Durga's Secret: Everyone Lives on the Edge in Fear

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Those who prefer to see mythology as proto-history see this as a story that retells the epic conquest of fair-skinned, cow-loving Aryans of the north over dark-skinned, buffalo-loving Dravidians of the south. The problem with this reading is that here the warrior is a woman and it is hard for scholars to reconcile Vedic patriarchy with the obvious female power embedded in the Durga image.

We assume that great knowledge cannot come from ‘simple rural folk’. We assume that wise brahmins came up with these ideas and passed them on. But the more one studies Indian rituals and texts, the more one realises that the wisdom of India comes from ‘simple rural folk’, simply articulated in Sanskrit. The brahmins are scribes, compilers and organisers, not sources, of Vedic wisdom.

devadasi cult, women who were not bound by limitations of marriage. While this was meant to give these women freedom to choose lovers without losing social standing, it often ended up making them prostitutes as they were denied all sources of wealth.

The worship of Shitala is an interesting facet of Hinduism. In most cultures, the undesirable is wiped out. But in Hinduism, the undesirable is also considered valid and given due dignity.

In the jungle, there are no heroes, villains or victims. But in culture, there are heroes, villains and victims. We feel we are victimised and seek heroes who will destroy villains. This is humanity’s greatest delusion.

Human imagination enables us to judge nature and rejects its ways. We reject the way of the jungle, which favours only the fit. We create society where rules ensure even the unfit can survive. By doing so we create victims, villains and heroes. The rules are supposed to save those victimised by nature (the unfit). Those who uphold the law are heroes and those who break it are the villains.

Laws that favour tribal communities (protect the forest) work against laws that favour agricultural communities (create more fields). Laws which favour agricultural communities do not favour urban communities (buildings and office and industrial complexes). What is fair for one is not fair for another (laws that favour heterosexuals and exclude homosexuals). This leads to conflict, war, in which Durga is invoked.

INNER STRENGTH ENABLES US TO see that from the point of others, we may be the villains. We are the asuras who are troubling the devas; we are not necessarily the devas who need Durga’s help. It is we who have to be beheaded. Our aham is the root cause of the problems around us. Confronting the truth about us is not easy. It needs Shakti. We need to acknowledge that all problems come from fears, our own fears and the fears of those around us. Once we do that, we will be able to evoke the Durga in us, who comforts, protects and empowers the frightened.