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Editor’s Note: The Durga Saptashati or Devi Mahatmya is a foundational text for the worship of the Goddess in India. This piece places the text in a contemporary context without the interpretation overreach that has become common in contemporary times. It offers pointers to help readers explore multiple facets of the narratives of Durga Saptashati but it is not intended to be the final word. We would urge you to read or hear the riveting kathas and reflect on their multifarious meanings.
Read and Watch – Introduction to Durga Saptashati
The Chandi Paath or Durga Saptashati or Devi Mahatmya is a composition that weaves in many basic tenets of life and spiritual thought in its 700 verses. This piece of poetry (part of the Markandeya Purana) with its engaging narration and vivid imagery was probably also intended to suggest these spiritual and philosophical tenets to those for whom the arcane and pithy language of the Upanishads was inaccessible. It is also my fervent belief that age-old narratives and spirituality when intertwined and interpreted sensitively have an amazing power to influence positively. Some of the key takeaways that continue to be relevant for our times form a part of this note.
There is only One Supreme Being – the Divine Goddess or Shakti. She is formless but manifests in various forms.
Episode two of the Devi Mahatmya discusses the emergence of the Devi. The formless (nirguna or nishkala) Devi assumes form (saguna or sakala) when the various gods of the then well-established Hindu pantheon – Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma and the devatas combine their energies (tejas). The tejas itself is nothing but the primordial Shakti who is the epitome of that which is ‘One’ – the eternal ‘Brahman’.
Since the Divine is One and Truth is One, how can there be any discord within the multiplicity of forms and paths that lead to the ‘One Truth’? This foundation of Indian thought and civilisation has been woven into the charitra of Mahishasura Mardini with such narrative dexterity that none can miss the purport.
इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।
एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः ॥
Essence of the Verse: Truth is One. The wise call it by many names- Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Garutman, Yama and Matarishvan.
Rig Veda 1.164.46
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता ।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः ॥
Innumerable salutations to the Devi who resides as the Shakti (energy and powers) in all beings and objects in the universe.
Hymn from Durga Saptashati – Chapter 5
Shakti is the benevolent Mother who incarnates to re-establish the reign of Dharma over Adharma.
One of the cornerstones of Indian thought is that the formless Divine manifests in multifarious forms at the behest of the devotees to re-establish the reign of Dharma over Adharma (partially interpreted in modern parlance as the defeat of the forces of evil and re-establishment of the forces of good). The Chandi reiterates this in its narrative, proclaiming that while Shakti is eternal and unborn, the benign mother, manifests herself again and again to protect the world. It assures us that we need not despair for She will protect us and guide us. (Readers will see the parallel to the famous message of the Bhagavad Gita in Shlokas 4.7 and 4.8.) This is also the essence of Bhakti.
एवं भगवती देवी सा नित्यापि पुनः पुनः।
सम्भूय कुरुते भूप जगतः परिपालनम् ॥
Thus, Goddess Bhagavati, though eternal, manifests again and again to protect the world.
Durga Saptashati 12.36
The I within us is constantly engaged in a combat between Dharma and Adharma. We have to transcend the I (aham) or ego to reach the Divine.
The Devi Mahatmya reminds us that there is a constant battle within us – a battle between our sattvic and our demonic tendencies. It must be won. We must transcend our own tamasic nature with all its wrong conceptions which if left unchecked gives rise to maleficent proclivities like unbridled arrogance, anger, greed, laziness and a destructive or violent streak among others (kama, krodha, moha and lobha in traditional parlance) just as the wax that emanated from Vishnuji’s own ears led to the birth of the asuras Madhu and Kaitabha who threatened to destroy the world. Mahishasura and Shumbha and Nishumbha are the demons within us – our sloth, our pride, our ego and our I(ness). Like the Devi, we must vanquish these demons and move beyond the false sense of I (aham) to reach and merge with the higher divine consciousness for happiness and bliss. Some readings have suggested that the arrangement of the episodes in the Saptashati symbolises the different stages of this elusive process of transcending the self.
| The Structure of the Durga Saptashati and Its Meaning Traditional Interpretation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charitra | Chapters | Demon(s) | Presiding Devi | Guna | Challenges That Seekers Must Overcome |
| Prathama | 1 | Madhu-Kaitabha | Mahakali | Tamas | Inertia and Delusion |
| Madhyama | 2–4 | Mahishasura | Mahalakshmi | Rajas | Unbridled Ambition |
| Uttara | 5–13 | Shumbha-Nishumbha, Raktabija | Mahasaraswati | Sattva | Ego (Aham) and Desire |
| CulturalSamvaad.com | |||||
Our ego and our pride keep resurfacing till they are annihilated.
In the third episode of the Chandi, Kali and the Matrikas kill the ferocious Raktabija (rakta is blood and bija is seed). Raktabija can be likened to our ego and our pride. Our ego keeps resurfacing in various demonic forms when hurt. It can be likened to the drops of blood which keep giving rise to Raktabija again and again. Our pride and our ego have to be destroyed completely for us to be able to move forward.
The Supreme Divinity can be and is visualised in a Feminine Form.
There are many references in earlier Indian literature including the Vedas, where the Supreme Being is referred to as the Divine Mother. She as prakriti (the active principle) is the cause of all creation in Samkhya thought, she as shakti is the energy of the Universe and she as maya conceals the true nature of reality in Vedanta.
The Devi Mahatmya, however, brings together all forms of the Divine feminine, coalesces them into a whole and crystallises the fiercely independent Goddess as The Supreme Being – The Ultimate Godhead – The Divine Feminine. She is the Mahadevi who creates the Universe, pervades all creation (omnipresent) and sustains all creation, and then destroys it. She is the Mahadevi who possesses the powers of all the male gods combined (omnipotent). All divine beings are just manifestations of her – there is ‘no second one’ in this Universe. The composition also fuses together the vatsalya of the Matrikas with the fierceness of Kali to transform into the great Mahadevi.
एकैवाहं जगत्यत्र द्वितीया का ममापरा ।
पश्यैता दुष्ट मय्येव विशन्त्यो मद्विभूतयः ॥
I alone exist. There is no one else in this universe besides Me. Behold, these are My own manifestations. Therefore, they are merging into Me.
Durga Saptashati 10.5
All women are but manifestations of the Mahadevi – the Adishakti : A clarion call for Women Empowerment
Perhaps, the narratives of the Durga Saptashati reached their pinnacle when they not only visualised and extolled all the manifestations of the Devi as fiercely independent goddesses and not as consort goddesses but also accorded divine status to all women by stating emphatically that all women in the world are images of the Devi herself. This is a clarion call for women empowerment that was given centuries ago in the sanatan tradition.
विद्याः समस्तास्तव देवि भेदाः, स्त्रियः समस्ताः सकला जगत्सु ।
त्वयैकया पूरितमम्बयैतत्, का ते स्तुतिः स्तव्यपरापरोक्तिः ॥
O Goddess! All forms of knowledge are but different manifestations of You. Every woman in this world is an embodiment of you. You alone pervade this entire universe. How can one praise you adequately?
Durga Saptashati 11.6
As mentioned earlier, Mahadevi embodies two facets in her temporal and narrative forms – the love or vatsalya of the mother and the fierceness of the indomitable warrior. One can possibly conclude that if all women are images of the goddess that we worship, then by definition, they are capable of fusing the two facets that the Devi embodies to transform into Shakti in its truest form.
There is a multiplicity of purusharthas (goals) at various stages of our existence.
The Indian tradition recognises that each one of us pursues a different goal based on the cosmic law of karma. Both artha and moksha are valid pursuits as long as they are achieved by following the dharmic path or path of dharma. At the end of the frame narrative of the Devi Mahatmya, Surath, the king, asks for the power to defeat his enemies in the current birth and for a kingdom in the next birth – artha. Samadhi, the merchant, requests that knowledge which does not distinguish between the Divine and the I – moksha. The Devi grants both.
We are constantly misled and deluded by that which is Maya (unreal). The true human quest is to seek that which is real.
Sanatan tradition categorically states in more ways than one that all human beings like Surath and Samadhi are enmeshed in that which is unreal, that which is delusional and that which is not ours to covet or ours to mourn. The true quest for one and all is to seek that which is eternal while traversing the laws that maintain the cosmic order.
नमो देव्यै महादेव्यै शिवायै सततं नमः ।
नमः प्रकृत्यै भद्रायै नियताः प्रणताः स्म ताम् ॥
Salutations to the Devi. Salutations always to the Mahadevi who is ever auspicious (being One with Shiva). Salutations to Her who is Prakriti or nature incarnate and is ever benevolent and gracious. We always bow to Her with disciplined minds.
Durga Saptashati 5.9
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