Mahishasura

Mahishasura (Sanskrit: महिषासुर, IAST: Mahiṣāsura) is a bovine asura in Hinduism. He is depicted in Hindu literature as a deceitful demon who pursued his evil ways by shape-shifting.^[1][2][3] Mahishasura was the son of the asura Rambha and the brother of buffalo-demoness named Mahishi.^[4] He was ultimately killed by the goddess Durga with her trishula (trident) after which she gained the epithet Mahishasuramardini ("Slayer of Mahishasura"). Mahishasura had a son named Gajasura.

Mahishasura
19th-century painting of Durga fighting Mahishasura
Affiliation	Asura
Texts	Puranas
Genealogy
Parents	Rambha (father)
Children	Gajasura

The Navaratri ("Nine Nights") festival eulogises this battle between Mahishasura and Durga, culminating in Vijayadashami, a celebration of his ultimate defeat. This story of the "triumph of good over evil" carries profound symbolism in Hinduism, particularly Shaktism, and is both narrated as well as reenacted from the Devi Mahatmya at many South and Southeast Asian Hindu temples.^[5][6][7]

The Mahishasura Mardini Stotra by Adi Shankara was written to commemorate her legend.^[8]

Legend

Artwork depicting the goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura is found all over India, Nepal and southeast Asia.

9th-century Kashmir

13th-century Karnataka

2nd-century Uttar Pradesh

9th century Prambanan Indonesia

Mahishasura is a Sanskrit word composed of Mahisha meaning "buffalo" and asura meaning "demon", translating to "buffalo demon". As an asura, Mahishasura waged war against the devas, as the devas and asuras were perpetually in conflict. Mahishasura had gained the boon that no man could kill him. In the battles between the devas and the demons (asuras), the devas, led by Indra, were defeated by Mahishasura. Subjected to defeat, the devas assembled in the mountains where their combined divine energies coalesced into the goddess Durga. The newborn Durga led a battle against Mahishasura, riding a lion, and killed him. Thereafter, she was named Mahishasuramardini, meaning The Killer of Mahishasura.^[3][9] According to the Lakshmi Tantra and Narada Purana, it is the goddess Lakshmi who slays Mahishasura instantaneously, and extolling her feat is described to offer everlasting supremacy.^[10]

Mahishasura's legend is told in the major texts of the Shaktism traditions known as the Devi Mahatmya, which is part of Markandeya Purana. The story of Mahishasura is told in the chapter where Markandeya is narrating the story of the birth of Savarnika Manu. Per the Markandeya Purana, the story of Mahishasura was narrated in the second Manvantara (approximately 1.3 billion years ago, as per the Vishnu Purana) by Maharishi Medha to a king named Suratha.^[11] Mahishasura is described as an evil being who can change his outer form, but never his demonic goals.^[9] According to Christopher Fuller, Mahishasura represents the forces of ignorance and chaos hidden by outer appearances.^[12][2] The symbolism is carried in Hindu art found in South Asia and South-East Asia (e.g., Javanese art), where Durga is shown as a serene, calm, collected and graceful symbol of good as she pierces the heart and kills the scared, overwhelmed and outwitted Mahishasura.^[13][2]

Art

Durga slaying Mahishasura is a prominent theme which was sculpted in various caves and temples across India. Some of the prominent representations are seen at the Mahishasuramardini caves in Mahabalipuram, the Ellora Caves, in the entrance of Rani ki vav,^[14] Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu and many more temples across India. The worship of Durga during Durga Puja in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and other eastern states is represented in Pandal which depict Durga killing Mahishasura.^[15] The legend of Mahishasura has also been inspiration for films, plays and dance dramas.^[16]

Etymology of Mysore

The popular legend is that Mysore (Mahishooru) gets its name from Mahishasuramardini, a manifestation of goddess Durga. The buffalo demon Mahishasura, states the regional tradition, had terrified the local population. It is believed that goddess Durga (Chamundeshwari) killed Mahishasura on top of the Chamundi Hills. The spot was constructed as the Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysuru, an event that is annually celebrated at Navaratri and Mysuru Dasara. The British Era in India saw the name change to "Mysore" and later Kannadized back into "Mysuru".^[17]

The temple of the city's guardian deity, Chamundeshvari, has a giant statue of Mahishasura on the hill facing the city.^[18][19] The earliest mention of Mysore in recorded history may be traced to 245 B.C., i.e., to the period of Ashoka when on the conclusion of the third Buddhist convocation, a team was dispatched to Mahisha Mandala.^[20]

Santali narrative

See also: Indo-Aryan migrations

Mahishasura on Chamundi Hills, Mysore

Dasai Dance at the streets of Purulia district

Kherwal Santal people, the Kolarian Dravidian Asura tribe community worship Mahishasura as their deity, whom they call Hudur Durga, in contrast, they consider Hindu goddess Durga as villain.^[21][22] The word hudur means lightning and the word Durga means protector. The combined meaning of the word is lightning-hard guard.^[23] According to the Kherwal Santal and Asura tribe of Jharkhand, India, Hudur Durga was their millennial ancestor, the king of a village called Chaichampa.^[24] He was a very powerful and powerful king. The Aryans could not defeat him after coming to India.^[25] Then they began to think of ways to kill the king in various ways. They found out that the king was very feminine fonder and that women were highly regarded in their society. So the Aryans sent a beautiful woman of fair complexion as a spy to assassinate the king, in some cases, the woman was involved in prostitution. The Aryans proposed marriage to the king, and the king, impressed by the woman's appearance, agreed to marry her.^[26] The king spent the nights with the woman for seven days after the marriage, and on the seventh day the woman killed the king. Upon hearing the news of the king's death, the Aryans invaded the kingdom to seize the kingdom, and the men of the kingdom, on the advice of their guru, bathed in the river Saraswati, disguised as women, and fled the kingdom to perform the Dasai dance.^[27] The Santals claim that the Aryans exaggerated the woman as Goddess Durga and the king as Mahishasura in their scriptures as the woman of the incident, and further claim that the name of their king Hudur Durga was incorrectly mentioned as the name of the woman. During Durga Puja, they do not worship Durga but worship Mahishasura and mourn the women by dancing Dasai on the way.^[28] And according to many claims, due to the fact that the woman was a courtesan, Hindus use cow urine, Ganges water, cowdung along with the soil of brothels (four G: Gomutra, Gobar, Gangajal or Ganikalaya (brothel)'s soil) to make idols of Durga in Durga Puja.^[29]

Gallery

• 
  Durga killing Mahishasura, 9th century Sirpur temple, Chhattisgarh.
• 
  Buffalo-headed Mahishasura in Cave Temple, Mahabalipuram
• 
  Mahishasura at Durga's foot in the Aihole Temple
• 
  Durga is worshiped in her Mahishasuramardini form, during Durga Puja. Lakshmi and Ganesha flank the left while Saraswati and Kartikeya flank the right.
• 
  Durga "Mahishasura-mardini," the slayer of the buffalo demon; Ravi Varma Press, c.1910's
• 
  Durga is depicted in the Hindu pantheon as a Goddess riding a lion and with many arms, each carrying a weapon to defeat Mahishasura or the buffalo demon

See also

• Raktabīja
• Sumbha and Nisumbha
• Rambha (asura)
• Chanda and Munda