This painting depicts one of the best-known legends of Indian mythology, accounting for the creation of Devi, who assassinated the invincible demon Mahisha, widely known as Mahishasura.
Mahisha was a ferocious demon born of a she-buffalo, known in Sanskrit as Mahisha, by the demon Rambha, who was later reborn as Raktabija. As the mythological tradition has it, once upon a time there ruled a demon named Danu.
He had two sons, Rambha and Karambha. Neither of them had a son. To be blessed with sons, they decided to propitiate their Yaksha deity Malavata by rigorous penance.
Rambha sat amidst five fires while Karambha positioned himself in deep waters. To eliminate Karambha, Vishnu transformed himself into a crocodile and devoured him. The disappointed Rambha wanted to end his life, but Agni (in some texts Brahma) met him on his way and persuaded him not to do so. As consolation, Rambha obtained from Agni the boon for a son who would remain invincible against all men, demons and animals. Under the grant, Rambha was to get his son from a female he met immediately thereafter, fell in love with, and wedded.
On his way, Rambha saw a young she-buffalo. She tempted him, and out of love he wedded her. When she conceived, he hid her in Patalaloka to protect her from her fellow buffaloes. However, one day a mighty buffalo began chasing her for having sex with her. When Rambha tried to confront it, the buffalo killed Rambha. His bereaved buffalo-wife sat on a pyre and burnt herself with her husband, but from the fire were born a child and also Rambha. The child, born of a Mahisha, was named Mahisha, and the reborn Rambha was named Raktabija. As the boon had it, the child grew into an invincible demon. Rambha, as Raktabija, joined him as his minister.
Along with his demons, Mahishasura inflicted innumerable atrocities on gods and their devotees. To protect them, even the God Trio fought against these demons, but they could not face Mahishasura and fled away from the battlefield. He even captured Heaven and ousted all gods from there. After several centuries had passed, all gods approached Mahavishnu to redeem them from Mahishasura. Now Mahavishnu disclosed all about the boon of Mahishasura and that the demon could only be eliminated by a female power. He suggested that if the gods created, with their power and glory, a woman warrior and endowed her with all their might and weapons, she would assassinate the demon.
Before Mahavishnu had finished, there issued forth from Brahma's face a female figure with dazzling effulgence. The figure radiated from her person beams of light, which were partly cool and partly warm. Vishnu and Shiva looked at her in amazement. But, meanwhile, similar figures, embodying the specific powers and qualities of Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Kubera, Varuna and all other gods, emanated from them. The next moment all these figures merged into a single form of a woman endowed with celestial beauty. She had eighteen arms. The gods supplied her with jewels, ornaments and gorgeous clothes, and all their weapons and other attributes.
This miniature renders the event most effectively. There stand around the emerging figure various gods, Brahma with Vedas and the ghata, Shiva with his trident, Kala with his sword and shield, Himavana with his lion, Varuna with his conch, Kuber with his pot, Vishnu, Indra, Sun, Maruta, Moon, Agni, Twilight, Yama, Shesh and rishis and munis in devotion and amazement. The transmission of power and glory from their beings into the being of the created figure has been depicted by the rays of light radiating from them and terminating in her.
She has eighteen arms, except one, which already has a bell, held out to receive gods' weapons. As prescribed in texts, she has been rendered as an unparalleled beauty with long hair, large eyes, long arms, fine fingers, prominent breasts, a slender waist, a thin, slanting figure, and is clad in brilliant clothes and gorgeous rich jewels. Her forehead is adorned with Shiva's third eye, and her crown with three crests endows her with the cosmic attributes of the Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer.
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