The Goddess sat on her lion. The gods were glad, and the wise sages praised her.
The asuras saw that the worlds were stirring.
They got ready and gathered all their forces. They stood up together, a great crowd, all ready to go.
Then the battle began, between the Goddess and the rivals of the gods.
The asura chief’s general was Chikshura. Say it slowly: chik-SHOO-ra. With him came Chamara. Say it slowly: CHAH-mah-ra.
Great asuras came, each with thousands upon thousands of chariots.
Elephants and horses came too, so many that nobody could count them.
They carried spears, clubs, swords and axes, all of them.
They rushed toward the Goddess, so many of them.
She turned their weapons aside, as if it were play.
The gods and the wise sages praised her. The Goddess stayed calm and peaceful.
Her lion shook its mane and walked in among them.
She breathed out sighs, and they became her helpers, hundreds and thousands of them.
Her helpers were strong with her power. They beat drums and blew conches.
Her helpers drove the crowd of asuras back.
Chikshura saw that his army was losing. So he went to fight the Goddess himself.
He shot arrows like rain falling on a mountain. She turned them all aside.
She cut his bow and his tall banner. His chariot was broken.
He ran at her with his sword. The sword broke when it touched her.
He threw a blazing lance, bright as the sun. The Goddess sent her own lance. Chikshura did not win.
Then Chamara came, riding on a great elephant.
He threw a spear. She gave a clear call, and it fell to the ground. He threw a lance, and she turned it aside.
Her lion leapt to meet him. Her lion won, and Chamara was beaten too.
The other great asuras fought the Goddess too. None of them could stand against her. The next story is "The Gods Sing."
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Devi Mahatmya, which sits inside the Markandeya Purana. It follows chapter 2, verses 35 to 55, and chapter 3, verses 1 to 20 (verses 2.56 to 2.69 are left out): the asuras come out against the Goddess, she stays calm, her helpers appear, and Chikshura, Chamara and the other great asuras face her in the field. Verse numbers follow the English translation on devimahatmya.com. The chapter and the battle go on past where we stop. This is a faithful simplification of the Devi Mahatmya. We added no event, person or reason that is not in the verses, but the words are ours: they are a plain rendering of the translation, not a word-for-word quotation. Where the source is long or violent we left it out rather than change it, and we name each omission below. The name “Durga”, the nine nights of Navratri and the custom of Ghatasthapana are not in these verses, so they appear only on this page.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- Why the asuras attack her. Part 1 tells that the asura chief took heaven from the gods. At verse 2.36 the enemies of the gods see the worlds stirring and ready all their forces. The verses give no other reason.
- His own arrival and sight of the Goddess (verses 2.37–2.39, 2.47). The verses have Mahishasura rush toward the sound, see the Goddess with her thousand arms, and stand among the hosts. The story keeps him off the field. He comes back in the next part.
- The shaking of the nether regions and the thousand arms (verses 2.38–2.39). These verses describe her radiance, her thousand arms and her bowstring shaking the lower worlds. We left them out because they could frighten a child.
- The battle and how each asura fell (verses 2.56–2.68, 3.10, 3.16–3.20). The old text is violent at these verses. The story leaves it out. It says only “Chikshura did not win”, “Chamara was beaten too”, and one group line for the rest.
- Blows on the Goddess and her lion, and wounds (verses 3.5, 3.7). The verses say Chikshura strikes her lion and her arm, and that her arrows wound him. We left out both.
- The gods’ shower of flowers (verse 2.69). This verse ends the chapter. We keep it for the next story.
- The Goddess’s own weapons in use (verses 2.50, 2.51, 2.56). In the verses she showers weapons on the host. The story shows her turn weapons aside. It also shows her call (page 22, verse 3.12) and one lance of hers (page 20, verse 3.10).
- What comes next (verses 3.21 onward). Mahishasura’s fighting begins at verse 3.21. The story stops at verse 3.20.
Words we softened. Page 10: “turned aside” stands for “cut through” (verse 2.50). Page 15: “drove the crowd back” stands for “destroyed the hordes” (verse 2.54). Page 17: “turned them all aside” stands for “shattered his volley” (verse 3.4). Page 22: “a clear call” stands for her contemptuous outcry (verse 3.12), and “turned it aside” stands for “destroyed” (verse 3.13). What we compressed. Pages 2 and 3 compress verse 2.36. Page 4 is verse 2.40. Pages 6 and 7 compress the long lists of chiefs, chariots and elephants (verses 2.42–2.47). No chief is named. Numbers up to billions become “thousands upon thousands”. Page 9: some asuras hurl spears and nooses and begin an assault, intent on killing her (verse 2.49). The story says they rushed toward her. Page 12: the lion shakes its mane “in fury” and stalks like fire in a forest (verse 2.52). The story says it shook its mane and walked among them. Page 13: her “sighs” become her legions (verse 2.53). The story calls them “helpers” and does not name them ganas. Page 16: Chikshura goes “in fury” when he sees the army being slaughtered (verse 3.2). The story says his army was losing. Page 17: his arrows are like rain on Mount Meru (verse 3.3). The story says “a mountain”. Page 24: the verses name twelve asuras, each felled in the fighting (verses 3.17–3.20). The story says the others “fought” her too, in a single group line, and does not say how they came to her. The Goddess is “Devi”, “Caṇḍikā”, “Ambikā” and other names in the translation. The story says “the Goddess”. The title says “Rides to Battle”; in the verses the asuras come to her, and the story does not add a ride.
The question children ask here
“Why was the Goddess not afraid of such a huge army?” The verses do not give her feelings, but they say what she did and how she was:
- the asuras came against her with weapons of every kind, and she cut through their weapons as if in play (verses 2.48–2.50; the story says “turned aside”, a gentler word);
- the gods and the seers praised her, and she remained serene (verse 2.51);
- her sighs became her helpers, and they were strong with her power (verses 2.53–2.54).
“The story says she stayed calm, and her helpers came to her. We do not know more than that.” A second question children ask is “What happened to Chikshura and Chamara? Did they die?” In the old text they are defeated in these verses (3.10 and 3.16). The story does not show how. You can say: “They were beaten. This story does not tell us more.”
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