Long ago, the gods lived in heaven. Indra was their chief.
The asuras were rivals of the gods. Their chief was Mahishasura. Say it slowly: mah-HISH-uh-SOOR-uh.
For one hundred years, the gods and the asuras fought. In the end the gods lost.
The asura chief became lord of heaven. He took over the places and the work that belonged to the gods.
The gods were sent out of heaven. They wandered over the earth like ordinary people.
The gods went to ask for help. Brahma led the way.
They came to Vishnu and Shiva, two great gods whom the other gods trusted.
The gods told Vishnu and Shiva everything the asura chief had done.
“We have come to you for shelter,” they said. “Please find a way to help us.”
Vishnu and Shiva listened. Their faces grew stern at what they heard.
Then a great light came out from the face of Vishnu, and from the face of Shiva.
Light came from Brahma too, and from Indra and all the other gods.
The lights came together as one. It looked like a mountain of light, blazing across the sky.
Then the light became a Goddess. All the gods' light was in her, and her glow filled all the worlds.
The gods saw the Goddess, and they were glad.
Shiva drew another trident out of his own trident and gave it to the Goddess.
Vishnu spun a discus out of his own discus and gave it to her. The god of the waters gave her a conch shell.
Brahma gave the Goddess prayer beads and a water-pot. The sun gave her his rays of light.
The ocean gave her a garland of lotus flowers and shining jewels.
Himalaya, the lord of the mountains, gave her a lion to ride.
The other gods honoured the Goddess with gifts too, with ornaments and weapons.
The gods called out, “Hail to you, Goddess!” The sages, wise holy people, bowed to her.
The tale of the Goddess goes on. That is for another time.
The gods had asked for help, and now the Goddess was here.
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 1 to 35: the gods lose heaven, go to Vishnu and Shiva for help, their light joins into one, and a Goddess appears and is given gifts. Verse numbers follow devimahatmya.com (in its English translation); there, verse 2.1 is “The seer said” and the first narrative verse is 2.2. Some printed editions number the verses one place differently. The chapter goes 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: the dialogue is a plain rendering of the translation, not a word-for-word quotation. Where the source is long or hard 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 this chapter, so they appear only on this page.
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Three things this telling leaves out, and why
- The fighting itself (verses 2.2–2.3). The verses say that the gods and the asuras fought for a hundred years and that the gods lost. We give this in one plain line and describe no battle.
- Which gods lost their places (verse 2.6). The source names Surya, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Chandra, Yama, Varuna and others, whose authority Mahishasura took. To keep each page to one or two gods, the story names none of them and says only that the asura chief took over the places and the work that belonged to the gods.
- Vishnu’s and Shiva’s fury (verse 2.9). The verses say they knit their brows in fury at the gods’ words. The story says their faces grew “stern”. The feeling is the same; the word “fury” is softened.
- The words “for his destruction” (verse 2.8). The gods ask Vishnu and Shiva to devise a means for Mahishasura’s destruction. The story has them ask for help. The request is the same; the harsh word is left out.
- How the Goddess’s body was formed (verses 2.14–2.18). The source lists which god’s light became each part of her. We keep the one fact that matters: all the gods’ light was in her.
- Most of the gifts (verses 2.21–2.23, 2.25–2.28, 2.30–2.31). The gods also give a spear, a bow and arrows, a thunderbolt, a bell, a staff, a noose, a sword, a shield, an axe, armor, many ornaments, a cup of wine (Kubera, 2.30) and a garland of snakes (Shesha, 2.31). We tell a few gifts and say the others gave ornaments and weapons too. Weapons appear only as gifts, never in use.
- The laugh, the roar and the shaking worlds (verses 2.32–2.34). After the gifts the Goddess laughs thunderously, fills the sky with a terrible roar, and the worlds shake and the oceans churn. The story skips this frightening part and rejoins the chapter at verse 2.35, the gods’ cry of joy.
- What comes next (verses 2.36 onward). The asuras ready their forces and Mahishasura rushes toward the sound with countless asuras, and the battle begins. The story ends before it and says only that the tale goes on.
Page 4 carries verses 2.3 and 2.6; the gods being cast out of heaven (2.7) is page 5; their journey to Vishnu and Shiva (2.4) is pages 6 and 7; the telling (2.5) is page 8; and their plea (2.8) is page 9. The story tells the gods being cast out (2.7) before their journey to Vishnu and Shiva (2.4), whereas in the verses it is part of the gods’ report to them. The light that comes from each god and joins into one (2.9–2.12) is three pages, 11 to 13. The gifts (2.20–2.32) are six pages and carry only some of them; the ocean’s jewels and lotus garlands (2.25–2.27, 2.29) are one line. The verses say the Goddess’s light filled “the three worlds”; the story says “all the worlds”. The cry in verse 2.35 is “Victory!” in the translation we read; we give it as “Hail to you”, because nothing has been won yet and the story stops before the battle. Mahishasura’s name, as the verses give it, is only a name. In the tradition it is linked to the buffalo (mahisha means buffalo), which is why he is called the buffalo-demon; the chapter itself does not say so in these verses, so the story does not.
The question children ask here
“Why did the gods give the Goddess something of their own?” The verses tell what happened, in this order. They do not give a reason for the gifts beyond it:
- the Goddess was made from the gods’ own light, light from the bodies of all of them, joined into one (verses 2.11–2.13, 2.18);
- when the gods saw her, they rejoiced (verse 2.19);
- then they gave her their own weapons and ornaments, and some drew another out of their own to give, as Shiva did with his trident and Vishnu with his discus (verses 2.20–2.21).
“She was made from the gods’ own light, and when they saw her they were glad and gave her things of their own.”
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