The origin of festival of Durga puja comes with its own retinue of mythological stories. The most prevalent among them is the one involving Lord Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic, Ramayana. When Ravana (the 10-headed demon king of Lanka, now Ceylon) abducted Lord Rama’s wife Sita, and held her hostage in Lanka, a fierce battle ensued. Although there were huge casualties on both sides, Ravana could not be defeated. So Rama decided to seek the blessings of Shakti or Goddess Durga in order to defeat the 10-headed demon.

But here comes the twist in the tale. 108 blue lotuses were needed for the worship of the Divine Mother and Rama had managed to procure only 107. He was on the verge of laying one of his eyes that was lotus-shaped and blue in colour at the Goddess’s feet when Shakti, satisfied with the measure of his devotion, granted her blessings. And the righteous eventually triumphed.

The right time for the worship of Goddess Durga being in spring, the prayers of Lord Rama are also known as akal bodhan (untimely worship). Nowadays, Ram Navmi is celebrated during spring and Durga Puja or Dussehra is celebrated during autumn.

Prevalent in Bengal is the tale of the defeat of the demon, Mahishasura at the hands of Goddess Durga, the incarnation of Shakti, or Power. This demon was almost invincible because of a boon granted by Lord Shiva (the Destroyer in the Hindu Holy Trinity of Creator-Preserver-Destroyer) whereby no male could defeat him. But the gods found a novel solution to the daunting problem. The amalgamation of the might of all the gods resulted in the birth of Shakti in the form of Goddess Durga, who wielded an assortment of weapons in her 10 hands and rode a lion. Predictably enough, she was able to slay the demon, thus ending his reign of terror. Therefore, Durga is also called Mahishasuramardini (the slayer of Mahishasura). This holy battle has come to symbolise the triumph of Good over Evil.

However, according to another legend about Durga, she was a manifestation of Parvati, Shiva’s consort. It seems that while Parvati existed only for Shiva, Durga was the form of Parvati’s shakti (power) that was created solely for destroying demoniac forces.