The Young Chronicle: For 2nd Graders October 15th, 2015 | Page 4

The Story Behind Durga Puja Durga Puja or Sharadotsav is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates the worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It starts on the 6th day of the Navratri, and ends with Dussehra on the 10th day. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura (মহিষাসুর). Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomises the victory of Good over Evil. Long ago there lived a Daemon King called Mahishasura. Mahishasura prayed to Lord Brahma and pleased the lord. When Lord brahma asked him for a wish, Mahishasura asked him to give him the gift to live forever. Since this was an unreasonable request, lord Brahma asked Mahishasura to ask for something else. Mahishasura toned down a bit and asked lord brahma to give him a boon that only a woman could kill him. Since Mahishasura thought that women were weak, he felt he was safe and would never die. Mahishasura then decided that since even the gods couldn’t kill him, he should wage a war against them. He gathered a huge army of Asuras and decided to wage a war against the Gods. All the gods tried their best but they couldn’t kill Mahishasura. That’s when the gods decided to create a woman from their best parts. A dazzling pillar of light emerged from the face of Brahma and shone in the sky. It was red and was bright like the sun. Next, from the body of Lord Sankara, a silver colored flame emerged and joined that from Brahma. Vishnu also contributed his power to this group, and so did the other Devas. Born of the best parts of all the Gods, the goddess formed came to be known as Mahalakshmi. She was made eternal. She became the protector of the Gods. Though she appears in many forms, her true form is in the form of Shakti or Energy. She doesn’t have a human form. Parvati and Durga are her avatars. The Devi mounted her lion and marched towards the daemons to fight them. Mahisha was wonderstruck by the goddesses beauty and the will to fight. When he asked the goddess to marry him, she declared that she wanted to meet him in a battle field. After a long battle, the goddess decided to end the battle then and there, the Goddess then summoned her discuss (given to her by Vishnu), that was an clone of the SudarsanaChakra. She launched it at Mahishasura and beheaded him. Thus, the terrible buffalodemon, who had terrorized the Gods with boons obtained from Lord Brahma, met his end at the hands of Durga.