Navratri (nine nights) is a festival that honours the indomitable Divine Feminine. From Ghatastaphana to Kanya Pujan, from fasting and praying to garba, from yajnas and homams to planting saplings, the diversity of Navratri celebrations are intended to harmonise both body and soul with the cosmos. One of the integral parts of this festival is the recitation of a centuries-old text called the Durga Saptashati or the Devi Mahatamya.
Durga Saptashati is one of the ancient Vedic scriptures that describe Devi as the supreme power and the Creative Energy of the Supreme Absolute. It is known as Devi Mahatmya in South India, Chandi in West Bengal and as Durga Sapthasathi in the northern parts of the country including Varanasi. It is part of the Markandeya Purana, written by sage Markandeya. Consisting of 13 chapters, the book recounts the Devi’s tales of valor through 700 stanzas.
Durga Saptashati Adhyay 1 to 13:
Chapter 1 – Slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha
Chapter 2 – Slaughter of the Armies of Mahishasura
Chapter 3 – Slaying of Mahishasura
Chapter 4 – Devi Stuti
Chapter 5 – Devi’s Conversation with the Messenger
Chapter 6 – Slaying of Dhumralochana
Chapter 7 – Slaying of Chanda and Munda
Chapter 8 – Slaying of Raktabija
Chapter 9 – Slaying of Nishumbha
Chapter 10 – Slaying of Shumbha
Chapter 11 – Hymn to Narayani
Chapter 12 – Eulogy of Merits
Chapter 13 – Bestowing of Boons to Suratha and Vaisya
The three central narratives in the composition are:
Devi Mahamaya and the story of Madhu and Kaitabha.
Adishakti Durga and slaying of Mahishasura.
Devi Ambika and the annihilation of the demons – Shumbha and Nishumbha.
The first episode (chapter 1) of the Devi Mahatmyam depicts Devi in her form as Mahakali. Two demons, Madhu-Kaitabha take birth from the earwax of Lord Vishnu while he was asleep and start troubling Lord Brahma who was sitting on the lotus originating from the belly of Lord Vishnu. Lord Brahma prays to the Goddess to help him continue his work of creation. The goddess appears and takes the form of Vishnu Maya and kills both Asuras after wrestling with them for thousands of years. Since both these Asuras were of Thamasic origin, she also had a thamasic form.
The middle episode (chapters 2-4) presents goddess Mahalakshmi in her avatar as Durga. She is a great Warrior Goddess, representing divine anger and the lethal energy against adharma. The episode stages a world under attack by the shape-shifting Mahishasura, an evil demon who uses deception to disarm his opponents, ultimately taking the form of a buffalo demon. He defeats the male gods individually, who fear total annihilation of the forces of good. They team up, combine their individual strengths and channel it to form a singular mass of Shakti from which Mahalakshmi is born as the endowed Durga. Riding a lion into battle, Durga captures and slays the buffalo demon, by cutting off its head. She then destroys the inner essence of the demon when it emerges from the buffalo’s severed neck, thereby establishing order in the world.
The final episode (chapters 5-13) depicts Devi in her form of Mahasaraswati. She is portrayed as arising from the koshas (cells) of Devi Parvati (the supreme form of the Goddess) and hence she is named Devi Kaushiki. Kali may be understood to represent the darker chthonic, transformative qualities of Devi’s power or Shakti. Kali’s emergence is chronicled in the 7th chapter. Kali, in the form of Chamunda emerges from Devi’s eyebrows as a burst of psychic energy. She overpowers and beheads Chanda and Munda, and when she delivers their severed heads to Devi, she is dubbed Chamunda.
During a fierce battle in which the Great Goddess demonstrates her omnipotence by defeating powerful demons who terrify the devas, she encounters the fierce Raktabija (chapter 8). Every drop of blood Raktabīja sheds transforms into another demon as it touches the earth. A unique strategy has to be devised to vanquish him. While Kaushiki attacks him with various weapons, Kali, with her huge mouth and enormous tongue ferociously laps up Raktabija’s blood, thus preventing the uprising of further demons.
The story continues in which Devi, Kali and a group of Matrikas destroy the demonic brothers Sumbha (chapter 10) and Nisumbha (chapter 9). In the final battle against Shumbha, Devi absorbs Kali and the matrikas and stands alone for the final battle.
The tales of Devi symbolise the power of good over evil. Maybe to remind oneself of this eternal truth, people recite the Durga Saptashati at their homes during the nine days of Navratri. Listening to the glories of the Goddess, the devotee revels in the realization of her omnipotence.
‘I resemble in form Brahman,
from me emanates the world,
which has the Spirit of Prakriti and Purusha,
I am empty and not empty,
I am delight and non-delight,
I am knowledge and ignorance,
I am Brahman and not Brahman.’
—Devi Mahatmya