HomePantheonDurga

Durga

The warrior-goddess, slayer of Mahishasura

When the gods could not defeat the demon, they poured their fury into a single blazing form, and it was a woman. Durga is the warrior-goddess in whom the tradition makes the Goddess herself the supreme power, calm-faced even in the slaughter of evil.

A quick reference entry. For the full account, follow the guides below.

Guides and journal

  • Who is Durga? Deities

    Where the gods together had failed, she would not. Her name is Durga.

  • The Nine Nights Treatise

    In the gods' great hymn of praise she is called Durga, the one by whom beings are ferried across the hard ocean of worldly existence, the boat over the sea of birth and death.

  • The Goddess Takes the Field Treatise

    It is known by several names, the Durga Saptashati , the seven hundred verses, and the Chandi , after a fierce name of the Goddess, and it is recited and worshipped as a complete scripture in its own right, eve…

  • What is Navaratri? Worship

    Its name is the Devi Mahatmya , the "Glory of the Goddess," also called the Durga Saptashati , the "seven hundred verses of Durga," and recited simply as the Chandi .

  • Who is the Goddess? Deities

    It is also called the Durga Saptashati, the seven hundred verses on Durga, and the Chandi.