Durga and the Buffalo-Demon

Long ago, there was a fearsome demon named Mahishasura, who could change his shape whenever he pleased. He had won himself a powerful gift through long, hard effort: a promise that no man and no god could ever defeat him.

Believing himself unbeatable, Mahishasura grew cruel and greedy. He stormed the heavens, drove out the gods, and seized the three worlds for himself. The whole of creation trembled under his rule, and no one could stop him, for no man and no god was able to.

The defeated gods gathered together in despair. They could not beat Mahishasura one by one. But then they saw the clever gap in his gift. No man and no god, the promise had said. It had said nothing at all about a goddess.

So the gods did something they had never done before. They each poured out their own power, all of it, into one place, and from that great blaze of combined light a goddess took shape: Durga. Radiant and fearless, she rode upon a mighty lion, and she had many arms, and into each hand a god placed his own finest weapon. She carried the strength of every single one of them at once.

Durga rode out to meet Mahishasura, and what a battle it was. The demon changed his shape again and again, into a snorting buffalo, into a great lion, into a towering giant, hurling every trick he had. But Durga, blazing with the gathered might of all the gods, met him at every turn. For nine days and nine nights she fought him, and on the tenth day, at last, she defeated him, and the heavens and the earth were free.

And that is why, every year, we celebrate. The nine nights of Navaratri and the great festival of Durga Puja honour the brave goddess, and the tenth day, called Vijayadashami, rejoices that good has triumphed over evil once again.