Durga thus is the jigsaw puzzle whose parts come from the different devas. They are ‘parts’ and she is the ‘whole’. She is not the daughter of one deva, she is the daughter of all devas; she is ayonija, born without a womb, with no mother of her own. This establishes her as Mahadevi, the goddess of the gods, just as Shiva is Mahadeva, god of the gods. Thus the Puranas acknowledge her sovereignty. She is, like Shiva and Vishnu, swayambhu or self-created.
