Durga: …and History became Legend
A story from ancient India that might explain the folklore of the Goddess Durga.
There’s a story documented in ancient Indian texts and it goes something like this.
Over 3,000 years ago, the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent was settled by Indo-Aryan tribes along the western Ganges plain. Collectively, these lands were known as the Aryavarta (viz. Sanskrit for “Land of the Aryans”). While these tribes all practiced the Vedic religion — which is a precursor to Hinduism as we know it today — they had little else to unite them and often fought each other.
To their south, were the non-Aryan tribes who’d been settled there since before the Aryans came. The ruler of one of these southern kingdoms approached one of the Aryan tribes and — falsely claiming to be a follower of Vedism — extended a hand of friendship. The King was known to have been a tall, strong, handsome and virile warrior who impressed the Aryans greatly with his leadership skills.
Having befriended the Aryan tribe, the deceitful King proceeded to steal military secrets from them — including their troop strength, battle strategies and weapons. He then implemented his real plan — which was to go to war with the Aryan tribes. And one by one, he proceeded to defeat each of the tribes. With each victory, he took away the wealth, weapons and women of the Aryan tribes.
Finally, there was only one tribe left.
This last tribe was lead by a Queen who was renowned for her beauty. The southern King sent a messenger to the Queen asking her to come out as his consort and ally with him. Insulted by the proposition, the Queen responded with a warning not to persist any further or she’d be forced to go to war against him. Confident of his fighting prowess and emboldened by his recent victories, the King and his army marched to the battlefield.
On her part, the Queen united the defeated Aryan tribes who came together for the first time, and under her leadership, defeated the southern King in battle. Even as the southern King lay wounded with a spear through the chest, the Queen had him put in a cage with a lion who devoured him.
Long after she’d passed, the good Queen came to be worshiped as the deity of Shakti (Power) and the Aryan Puranas referred to her as Durga — the goddess who helps overcome ‘durgati’ (misfortune).
The deceitful King was a worshiper of the Mahisham (buffalo) and wore a buffalo mask when going into battle. For his evil deeds, he was given the title of ‘asur’ (demon) and chronicled as “Mahish-Asur”.
His kingdom was called Mahishavooru — which translates into “a place with a lot of buffaloes”. Mahishavooru later became what is today known as “Mysuru”.
As in the case of every great battle, the story was told and retold over the centuries… and History became Legend.
