Archives: mythology

According to the Puranas, Goddess Durga was born from the powers of the supreme trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, to defeat the powerful buffalo demon, Mahishasura. Because she is a consolidation of their collective energy, she is also known as Shakti and is greater than any of them. Perceived as Devi and the Goddess Parvati, Goddess Durga is the creator and the protector of the universe and the destroyer of evil, the perfect confluence of the Hindu trinity. She is usually depicted as having eight to ten arms, with just as many weapons gifted to her by various gods to destroy Mahishasura. Her mount is usually a lion or a tiger.

Goddess Durga has many forms, nine manifestations to be exact, together called Navadurga. They are worshipped during the nine days of Navratri in the order below, with different prayers dedicated to each Navadurga during the festival.

Shailaputri

Sati was reborn to Lord Himavan, the mountain king, as Goddess Parvati in her next birth. She was also called Shailaputri, meaning ‘daughter of the mountain’. She later married Lord Shiva. Her vehicle is a bull.

Brahmacharini

Born to Prajapati Daksha, this mother goddess is the form of Goddess Parvati called Sati. She was determined to marry Lord Shiva. In order to fulfil her aim, she performed severe penance. Pleased by her faith and devotion, Lord Brahma stated that her unmarried form will be worshipped as Brahmacharini, the ascetic woman. Eventually, she did get married to Lord Shiva, but during a subsequent ceremony, her father insulted Shiva. Furious, she immolated herself with a wish to have a father who would respect her divine husband and her in her next birth. Brahmacharini is depicted having two hands and walking bare feet.

Chandraghanta

After getting married to Shiva, Goddess Parvati adorned a bell on her forehead in the shape of a half-moon, signifying the origin of this Navadurga’s name. Her mount is the tigress and she has ten hands.

Kushmanda

When Siddhidhatri took a physical form, she created the universe from her smile. ‘Ku’ means ‘a little’, ‘Ushma’ means ‘warmth’, and ‘Anda’ indicates the ‘cosmic egg’. Goddess Kushmanda had started living in the center of the sun, helping him radiate energy. She has eight hands and rides a tiger.

Skandamata

Goddess Parvati is the loving and kind mother of Skanda or Kartikeya, the god of war and brother to Lord Ganesha. The maternal nature of Goddess Parvati is worshipped in this form. The ferocious lion serves as her mount.

Katyayani

Goddess Durga manifested in this form to destroy the demon Mahishasura. The warrior form of Goddess Durga, Katyayani is fierce and armed with numerous weapons. Her vengeance led to the ultimate destruction of the powerful demon.

Kaalratri

The most violent form of Goddess Durga is Kaalratri who manifested to slay the two demons, Chanda and Munda. She sprang from the third eye of Parvati and wreaked havoc until she killed the two asuras and their army. Kaalratri means the night of death. In this form, Goddess Durga rides a donkey and carries a deadly iron hook and a sword in her hands.

Mahagauri

When Goddess Parvati went to fight the demons, Shumbha and Nishumbha, she transformed into the dark and fierce Kaushiki, leaving part of herself on Mount Kailasha to protect it. This part of herself, known as Mahagauri, is fair complexioned and very pure and clean. She provides knowledge and is the goddess of all achievements.

Siddhidatri

Siddhidatri is the Adi Shakti avatar of Durga. She existed as pure energy and had no physical form. Lord Rudra worshipped her for  creating the universe and she appeared from the left half of Shiva. That is why she and Shiva represent the duality of the universe in the form of masculine and feminine energies. They unite to form Ardhanarishwara. Devi Siddhidatri sits on a lotus and rides a lion.

Read the stories of the powerful Hindu goddesses in our title ‘Shakti‘, available on the ACK Comics app, Kindle, Amazon, Flipkart, and other major e-tailers.

By Komal Narwani

Vishnu, the owner of the divine Kaumodaki, is the preserver of the universe. Whenever the balance between good and evil seemed to be weighing on the wrong side, Vishnu would descend on earth to restore cosmic order. As per the Puranas, Vishnu was to appear in ten different forms known as the fabled dashavatar across the four dharmic ages of man also known as yugas. Till date, he has appeared in nine of these forms.

IN THE SATYA YUGA

Matsya – The Fish

Depicted as a giant fish or as a half-human torso connected to the rear half of a fish, this was the first of Vishnu’s dashavatar. In this avatar, Vishnu had warned the first man, Vaivasvata Manu, of a great flood which would end the three worlds. He asked Vaivasvata to bring one of every plant and animal species to the shore, and on the day of the great flood, he safely took all of them to a new world in a boat and saved them.

Kurma – The Tortoise

Depicted as a giant tortoise or a mixed form of human and tortoise, the Kurma avatar of Vishnu, took form during the Samudra Manthan incident in the Bhagavata Purana, where the devas and asuras started churning the ocean of milk in a bid to obtain the nectar of immortality or amrit. During the churning, Mount Mandara, which was being used as the churning rod, started to sink. Vishnu appeared in the form of the giant tortoise, taking the weight of the mountain on his back. 

Varaha – The Boar

When the demon, Hiranyaksha, kidnapped the earth goddess, Bhudevi, and hid her in the cosmic ocean, signifying the end of a yuga, it was Vishnu who rescued her, taking the form of a boar. It wasn’t an easy battle; Varaha battled Hiranyaksha for a thousand years before the demon was slain. Afterwards, Vishnu went deep into the primordial waters and raised the hidden earth back to the surface with his tusks. Varaha is either depicted as a full boar or a human with a boar head.

Narasimha – The Man Lion

Hiraṇyakashipu wanted to take revenge for his elder brother Hiranyaksha’s death. After severe penance, Brahma appeared before him. He asked Brahma for a curious boon that rendered him near-invincible.

“Let not death come to me either by man or beast, by day or by night, with a weapon either living or inanimate, indoors or outdoors, on earth or in the sky.” 

Brahma granted his wish, and soon, Hiranyakashipu started creating havoc in heaven and on earth. When he found out about his son Prahlada’s deep devotion to Vishnu, the demon king decided to kill him. To protect his devotee, Vishnu took the form of Narasimha, a human with the head and claws of a lion. Narasimha was Vishnu’s way of countering Hiranyakashipu’s boon from Brahma, killing the asura at dusk under the arch of the doorway, ripping him apart with his claws as he lay across the godly avatar’s thighs, suspended in mid-air.

IN THE TRETA YUGA

Vamana – The Brahman Dwarf

Prahlad’s grandson, Bali, was a good and just king who was a great devotee of Vishnu like his grandfather. He also temporarily possessed the nectar of immortality, making him immune to death. Near invincible, the king managed to lay siege to the heavens as well as the earth, taking over Indra’s crown. The gods called upon Vishnu for help, who did not want to be responsible for killing his own devotee. So, instead, he resorted to a less fatalistic approach, appearing in the form of Vamana, a Brahman dwarf. Bali welcomed Vamana to his court, promising to give him whatever he wanted. Vamana asked for three paces of land measured by his stride. Bali agreed and didn’t retract his offer even after being warned by his guru who could see through Vishnu’s disguise. Vamana turned into a giant and covered the earth with his first stride and heaven with the second. With nowhere to take his third stride, he mocked the king for making promises he couldn’t keep. Bali asked Vamana to step over him and complete his third stride. Pleased with this virtuous king’s sacrifice, Vamana made Bali the king of Patala, the netherworld.

Parshurama – The Warrior

King Kartavirya Arjuna once visited the sage Jamadagni at his ashram. The saint fed the king and his army with the help of his cow Kamadhenu. The king was pleased by the cow’s yield and took the cow to his palace, against the sage’s will. Now, Jamadagni happened to be the father of Parashurama, the warrior avatar of Vishnu. When Parashurama got to know about the king’s actions, he destroyed the king’s army and killed the king. To avenge their father’s death, the sons of the king killed Jamadagni. An enraged Parashurama then vowed to kill the Kshatriya race twenty-one times over, because that was the number of times his mother had beaten her breast in grief. Parashurama kept his vow and filled five lakes with the blood of the Kshatriyas. He is considered to be one of the seven immortals mentioned in the scriptures.

Rama – The Prince

Pictured as the ideal man and the perfect human, Rama’s story is known to many. To keep his father’s honour, Prince Rama gave up his right to the throne of Ayodhya and served fourteen years of exile in the forest along with his wife, Sita, and younger brother, Lakshman. However, during their banishment, Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducts Sita, leading to one of the greatest battles between good and evil as told in the great epic, the Ramayana.

IN THE DWAPARA YUGA

Krishna – The Cowherd

Vishnu then took on the avatar of the cowherd prince Krishna, sent to destroy the demon king, Kamsa, who was also his maternal uncle. Krishna then went on to play an essential role in the battle of Kurukshetra between the cousin clans Pandavas and Kauravas for the throne of Hastinapura, in what came to be known as the Mahabharata. It was at the battle of Kurukshetra that Krishna dictated the cornerstone of Hindu philosophy, the Bhagavad Gita, to the Pandava prince Arjuna.

Buddha – The Enlightened One

Born as Prince Siddhartha, Buddha became renowned to the world when he gave up his worldly connections to become a monk, eventually attaining enlightenment. Sacrificing the luxuries of princely life, detaching himself from worldly pleasures and practising deep meditation, he spread the message of peace. It is said Vishnu came to earth in this form to make humans see the importance of self-realization and liberation.

IN THE KALI YUGA

Kalki – The Horserider

This is the form of Vishnu that is yet to appear. As per the Puranas, the tenth form of Vishnu is to be Kalki, the destroyer of darkness, who shall arrive at the end of the Kali Yuga, incidentally the cosmic age we are living in right now. Riding a white horse with a blazing sword in hand, Kalki will announce the dawn of the Satya Yuga, starting the cosmic cycle all over again.

Read more Amar Chitra Katha stories about Vishnu on the ACK Comics app, Kindle, and various major e-tailers.

By Sanjana Kapur and Aparna Kapur

The gods in Indian mythology have vahanas or vehicles on which they ride. These vahanas are their constant companions. They represent the strength and beauty of the deity, and at times, symbolise various human traits, including those that are negative. The negative traits are those that the gods are said to overpower.

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Among the gods and their companions, the more famous combinations are Vishnu and Garuda, Shiva and Nandi, Brahma and Hamsa, Indra and Airavata, and Ganesha and Moushika. Here is a list of some of the lesser-known vahanas of various divinities.

• Vayu, the wind god, is depicted riding a deer.
• Bhairava has a dog as his mount.
• Varuna’s vahana, Jaladhi, was born from Rudra’s earwax and has the divine power of movement.
• Agni, the fire god, rides a ram.

• Kaalratri, a form of Kali, rides a donkey.
• Kama and his wife, Rati, have the parrot as their vahana. Rati is sometimes shown riding a pigeon.
• The god of wealth Kubera’s vahana is a man.

• With a pot of water in her hand, Yamuna is depicted riding a tortoise.
• Saraswati rides a swan. It is said that she rode an elephant to Shiva and Parvati’s wedding ride.
• The Ashwini Kumaras are said to ride horses, although the Rig Veda also mentions the donkey as their vehicle.

• Durga travels on a fierce tiger.
• Ganga is said to ride Makara, a creature with the body of a crocodile and the trunk of an elephant.
• Shani rides a crow. This is why it is believed feeding crows is a way to please Shani.
• Surya rides a chariot drawn by seven white horses.

• Lakshmi rides an owl. Sometimes, she also rides an elephant.
• Paundraka, the black buffalo that Yama is said to ride, was born from Rudra’s thigh.
• Goddess Shashthi, the protector and benefactor of children, is often symbolized riding a cat.

Read fascinating stories of various celestial creatures in our title ‘Divine Beings‘ on the ACK Comics app and Kindle, as well as all major e-tailers.