Mahishasura, the asuras’ chief, came himself. He took the shape of a great buffalo.
He pushed with his snout. He bellowed so loudly that the Goddess’s helpers tumbled.
He rushed at her lion. He stamped the earth and tossed mountains up with his horns.
The Goddess saw him coming. She threw her noose around him and bound him.
He left his buffalo shape and became a lion. The Goddess met him.
Then he became a man with a sword. Again the Goddess met him.
Then he became a great elephant. The Goddess met him there too.
Once more he was a buffalo. The three worlds, and everything in them, trembled.
He threw mountains at her. Her arrows turned them to dust. “Roar for now,” she said. “After that, the gods will cheer in this very place.”
Then the Goddess leapt. She set her foot upon him, and he could not rise.
Mahishasura fell, and the fight was over.
The army of asuras was gone. The heavenly hosts, the gods’ helpers, cheered.
The gods and the sages praised the Goddess. Heavenly musicians sang, and dancers danced among the clouds.
Indra and all the gods bowed their heads and sang a hymn. “We bow to you, Goddess. Your smiling face is like the full moon, bright as fine gold. Even the greatest gods cannot tell how great you are.”
“The wise, who long to be free of every trouble, think of you. You carry us over a rough sea, like a boat.”
“Even toward those who stood against the gods, your heart is gracious. Where else are such beauty and such strength found together?”
“You have saved all the worlds. With your gentle shapes, guard us, east and west, south and north, and guard the earth.”
“When we are in trouble and remember you, you take our fear away. When we are at peace, you give us deeper peace.”
The hymn was done. The gods laid heavenly flowers before her, with perfumes and sweet incense.
The Goddess, serene, spoke to the bowed gods. “Ask what you wish,” she said. “I will gladly give it.”
The gods said, “All has been done. Nothing is left to do.”
“But whenever we remember you, take our worst troubles away.”
“And bless all who sing this hymn. Be ever kind to us.”
“So let it be,” said the Goddess. Then she was gone from sight.
For grown-ups
Where this story comes from
This story is retold from the Devi Mahatmya, which sits inside the Markandeya Purana. It follows the end of chapter 3, verses 21 to 44, where Mahishasura comes himself and the Goddess meets him, and a selection from chapter 4, verses 2 to 39, the hymn the gods sing to her and her answer. Verse numbers follow the English translation on devimahatmya.com; the site labels the verse that holds the incense and the Goddess’s serene face “4.24” a second time, and that verse is 4.30 here. The Devi Mahatmya goes on after this hymn with further tales. 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 violent we left it out rather than change it, and we name each omission below. In the two earlier stories we said that the name “Durga” is not in the verses we told. That is still true of them. In this story’s verses the name appears once, at verse 4.11, where the gods call her Durga. The story keeps saying “the Goddess”, as before.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- What Mahishasura’s buffalo does (verses 3.22–3.24). In the verses his horns tear at her helpers and he destroys her forces. The story says only that he pushed and bellowed.
- Earth, ocean and mountains in upheaval (verses 3.26–3.27). The earth breaks apart, the ocean overflows and mountains fall from the sky. We kept only that he stamped and tossed mountains (3.25).
- Her wrath (verses 3.24, 3.28, 3.34). The verses say she grew angry. The story shows her calm and keeps the noose (3.29).
- What she does at each change of shape (verses 3.29–3.32). She cuts the lion’s head, cuts the man to pieces with arrows and chops the elephant’s trunk. The story shows only that each time the Goddess met him.
- Her drink and her words to him (verses 3.34, 3.36–3.38). In the verses she drinks a divine potion, laughs again and again, and tells him to bellow while she drinks, and that the gods will cheer after she has slain him. We left out the drink and the laughter, and we shortened her words to “Roar for now. After that, the gods will cheer in this very place.”
- How he fell (verses 3.40–3.42). The verses have her pierce him with her spear and cut off his head with her sword as he emerges half-way from the buffalo. The story keeps her leap and her foot upon him (3.40), and uses the verses’ own word: he fell (3.42). The ending needs it, because the gods thank her for it in chapter 4.
- The army (verse 3.43). The verses say the whole demon army perished. The story says it was gone.
- Hymn verses about ritual, scripture and fear (verses 4.5–4.8, 4.10, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.18–4.20, 4.24, 4.26 second half, 4.27). These speak of rites and the Vedas, of her wrathful face, of her power to destroy, of weapons, of blessings of family, and of heaven. We chose only the verses a child can picture.
- The names Sri, Gauri (verse 4.11) and Bhadrakali (verse 4.39). The translation calls her by many names. The story says “the Goddess”.
- The summary and the next tale (verses 4.40–4.42). The seer sums up and says he will tell how she appeared from Gauri’s body for Shumbha and Nishumbha. That is a different tale, and the story stops at 4.39.
The hymn is told in the gods’ own words, in an order chosen for children rather than verse order: her face and the gods’ praise (4.2–4.4, 4.12), the boat over a rough sea (4.9, 4.11), kindness to foes (4.21–4.22), the saved worlds and the guard in four directions (4.23, 4.25, 4.26), and last the verse about remembering her (4.17), so that it stands beside the gods’ ask. No verse is changed. Page 8: verse 3.33 gives the Goddess no action, so the page tells only what the verse says: he became a buffalo again and the three worlds trembled. Page 12: “the heavenly hosts” is the translation’s Divine Hosts (3.43). Page 14: the verses say Indra and the hosts of Gods praise her (4.2). The story gives Indra no title, because the verses name none. Page 15: “free of every trouble” renders the sages’ longing for liberation (4.9). Page 17: “saved all the worlds” is the verses’ “three worlds” (4.23). Page 19: “heavenly flowers” stands for flowers of Indra’s paradise (4.29), and the incense is the “heavenly incense” of 4.30. Page 22: “worst troubles” stands for “direst misfortunes”, and “take away” stands for “destroy” (4.35). Page 23: the verse says “these hymns”; the story has the one hymn. Page 24: the verses give her answer only as “So let it be” (4.39), to the gods’ ask (4.35–4.37). The story adds nothing to it. Page 21: “All has been done. Nothing is left to do” renders “all has been accomplished; nothing remains to be done” (4.34). The story does not say the gods got heaven back, because chapters 3 and 4 do not say it. The translation names the Goddess as Devi, Chandika, Ambika, Bhadrakali, Durga, Sri and Gauri. Mahishasura is the asura.
The question children ask here
“Why did the gods thank the Goddess for ending Mahishasura? Was it sad for him?” The gods answer this in their own hymn. In their words (our plain rendering of the translation):
- even when she strikes down enemies, she thinks of them with grace, and her weapons make them pure (verses 4.18–4.19);
- even toward those who stood against the gods, her intentions are most gracious (verse 4.21);
- she led even the frenzied throngs of the enemy to heaven (verse 4.23).
“The gods say she was kind even to those who fought against her.” The story does not tell what happened to him beyond “he fell”. If your child is still sad for him, you can say: “It is all right to feel sad. The gods say her heart is kind even to those who stood against them.” A second question children ask: “Where did she go?” In the verses she says “So let it be” and then “vanished from sight” (4.39). That is all the verse says. If your child worries, you can say: “She is not lost to them. The gods end the story glad, not alone.”
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