Durga

[golddust]

I recently spent a few nonths in India and whilst I was there, I obviously visited many temples, and laid offerings at shrines, i found myself placing some flowers which i had picked to place at the foot of a siva lingum (sp?) in some caves on a little corner on a roadside instead... this wasn't planned it just occured out of spontaniety and compulsion, the next day I went back to check the flowers were still there and I found a little soapstone model of a woman on a tiger about two feet away which i hadn't noticed the day before... it was a pretty deserted road and the model was dirty so it had probably been there a while, i cleaned the model and left it there, and went to find out who the woman was, searching on google i've found out that it was probably DFurga, however I can't really find many sites that give very much information on her, most just show her connection to Parvati and mention that she is powerful.

If anyone has any information on her, or has had any experiences with her, I would be very grateful if they could share them. Thankyou

[Mnemosyne]

Wow! I would love to hear about your Indian experiences. I just got my Indian Visa and am planning to spent loads of time there this upcoming summer. I've found the Hindu pantheon to be interesting; however, I have never been particularly drawn to it. I have been learning a tad about it though, so I can appreciate the Indian culture more than I normally would.

I don't know much about Durgha. The Hindu pantheon has millions of deities- mainly because the deities have so many different aspects. Would it be ok if you looked into Devi? Devi's other form is the warrior form, Durgha.

BB

[Mnemosyne]

I found more info on Durga. So weird- I was just reading the Let's Go travel book on India and came across infor on her.

Here's what I found. Durga was created by the combined powers of all the male deities in order to destroy Mahisha, a demon. She destroyed the demon and saved the world from destruction. She usually has a lion (or tiger) by her side and ten hands.

In Calcutta, there is an entire festival devoted to Durga. It's called the Durga Puja. The festival lasts four days. You can read about it here.

http://www.bangalinet.com/durgapuja.htm

[Rahul]

Durga is possibly a development of a vedic concept, sharing some aspects of Agni.

What is worshipped in Durga puja is a tribal eastern deity.