Who are the Nine forms of Maa Durga (Navdurga) ?
Navdurga is the nine forms or manifestations of Goddess Durga. Devotees worship them during the nine days of Navratri and Durga Puja. Each form represents a different aspect of her power and energy.
Shailaputri
Maa Shailaputri is worshipped on the first day of Navratari and is the daughter of Himavat. In her previous life, she was the daughter of Daksha and the wife of Lord Shiva. Once, Daksha organized a Yagna, but he didn’t invite her, infuriating her, so she decided to attend. In the Yagna ceremony, Daksha insulted Lord Shiva, so Sati decided to destroy Daksha’s sacrifice by stepping into the fire. In the next birth, she took the form of Devi Parvati, daughter of Himavat.
She is considered to be the goddess of the root chakra.
Description
- She has two hands.
- She holds a trident in her right hand and a lotus flower in her left.
- Bull is her mount (vahana).
- She symbolizes strength, stability, and foundation.
Brahmacharini
The second form of Goddess Durga, celebrated on the second day of Navratari, is Brahmacharini. Brahmacharini means a devoted female student who lives in an ashrama.
Legend
Parvati decides to marry Lord Shiva despite her parents’ discouragement and performs penances for 5000 years. Gods took help from Kamadeva to build desire in Lord Shiva for Parvati. Kamadeva shoots an arrow at Shiva but gets burned due to the opening of Lord Shiva’s third eye in anger.
Parvati, in the meantime, starts to live in the mountains like Lord Shiva and performs tapa and yoga. This aspect of Paravati is deemed to be Goddess Brahmacharini. Lord Shiva is driven by her ascetic pursuit.
During this time, a demon named Prakandasura attacks Devi Parvati with his million asuras. Goddess Laxmi and Saraswati intervened to help her, but the demons outnumbered them. After fighting for many days, Kamandalu, besides Parvati, falls and washes away the demons. She opened her eyes, and the fire burned the demons to ashes.
At last, Lord Shiva visits her disguised as Brahmachari and examines her with riddles, which she answers correctly. He proposes to her. Parvati recognizes him as Lord Shiva and accepts the proposal. He appears in his true form and breaks her tapas. During her tapa, Parvati feeds on Belapatra and river water.
Her adobe is the Svadhisthana chakra.
Description
- She wears white clothes.
- She holds japamala in her right hand and Kamandalu in her left hand.
- She is a calm figure who symbolizes devotion, self-discipline, purity, and simplicity.
Chandraghanta
She is the third form of Maa Durga. Chandraghanta means one who has a half-moon shaped like a bell.
Her adobe is Manipura chakra.
Legend
After performing tapas for many years, Paravati marries Lord Shiva. Devi Parvati settles in her new house at Kailasa amongst new people. While this is happening, Tarakasura, a demon, has a boon to be killed by the biological son of Lord Shiva, and Parvati emerges. He assigns Jatukasura to create a ruckus in Lord Shiva’s and Devi Parvati’s lives.
When Lord Shiva was performing intense tapa, and Devi Parvati was busy with her household chores, Jatukasura took advantage and marched toward Kailash Parvat. He covered the sky with the wings of his bat army. The bats attacked Shiva Gana. Devi Parvati became fearful and decided to take help from Nandi. But Nandi was nowhere to be seen.
She went to Lord Shiva to seek help, but he was unable to leave his tapa. Lord Shiva reminded her that she is the mother of the universe, and sufficient to fight the situation, after which Maa Parvati decided to fight the asura.
Devi Parvati took help from Chandradevta to illuminate the battlefield. She wore Chandradevta on her head. A huge pack of wolves came to Devi Parvati’s aid to fight the bats. The wolves attacked the bats while Parvati battled Jatukasura. Soon devi realised that the asura is powered by the bats so she brought ghanta in the battlefield and rang it loudly so that the bats could fly away.
At the end, Devi Parvati hit Jatukasura’s head with ghanta, cut off his wings with kide like sword and put it in his chest to kill.
Description
- She rides a tiger.
- She has ten hands.
- Her left hands adorn a trident, mace, sword, Kamandalu (water pot), and varah mudra (gesture of granting wishes and blessings).
- Her right hands adorn a lotus flower, bow, arrow, japamala (rosery), and abhaya mudra (gesture of reassurance and protection).
- She represents bravery and courage.
- Her complexion is golden.
- She destroys evil but is kind and compassionate at the same time.
Kushmanda
Kushmanda Devi is the fourth form of Maa Durga. It is believed and stated that she created the whole universe with a flash of her smile. Ku means one, Ushma means heat, and anda means egg. She is believed to be the creator of the cosmic egg, which is known as the beginning of the universe. She created the Sun and made it her home. She sits at its center to spread energy across creation.
Description
- She is depicted with eight arms.
- She rides a tiger.
- Her left hands has a lotus, arrow, bow, and kamandala.
- A discus, mace, japmala (rosary), and a pitcher adorn her right hands.
- Kushmanda Devi is believed to bring good health, vitality, harmony, overcome challenges, and mental peace.
Skandamata
Skandamata is the fifth form of Navdurga. Devotees worship her on the fifth day of Navratri.
Description
- The description depicts her with four arms.
- Devotees believe she grants them salvation, power, prosperity, treasures, and wisdom.
- Her mount is a lion.
- She holds her son Skanda (alternate name of Kartikeya) and a lotus in her left hand.
- She holds a lotus in one of her right hands, and her other right hand is in the blessing position.
Katyayani
Maa Katyayani is the sixth form of Maa Durga. She is associated with the fierce form of Shakti or Durga.
The Ajna Chakra, or third eye chakra, is associated with her.
Legend
Gods sought help from Sri Vishnu because of the terror of Mahishasura. Sri Vishnu, Lord Shiva and other gods emitted flames from their eyes, from which Maa Katyayani emerged. They all gave her their weapons. After adorning herself with weapons, she proceeded to Mysore hills. The asuras were captivated with her beauty and informed Mahishasura about the same.
Mahishasura approached Maa Katyayani for her hand but she told him that they must fight for that. Mahishasura took the form of Mahisha (the bull) and fought with her. Maa Katyayani dismounted from her lion and with her tender feet smote him on the head with such a terrible force that he fell to the ground senseless. With her sword, she cut his head and came to be known as Mahishasuramardini, the Slayer of Mahishasura.
Description
- She has four hands.
- She is shown with a radiant golden expression.
- Holding a sword and lotus in two hands, she has her other two hands in Abhaya and Varada Mudras, representing protection and granting boons.
- She rides a lion.
- She is the vanquisher of evil forces and a symbol of courage and strength.
Kalaratri
She is the seventh form of Maa Durga. She is one of the fearsome forms of the goddesses.
She is associated with the crown chakra.
Legend
Shumbha and Nishumbha, two demons, invaded Devaloka and defeated Indra Dev and other devas. They went to Lord Shiva for help and prayed to Devi Parvati. Devi Parvati heard their prayers while bathing and created Devi Chandi to help them. Shumbha and Nishumbha sent Chand and Munda for attack. Chandi took the form of dark goddess (Kalratri) and killed them.
Then, a demon named Raktabija arrived. He had a boon that every drop of his blood that fell on earth would create a new clone of him. It was impossible to kill him. Maa Kalratri drank his blood without spilling a single drop on earth and helping Maa Chandi in killing him along with Shumbha and Nishumbha. At that time, she was so destructive and fierce that she started killing anyone coming her way. Gods prayed to Lord Shiva to stop her. Lord Shiva came below her foot to stop her. After seeing her beloved husband below her foot, she bit her tongue and helped him to stand. In her guilt, she forgot about the fight, and hence, she calmed.
Description
- She has a dark complexion.
- Her colour represents the night of death or the darkness that she overcomes.
- Maa Kalratri is the destroyer of evil entities, ghosts, evil spirits, and negative energies.
- She has four arms, holding a scimitar and thunderbolt in two hands, while the other two are in the position of giving protection.
- She rides a donkey.
- Her disheveled yet tamed hair reflects her wild and untamed nature.
Mahagauri
She is the eighth form of Maa Durga. Maha means great, and Gauri means clean or bright.
Legend
Demons Shumbha and Nishumbha could only be killed by the virgin and unmarried form of Maa Parvati. As per the advice of Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva repeatedly mocked Devi Parvati by calling her Kali. On this, Devi Parvati got agitated and prayed to Brahma to grant her a golden complexion. Lord Brahma explained his inability to do the same and asked her to slay Shumbha and Nishumbha. Devi Parvati agreed to this and went to take a bath in the river Ganges in the Himalayas. She came out of the river as a golden woman, and her black skin washed away. She came to be known as Mahagauri.
Devi Parvati appeared before the Gods to help them slay Shumbha and Nishumbha by taking a black appearance. Devi Parvati transformed into Chandraghanta to kill the demon Dhumralochan. She took the form of Chandi to kill Chanda and Muda. Chandi also killed Raktabija. Devi Parvati turned to Kaushiki to kill Shumbha and Nishumba, after which she turned back to Mahagauri.
Description
- She is depicted in white, riding a bull.
- She has four hands.
- Her right upper hand holds a trident.
- Her left side left hand holds a damru.
- She represents purity, serenity, and the removal of suffering.
- She is revered to bring harmony and purify the soul of her devotees.
Siddhidatri
Siddhidatri is the ninth form of Maa Durga. ‘Siddhi’ means supernatural power or meditative ability, and ‘Datri’ means giver. Lord Shiva achieved Siddhi by worshipping her.
Legend
As per the legend, when the universe was void and full of darkness, there was no sign of any world. A divine light spread to every nook and corner of the universe and took a divine form of Mahashakti. The Goddess gave birth to the trinity of Gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. She advised them to contemplate to understand their roles in performing worldly duties. Acting on her words, they performed penances, and Maa Siddhidatri appeared before them. Maa Siddhidatri provided Lord Brahma the duty to create the universe, Lord Vishnu to run the universe, and Lord Shiva to destroy the universe whenever it is the time.
She imparted them the powers to perform their duties. She gave them eight siddhis, which are the eight supernatural powers, namely:
- Anima – reducing one’s body to the size of a crumb.
- Mahima – expanding one’s body to an infinitely large size.
- Garima – become infinitely heavy.
- Laghima – become weightless.
- Prapti – become omnipresent.
- Prakmbya – achieving whatever one desires.
- Ishitva – possessing absolute lordship.
- Vashitva – power to subjugate all.
She granted the trinity the nine treasures and ten other supernatural powers. Man, Woman, Deva, Daitya, Danavas, Asuras, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Apsaras, Bhutas, Heavenly beings, mythical creatures, plants, animals, nagas, Garudas, and many more species of the world were born. The stars, galaxies, constellations, solar system, planets, and 14 worlds were created. Earth was filled with flora and fauna, landmass, water and all its habitants were given habitats to live.
Description
- Maa Siddhidatri is depicted with four hands.
- She holds a discus, a counch, a mace, and a lotus.
- She bestows and possesses all Siddhi (accomplishments) to her devotees.
- The Goddess possesses eight types of Siddhi – Anima, Mahima, Prapti, Prakamya, Garima, Laghima, Ishitva, and Vashitva.
- She sits on a full-bloomed lotus or has a lion as her mount.
The nine forms of Maa Durga are reflections of power within us. We should remember our own inner Durga while walking through life’s battles.
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