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Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars.

Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic forces that threaten peace, prosperity, and dharma, representing the power of good over evil. Durga is believed to unleash her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed, and entails destruction to empower creation. Durga is seen as a motherly figure and often depicted as a beautiful woman, riding a lion or tiger, with many arms each carrying a weapon and often defeating demons. She is widely worshipped by the followers of the goddess-centric sect, Shaktism, and has importance in other denominations like Shaivism and Vaishnavism.

The most important texts of Shaktism, Devi Mahatmya, and Devi Bhagavata Purana, revere Devi (the Goddess) as the primordial creator of the universe and the Brahman (ultimate truth and reality). She is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism.

Durga has a significant following all over India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and many other countries. She is mostly worshipped after spring and autumn harvests, especially during the festivals of Durga Puja, Durga Ashtami, Vijayadashami, Deepavali, and Navaratri.

Etymology and nomenclature

The word ''Durga'' (दुर्गा) literally means "impassable", "invincible, unassailable". It is related to the word ''Durg'' (दुर्ग) which means "fortress, something difficult to defeat or pass". According to Monier Monier-Williams, ''Durga'' is derived from the roots ''dur'' (difficult) and ''gam'' (pass, go through).Monier Monier Williams (1899), Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 487 According to Alain Daniélou, Durga means "beyond defeat".

The word ''Durga'' and related terms appear in the Vedic literature, such as in the '' Rigveda'' hymns 4.28, 5.34, 8.27, 8.47, 8.93 and 10.127, and in sections 10.1 and 12.4 of the ''Atharvaveda''. A deity named ''Durge'' appears in section 10.1.7 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka. While the Vedic literature uses the word ''Durga'', the description therein lacks the legendary details about her that is found in later Hindu literature.

Importantly it is concluded that the Vedic Texts concluded Durga alone to be the Supreme and the Absolute facet of Brahman, as stated in the Devi-Atharvashirsha

यस्याः परतरं नास्ति सैषा दुर्गा प्रकीर्तिता ॥२४॥

She who is renowned by the name "Durga" is the being superior to whom, no one exists.

Devi Atharvashirhsa Upanishad
24.

Hence, Durga alone is concluded to be the supreme deity of the Vedas in Shaktism. The word is also found in ancient post-Vedic Sanskrit texts such as in section 2.451 of the '' Mahabharata'' and section 4.27.16 of the '' Ramayana''. These usages are in different contexts. For example, ''Durg'' is the name of an Asura who had become invincible to gods, and ''Durga'' is the goddess who intervenes and slays him. ''Durga'' and its derivatives are found in sections 4.1.99 and 6.3.63 of the ''Ashtadhyayi'' by Pāṇini, the ancient Sanskrit grammarian, and in the commentary of Nirukta by Yaska. ''Durga'' as a demon-slaying goddess was likely well established by the time the classic Hindu text called ''Devi Mahatmya'' was composed, which scholars variously estimate to between 400 and 600 CE. The ''Devi Mahatmya'' and other mythologies describe the nature of demonic forces symbolised by Mahishasura as shape-shifting and adapting in nature, form and strategy to create difficulties and achieve their evil ends, while Durga calmly understands and counters the evil in order to achieve her solemn goals.

There are many epithets for Durga in Shaktism and her nine appellations are ( Navadurga): Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayini, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri. A list of 108 names of the goddess is recited in order to worship her and is popularly known as the "Ashtottarshat Namavali of Goddess Durga".

Other meanings may include: "the one who cannot be accessed easily", "the undefeatable goddess".

One famous shloka states the definition and origin of the term 'Durga': ''"Durge durgati nashini"'', meaning Durga is the one who destroys all distress or one who eliminates suffering.

History and texts

Evidence of Durga-like images can probably be traced back to the Indus Valley civilisation. According to Asko Parpola, a cylindrical seal from Kalibangan shows "a Durgā-like goddess of war, who is associated with the tiger".

Reverence for Devi, the feminine nature of God, first appears in the 10th Maṇḍala of ''Rig Veda'', one of the scriptures of Hinduism. This hymn is also called the Devi Suktam hymn (abridged):

I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.
Thus gods have established me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in.
Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them, – each man who sees, breathes, hears the word outspoken.
They know it not, yet I reside in the essence of the Universe. Hear, one and all, the truth as I declare it.
I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that gods and men alike shall welcome.
I make the man I love exceedingly mighty, make him nourished, a sage, and one who knows Brahman.
I bend the bow for Rudra, that his arrow may strike, and slay the hater of devotion.
I rouse and order battle for the people, I created Earth and Heaven and reside as their Inner Controller.
On the world's summit I bring forth sky the Father: my home is in the waters, in the ocean as Mother.
Thence I pervade all existing creatures, as their Inner Supreme Self, and manifest them with my body.
I created all worlds at my will, without any higher being, and permeate and dwell within them.
The eternal and infinite consciousness is I, it is my greatness dwelling in everything.

– Devi Sukta, '' Rigveda 10.125.3 – 10.125.8'',The Rig Veda/Mandala 10/Hymn 125
Ralph T.H. Griffith (Translator); for Sanskrit original see
ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १०.१२५

Devi's epithets synonymous with Durga appear in Upanishadic literature, such as ''Kali'' in verse 1.2.4 of the ''Mundaka Upanishad'' dated to about the 5th century BCE. This single mention describes ''Kali'' as "terrible yet swift as thought", very red and smoky coloured manifestation of the divine with a fire-like flickering tongue, before the text begins presenting its thesis that one must seek self-knowledge and the knowledge of the eternal Brahman.

Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Epics period of ancient India, that is the centuries around the start of the common era. Both Yudhisthira and Arjuna characters of the ''Mahabharata'' invoke hymns to ''Durga''. She appears in ''Harivamsa'' in the form of Vishnu's eulogy, and in Pradyumna prayer. Various Puranas from the early to late 1st millennium CE dedicate chapters of inconsistent mythologies associated with ''Durga''. Of these, the '' Markandeya Purana'' and the '' Devi-Bhagavata Purana'' are the most significant texts on ''Durga''. The Devi Upanishad and other Shakta Upanishads, mostly dated to have been composed in or after the 9th century, present the philosophical and mystical speculations related to ''Durga'' as ''Devi'' and other epithets, identifying her to be the same as the Brahman and Atman (self, soul).

In the ''Narada Purana'', Durga is associated as a form of Lakshmi. In the '' Garuda Purana'' and the '' Vishnu Purana'', Lakshmi is considered Prakriti (Mahalakshmi) and is identified with three forms — Sri, Bhu and Durga. In Pancharatra

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