Durga Takes Form from the Radiance of the Gods

Only one recourse remains

“Maker of creation, preservation and destruction, ocean of mercy, protect those who have come to you for refuge.” Vishnu had them all sit. “Now tell me your welfare. Why have you come here together? Why are you all, Brahma and Shiva among you, so sorrowful and dejected? Tell me your purpose quickly.” The gods told him. “We are tormented by Mahishasura, a doer of sinful deeds, very wicked, drunk with pride from a boon and unconquerable. The sacrificial shares the Brahmins give to the gods, he takes himself, and all of us, afraid of him, wander in mountain caves. By Brahma’s boon he cannot be conquered; knowing this task to be heavy, we have come to your refuge. You know the maya of the danavas and you are their slayer; you alone can deliver the gods, so devise some means for his death. The Creator gave him this boon: ‘You will always be unkillable by any male.’ Then what woman could kill that rogue in battle? Could Bhagavati Parvati kill this very wicked Mahishasura, so proud because of his boon? Could Lakshmi, or Indrani, or Sarasvati? Think well, and accomplish our task by whatever means of his death you see.” Vishnu heard them and smiled. “We fought Mahishasura before, too, and he could not be killed. Now there is one way. If from the tejas of all the gods some excellent and beautiful woman is produced, she alone can kill him by her valor on the battlefield. Only a heroic woman made from the portions of all our shakti, skilled in making hundreds of kinds of maya, will be able to kill that Mahishasura, drunk with pride from his boon. So now, all of you, pray to your portions of tejas, and let our wives pray too, so that from those manifested portions one mass of radiance is produced. Then all of us chief gods, Rudra and the rest, will give her whatever divine weapons we have, the trident and the others, and that Devi, bearing every weapon and endowed with all our radiance, will kill that wicked, sinful, maddened danava.”

The Goddess emerges from the mass of radiance

Vishnu had hardly finished when a mass of radiance, past bearing, came out by itself from Brahma’s mouth. It was red and lovely in shape, shining like a padmaraga ruby, somewhat cool and hot at once, dressed in many rays, and Vishnu and Shiva, whose own valor has no bounds, looked at it and were amazed. Then from Shankara’s body came a radiance the color of silver, wondrous, fierce, past looking at, violent in the extreme, frightening to the daityas and astonishing to the gods; it was terrible in form and vast as a mountain, like a second tamoguna standing there in person. From Vishnu’s body appeared another mass of radiance, full of sattva, blue and very brilliant. From Indra’s body rose a radiance of strange shape, unbearable, perfectly round, holding every quality within it. From the bodies of Kubera, Yama, Agni and Varuna a great radiance came out on every side, and from the bodies of the other gods a brilliant radiance poured out as well, and all of it together was very bright. Vishnu and all the chief gods looked at that divine mass of radiance, like a second Himalaya, and were astonished. At that moment, before the eyes of them all, a woman appeared out of the mass, most excellent, beautiful, astonishing to everyone. Manifested from the bodies of all the gods, she was Mahalakshmi herself: made of the three gunas, eighteen-armed, charming, of three colors, deluding the universe. Her face was bright, her eyes dark, her lips very red, her palms a lovely copper, and divine ornaments were already upon her, and she shone. Then that eighteen-armed Bhagavati, risen from the radiance of the gods’ bodies, became adorned with thousands of arms, for the destruction of the asuras.

Janamejaya stopped him there. “Krishna Dvaipayana, all-knowing best of munis, describe to me in detail the origin of that Bhagavati’s body. Did the radiance from all those gods’ bodies merge, or did it stay separate? Were her limbs made from different gods’ radiance or from all of it together, her mouth and nose and eyes each from a separate god? Tell me which wondrous limb came from which god’s radiance, and which weapons and ornaments each god gave her. I drink the nectar of Mahalakshmi’s story from your mouth and I am never sated.” Suta told the munis how Vyasa, pleased by the king, answered him in sweet words. “Listen, and I will tell you in detail, as far as my understanding allows. Even Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesha and Indra can never tell the true form of the Bhagavati; how then can I know what her form is, how it is, and for what purpose it was made? My speech can say only this much: the Bhagavati appeared. That Devi is eternal in form and always present everywhere. Though she is one, for heavy tasks and for the gods’ work she takes many forms. As an actor in a play, though he is one man, goes on stage and takes many forms to entertain people, so the Bhagavati, formless and nirguna, takes many saguna forms by her play to do the gods’ work, and according to the deed to be done she gathers many secondary names, each joined to the quality it describes. So I tell you, as I understand it, how her lovely form arose from the gods’ mass of radiance.” From Shankara’s radiance was made her face, a lotus, fair in color, well shaped and large. From Yama’s radiance came her hair, soft, curling, very long, dark as a cloud and lovely. From Agni’s radiance came her three eyes, graced with three colors, black, red and white. Her eyebrows came from the radiance of the two sandhyas, the twilights of dawn and dusk, smooth and dark and very bright, like Kamadeva’s bow. Her two fine ears came from Vayu’s radiance, neither too big nor too small, like the swing of Kamadeva. Her nose, shaped like a sesame flower, lovely and smooth, arose from Kubera’s radiance; her teeth, pointed, smooth, shining, even, like the tips of kunda buds, from Prajapati’s. Her red lower lip arose from the radiance of Aruna, the dawn who drives the sun’s chariot, and her lovely upper lip from Kartikeya’s. Her eighteen arms came from Vishnu’s radiance and her red fingers from the Vasus’. Her two fine breasts arose from the Moon’s radiance, her waist with its three folds from Indra’s, her shanks and thighs from Varuna’s, and her broad hips from the Earth’s. So from that mass of radiance the Bhagavati appeared in the form of a woman, lovely in shape, divine in form, sweet of voice, and all the gods who had suffered under Mahishasura looked at her, her fine limbs and fine teeth and lovely eyes, and were very glad.

The Goddess arrayed in weapons and ornaments

At that moment Vishnu spoke to the gods again. “Now give this Devi all your auspicious ornaments and weapons. Produce brilliant arms from your own weapons and offer them to her quickly.” The gods were glad, and they began at once to give Mahalakshmi clothes and ornaments and weapons of their own. The Kshirasagara, the ocean of milk, gave her two divine red garments, fine and never wearing out, a spotless necklace, a crest-jewel shining like crores of suns, two earrings and bangles. Vishvakarma gave armlets for her arms and bracelets set with gems of many kinds; Tvashta gave two anklets for her feet, sweet-sounding, jewel-set, bright as the sun. The great ocean gave a necklace for her throat and brilliant rings of gems. Varuna gave a garland of never-fading lotuses, full of fragrance, with bees hovering over it, and the garland named Vaijayanti. Himavan gave gems of many kinds and, for her vehicle, a lion shining like gold. She mounted it, and with every auspicious mark on her and every divine ornament, she looked very splendid. Then the weapons came. Vishnu drew from his own discus a discus of a thousand spokes, brilliant, able to take the heads off daityas, and gave it to her. Shankara drew from his own trident a fine trident that cuts danavas down and destroys fear. Varuna drew from his own conch a conch, auspicious, bright and loud. Agni gave a shakti, a spear that kills foes by the hundred and moves as fast as the mind. Pavana gave a quiver full of arrows and a bow wondrous to see, hard to draw, with a harsh twang. Indra drew from his own vajra a very terrible vajra, and took down from the elephant Airavata a lovely, loud-sounding bell. Yama gave a staff born of his own kaladanda, the rod with which he ends every creature when its time comes. Brahma gave a divine kamandalu full of Ganga water, and Varuna his noose. Kala gave a sword and a shield; Vishvakarma a sharp axe; Kubera a golden drinking cup full of sura; Varuna a divine lotus. Tvashta gave the mace named Kaumodaki, which sounds like hundreds of bells and destroys danavas, and many kinds of missiles besides, and armor nothing could pierce. And the Sun gave her his own rays.

The gods looked at her, armed with everything and adorned with everything, and amazement held them; then they praised the auspicious Devi who enchants the three worlds. “Salutation to Shiva. Again and again, salutation to Kalyani, to Shanti, to Pushti. Salutation to the Bhagavati; constant salutation to Rudrani. Again and again, salutation to Kalaratri, to Amba, to Indrani; salutation to Siddhi, Buddhi, Vriddhi and Vaishnavi. She who dwells within the earth and controls the earth, and whom the earth cannot know: that supreme one we adore. She who, staying within maya, could never be known by maya, and who impels it from within: to that unborn Bhagavati, the impeller, we bow. Do us good, and protect us gods tormented by our foes. With your own radiance kill this deluded, sinful Mahishasura. He is wicked, a terrible worker of maya, killable by a woman alone, proud from his boon, a giver of sorrow to all the gods, a taker of many forms, a great villain. You alone are the refuge of all the gods; protect us, tormented by the danava Mahishasura. Salutation to you.”

The Goddess’s thunderous laughter

When the gods had praised her so, the Mahadevi, giver of every happiness, smiled and spoke. “Give up your fear of the dull-witted Mahishasura. I will kill him in battle today, that Mahishasura drunk with pride from his boon and deluded.” Then she laughed in a loud voice. “It is a very strange thing in this world, that this whole world is seized by confusion and delusion. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra and the rest tremble in fear of Mahishasura. The power of fate is very terrible and hard to conquer. Kala, time, is alone the maker of happiness and sorrow; it alone is lord and master of all. Though they are able to create, preserve and destroy, Brahma and the others fall into delusion, suffer, and are tormented by Mahishasura.” She said it smiling, and then the laugh came in full, the attahasa, and its roar was so terrible that the danavas were frightened. The earth shook at the sound, every mountain moved, the fathomless ocean was agitated, Sumeru itself swayed and every direction echoed. All the danavas, hearing that fierce sound, were afraid, and the gods, glad, cried out to the Devi, “Victory to you! Protect us!” Mahishasura heard the sound in his pride and grew angry, and it alarmed him too. “What sound is this?” he asked the daityas. “Let messengers go from here at once and learn where it is born. Who made this dreadful sound that pains the ears? God or danava, whoever made it, seize the wicked one and bring him to me. I will kill that pride-maddened wrongdoer who roars so; I will send that short-lived, dull-witted wretch to Yama’s city now. The gods are beaten and afraid of me; they cannot roar like this. The danavas cannot either, for they are all under me. Then whose foolish act can this be? Let the messengers find the cause of it and come to me quickly. Then I myself will go there and kill the sinner who does such a useless thing.” The messengers traced the sound and came to the Bhagavati, lovely in every limb, eighteen-armed, divine in form, every ornament and every auspicious mark on her, fine weapons in her hands, and in one hand a cup, from which she was drinking madhu again and again. The sight of her frightened them. Agitated and alarmed, they ran from the place and came back to Mahishasura with the cause of the sound.

“It is some woman,” they told him, “a woman full grown, who looks like a goddess. She has ornaments on every limb and gems of every kind upon her. She is neither human nor asuri; she is a woman of divine form, and very charming. That excellent woman has eighteen arms and sits bearing many kinds of weapons, and it is she who is roaring. She looks intoxicated. She drinks liquor without stopping. It seems to us that she is not yet married. The gods stand in the sky and praise her gladly, crying ‘Victory to you, protect us, kill the enemies.’ Who that beauty is, whose wife she is, why she has come here or what she wants to do, we do not know. Her radiance dazzled us; we could not look at her. That woman was full of every rasa, shringara and vira, hasya and raudra and adbhuta, as if love and valor and laughter and fury and wonder had taken one body. Seeing a woman of such wondrous form we came back without saying anything, as you ordered. What is to be done next?”