mahishasur mardini

mahishasur mardini

In the eyes of sakta perception of the myth of durga versus mahishasur, the interpretation is that it is  a war waged within the individual. the whipped up oceans, the swaying mountains, , the shaking worlds – the real location of these events is within the human being. it is there that the asuras attempt to establish their rule. they represent avidya and tamas i.e. the condition of ignorance and spiritual dullness. lack of knowledge prevents them from heeding the divine order. their might is based on an undirected , unbridled vitality.

these asuric forces can be vanquished only by knowledge alone. insight, ultimate knowledge, the essence of all spiritual potency (jnana shakti) invoked by these words is what brings liberation from ignorance. it is the spiritual power which is manifested in the person of the goddess, who owes her existence to the collective energy of all the other gods.

the struggle against personified ignorance is, of necessity, bloody. it is a fight which ends in annihilation. it is this which is focussed on in various depictions.

(based on "hindu myth - hindud history"  byhenrich von stietencron -- orient longman - 2007 page 119)