Durga

Warrior goddess formed from the gods' combined energies, slayer of Mahishasura

Domains

• war
• protection

Powers

• Slay the shape-shifting buffalo-demon unkillable by gods
• Wage war wielding every god's weapon at once

Epithets

• महिषासुरमर्दिनी sanskrit · Mahiṣāsuramardinī · epithetSlayer of the buffalo-demon MahiṣaDevī Māhātmya (Durgā Saptaśatī), Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, ch. 2-3 (primary)
• दुर्गा sanskrit · Durgā · stotraThe Inaccessible; slayer of the demon DurgaDevī Māhātmya; Skanda Purāṇa (primary)
• चण्डिका sanskrit · Caṇḍikā · stotraThe Fierce/Wrathful GoddessDevī Māhātmya (Durgā Saptaśatī), Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (primary)
• अम्बिका sanskrit · Ambikā · epithetThe MotherDevī Māhātmya; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 3.57 (Ambikā as Rudra's sister) (primary)
• कात्यायनी sanskrit · Kātyāyanī · epithetDaughter of the sage Katyāyana; warrior form of the GoddessDevī Māhātmya; Taittirīya Āraṇyaka 10.1.7 (primary)

Relations

• equated with: KorravaiReciprocal of tamil_korravai.equated-with — The Sangam war-and-victory goddess of the arid pālai is hymned with Mahiṣamardinī traits already in the Cilappatikāram. The equation keeps battle-fury; Korravai's role as Murugan's mother has no Durgā parallel.Cilappatikāram, canto 12 (Vēṭṭuva Vari), hymning Korravai with Durgā's iconography (primary); Kamil Zvelebil, The Smile of Murugan (1973) (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Devi Mahatmya (Markandeya Purana) (primary)