, at the festival of the Durga Pûja, the officiating Brahman touches the cheeks, eyes, breast, and forehead of each of the images that have been prepared, and says, "Let the soul of Durga long continue in happiness in this image." Till life is thus given to them, they may not be worshipped. ”

“ Deep in the glen, sloping down to the stream, amid picturesque and romantic surroundings, stood the old temple of Kalee Durga; and running along, like a huge, jagged shadow, dark even in the brightest sunlight, rose the roofs of the monastic dwellings of the Brahmin ascetics, from which the place is named.
I alighted, and told my syce to wait outside for me; but he, being a pious Hindoo, bestrode the pony and rode off, to return in a quarter of an hour with oil and fresh flowers and sweetmeats enough to propitiate a great many dark goddesses. ”

“ On the way Yudhisthira, ever anxious for divine help, invoked the goddess Durga in terms which reveal at once the attributes of the goddess and the Hindu poet’s idea of the most suitable expressions to be employed in addressing a female divinity. “Salutations to thee, O giver of boons.... Salutations to thee, O thou of four hands and four faces, O thou of fair round hips and deep bosom, O thou that wearest bangles made of emeralds and sapphires, O thou that bearest excellent braces on thy upper arm.... Thou art the only female in the universe that possessest the attribute of purity. ”

“ I have my desire to be fascinated, and fascination must be supplied to me in bodily shape by my country. She must have some visible symbol casting its spell upon my mind. I would make my country a Person, and call her Mother, Goddess, Durga—for whom I would redden the earth with sacrificial offerings. ”

“ The sum of it is, that a certain giant having by religious austerities obtained a boundless store of merit, conquered the three worlds, dethroned all the gods save the supreme triad, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and their consorts, drove them from heaven, and made them fall down and worship him. The wretched immortals found favour in the eyes of the goddess Durga, and she went forth to slay their oppressor, who met her with an army of thirty thousand giants of enormous size, ten millions of horses, a hundred millions of chariots, and one hundred and twenty thousand millions of elephants! ”

“ He touched no food, took no rest, and shutting himself up in his room, fell prostrate on the ground, calling thus upon his tutelary goddess, "O Mother Juggodamba (a name of Durga) , save me from death, or at best imprisonment. Is it thy intention that I shall be ruined? Juggodamba, put me into the way of finding out the princess's lost necklace." ”

“ Durga, as worshipped, is represented as a female with ten arms and hands, in which she grasps various warlike weapons. She is in the act of thrusting a spear into the breast of a giant, while a serpent, held in one of her hands, is striking its fangs into the prostrate wretch, who is also being torn by a lion at the goddess' feet. On her right hand stand two of her children, the god Ganesha and the goddess Lachmy ”

“ Durga stands with one foot on a lion whose Sanskrit name is Hari, the god of day, the sun, and the other on the demon Darkness, for Dawn may be said to stand on both. The left foot of Durga, with which she crushes the demon, is raised a little in the attitude of employing force, for Dawn virtually makes the demon Darkness bear her weight. ”

“ My question about Durga set the heads wagging. It was close upon Durga Pooja time, and every Hindu would be provisioning his kitchen against guests, and adding to the house of Gods that image which presently he would carry down to the waters of forgetfulness. The question was popular.
“There are many versions of the story,” said my friend. “You will have heard what the women say; the true tale is this. Not all the Gods could prevail against the powers of evil, so they united their several wills and energies, and the union of strength produced [Pg 50] Durga. ”

“ The Kalika Purana says, whoever in the great festival of Durga does not worship the Devi whether from ignorance, vanity, or jealousy, or from any other cause, the wrath of the Goddess falls on him and destroys all his wishes. ”

“ As the Destroyer he is associated with Durga, who has great beauty and is also a war goddess. As Kali she is the black earth-mother, and as Jagadgauri, the yellow woman, the harvest bride. Armed with Celestial weapons, Durga is a renowned slayer of demons. In her Kali form she is of hideous aspect. Sculptors and painters have depicted her standing on the prostrate form of Shiva and grinning with outstretched [Pg 150] tongue. Her body is smeared with blood because she has waged a ferocious and successful war against the giants. Like Shiva, she has a flaming third eye on her forehead. ”

“ When he had gone, and the sound of Parbutti's shrill welcoming rose over the high partition wall, Durga crouched down beside the fireplace, and blew softly at the smouldering embers under the pot of lentils. It was woman's work to fan a flame if--if it were not fierce enough to do its duty to the hearth. Easy work also: a woman could do it with no more exertion than would make the bosom rise and fall a trifle quicker, or send a tremble through the arm supporting the bowed shoulder. ”

“ Dawn knows no destinction of rank of wealth in her visitations. As the poet says the moon does not withhold his [7] light from the house of even a Chandala, so Dawn, Durga, according to the Puranas may be worshipped by men of all castes, aye even by the mlechchhas or the infidels. In her capacity of a bringer of wealth Dawn is worshipped in the form of Durga, and is prayed to bless men with plenty. Dawn never grows old, nor does Durga, she is said to be full with the freshness of youth. ”

“ Some have a round chal, which is in Bengali called Bangala, others have three separate semi-circular, triangular, spherically-triangular pieces, with truncated conical top.
The figures are, in the central group, a representation of Durga, the ten-armed goddess, standing with the right foot upon the back of a lion, which is again described in the attitude of a combatant attacking an Asura, (the buffalo-demon) on whom rests her left foot. The goddess has many-braided locks of hair, the crescent moon on her forehead ”

“ Years had passed away. It was once more autumn, and we had made arrangements for our Mini's marriage. It was to take place during the Puja holidays. With Durga returning to Kailash, the light of our home also was to depart to her husband's house, and leave her father's in the shadow.
The morning was bright. After the rains, there was a sense of ablution in the air, and the sun-rays looked like pure gold. So much so that they gave a beautiful radiance even to the sordid brick walls of our Calcutta lanes. ”

“ Durga.breast-band of serpents and a red petticoat. According to the Silparatna, Mūla-Durgā holds in her lower hands the bow and the arrow. From Mahābalipuram comes the figure of a Durgā (fig. 124) who stands on the buffalo's head. She has eight arms, in the uppermost of which are found the discus and the conch. The other weapons held are the sword and the bell on the right side and the bow and shield on the left. The lowest of the right hands holds evidently a sriphala or the bēl-fruit and the corresponding left has a parrot perching on it and rests freely on the waist of the goddess. ”

“ Dawn fills the air with light, and the Puranas have expressed the same idea almost in similar words. The glory of Mahamaya filled the ten quarters of the globe. The Vaidic idea of Dawn spreading the sky has been metamorphosed in the Puranas and the Tantras into the wide and terrific-mouthed goddess, for Durga is prayed as the terrific-faced and three-eyed. Forsooth, the only distinctive peculiarity of the Dawn and the Evening is the existence of a single star in the heavens. A greater number of stars than one makes the moment night, and the absence of any star, day. ”

“ Buchanan Hamilton also states that, before the Durga Puja, the Hindus of Calcutta purchase one of these birds, and, at the time when they throw the image of Durga into the river, set it at liberty. It is considered propitious to see it on this day, and those who cannot afford to buy one discharge their matchlocks to put it on the wing. ”

“ The chief festival in Bengal—sometimes termed the Christmas of Bengal—celebrates the goddess’s birth in the sixth Hindu month (parts of September and October) . Durga is pictured, in spite of her fierce nature, with a gentle face. She has ten arms, holding each a weapon, while her attendant lions and giants are grouped on each side. ”

“ For of course the Gods had their part in Durga’s victory. The Hindu remembers only that conquest, salvation may be bought for him by another. Suppose now the Hindu Mother to teach her son recognition of his part in that parable—that it is he who must cultivate the will and energy wherewith to gift the woman for conquest, possess himself of something worth giving—what a nation we should have! ”

“ The finest sculptured Durga without her necklace of human skulls, the protruding red tongue, the four arms with outstretched fingers balancing severed human heads, &c., would no longer convey to the mind of an Indian worshipper the idea of the goddess of valour and wisdom. ”

“ If you mix boiled rice with the blood of a courageous and liberal king, or with the blood from the throat of a revered yogi endowed with all virtuous qualities, and offer it to Durga, whose temple is very near the tank, I dare to say that the water will never dry, and that the tank will be as full as the ocean. ”

“ Dawn having vanquished the demon Darkness establishes the reign of Light. Durga is therefore designated Vijaya, Victoria, or the bestower of victories. It is remarkable that the constellation of Berenice is on the north of Virgo. The dark fortnight of a lunar month is the period, when darkness predominates and is therefore considered unfit for certain ceremonies. In the bright fortnight also for seven or eight days there is a contest as it were between Darkness and Lights, and it is only on the dasami tithi, the tenth lunation, that the dominion of light is thoroughly established. ”

“ Yet as she sat, thinking not at all, something must have been juggling with her brain, for Parbutti's first words, when an hour or so afterwards she came bustling back into the outer court, found their reply ready on Durga's lips.
"He is not well," she fussed. "Durga! thou art more learned in simples than most. What shall I give to stay the burning in his throat and keep the sickness from him? God send it be not the great sickness; but 'tis in the city they say." The widow stood up mechanically, and her right hand sought once more the crevices of the wall against which she was leaning. ”

“ It has no shrines invested with a sanctity made venerable and great by the traditions of ages; and those temples which have been erected are, for the most part, small and mean. Yet it is a city wholly given to idolatry. The forms of idolatrous worship most common here are those paid to the river Ganges and to the goddesses Durga and Kali. The Ganges, which is itself the goddess Gunga, may be regarded as one continuous temple for heathenish devotions, stretching in an unbroken line from the snowcapped Himalaya, fifteen hundred miles, to the jungly shores of Gunga-Sagor. ”

“ Now the noble Salhana wishes to converse with me, so for the present farewell, and may Durga’s mighty consort bless you.” And murmuring in a low tone his “Om, Om!” the priest of Durga and Salhana left him in the garden, his uncle crying to him, “We shall meet again soon.”
The last communication of the Yogi was well calculated to excite Siddha’s astonishment. How could the man know what had happened to him yonder in the mountains, where, excepting his own companion, he had seen no human being? ”

“ The wishes of mankind being innumerable, it is not surprising that Kameshwar has a legion of worshippers, and I should say his hands are full if he grants one-thousandth-part of the prayers addressed to him.
But, of all the temples, commend me to Durga-Kund, or monkey temple. It is dedicated to the bloody goddess Durga, and stands in the centre of a quadrangle surrounded by high walls. In front of the temple stands a building in which hangs a drum, which calls the devout to worship, and on either side of this building is a small temple. ”

“ As Durga is the most terrific of all of Siva's wives, and delights in death, torture, bloodshed and every form of destruction, the Hindus are very much afraid of her and the peace offerings left at this temple are more liberal than at the others, a fact very much appreciated by the priests. ”