Running head: The age of faith: Goddess Durga 1 The age of faith: Goddess Durga 7 The Age of Faith: Goddess Durga Poojan Patel National Louis University Abstract This essay describes the representational strategies used to visualize the Pratima (deity) of the goddess, Durga that the Hindus worship. The worship of goddess Durga among the Bengalis presents and represents culture, commodity, and identity and brings to the fore many more things or issues that have implications not only for a person but also for broader anthropological studies of people and culture linking global to the local. The Goddess Durga depicts the energy needed to overcome evil and also symbolizes the power we have over demons and standing strong over our challenges. Hinduism is a religion where people worship multiple gods. The gods' people worship come in many forms, and each has special meaning and purpose. The goddess Durga depicts the energy needed to overcome evil. All the people recognize the goddesses as their protectors and providers. According to the Hindu view, there are four purposes of life in the world, and all individuals should strive to get all four. Each person should target for righteous living (dharma), legal wealth (Kama), human and sexual love, and spiritual uplifting (moksha). Hinduism is an interesting religion to study since it incorporates all kinds of people and all kinds of beliefs. For the non-Hindus, it is difficult to understand how they worship several gods, the whole aspect is puzzling, but the Hindus believe that when a particular god has a single problem to sort out, it will be solved faster. Durga is a Hindu Goddess created from the attributes to the gods that Hindus worship. This was during the 12th century. She was formed to slay a powerful buffalo demon, Mahisha. It is bronze, and its height is 17.6cm. According to Malinar, Mahisha was worshiped in some sections of Hindus as one of the gods whereas in some parts he was a buffalo demon (2). The sculpture shows sixteen arms. Each of the arms in an array has a weapon thus creating kinetic energy to display power; the image is more illuminated in a dimly lit shrine. By her assembling the weapons of all gods and overcoming the demigod, who in some sectors was evil, Mahisha. Hinduism is a religion depicted as one of the religions in the world where there is worshipping of multiple gods. They come in many forms, and each has special meaning and purpose. The Goddess Durga depicts the energy needed to overcome evil. It also symbolizes the power we have over demons and standing strong over our challenges (Malinar 3). The artwork of the goddess Durga killing the buffalo demon represents her moment of victory on winning the battle. After cutting off the head of the bull, Durga pulls the demigod from the animal and swiftly stabs him by surprise, before he can even think of drawing a weapon. The perfe.

1. Running head: The age of faith: Goddess Durga 1
The age of faith: Goddess Durga 7
The Age of Faith: Goddess Durga
Poojan Patel
National Louis University
Abstract
This essay describes the representational strategies used to
visualize the Pratima (deity) of the goddess, Durga that the
Hindus worship. The worship of goddess Durga among the
Bengalis presents and represents culture, commodity, and
identity and brings to the fore many more things or issues that
have implications not only for a person but also for broader
anthropological studies of people and culture linking global to

2. the local. The Goddess Durga depicts the energy needed to
overcome evil and also symbolizes the power we have over
demons and standing strong over our challenges. Hinduism is a
religion where people worship multiple gods. The gods' people
worship come in many forms, and each has special meaning and
purpose. The goddess Durga depicts the energy needed to
overcome evil. All the people recognize the goddesses as their
protectors and providers. According to the Hindu view, there
are four purposes of life in the world, and all individuals should
strive to get all four. Each person should target for righteous
living (dharma), legal wealth (Kama), human and sexual love,
and spiritual uplifting (moksha). Hinduism is an interesting
religion to study since it incorporates all kinds of people and all
kinds of beliefs. For the non-Hindus, it is difficult to understand
how they worship several gods, the whole aspect is puzzling,
but the Hindus believe that when a particular god has a single
problem to sort out, it will be solved faster.
Durga is a Hindu Goddess created from the attributes to the
gods that Hindus worship. This was during the 12th century.
She was formed to slay a powerful buffalo demon, Mahisha. It
is bronze, and its height is 17.6cm. According to Malinar,
Mahisha was worshiped in some sections of Hindus as one of
the gods whereas in some parts he was a buffalo demon (2). The
sculpture shows sixteen arms. Each of the arms in an array has a
weapon thus creating kinetic energy to display power; the image
is more illuminated in a dimly lit shrine. By her assembling the
weapons of all gods and overcoming the demigod, who in some
sectors was evil, Mahisha. Hinduism is a religion depicted as
one of the religions in the world where there is worshipping of
multiple gods. They come in many forms, and each has special
meaning and purpose. The Goddess Durga depicts the energy
needed to overcome evil. It also symbolizes the power we have
over demons and standing strong over our challenges (Malinar

3. 3).
The artwork of the goddess Durga killing the buffalo demon
represents her moment of victory on winning the battle. After
cutting off the head of the bull, Durga pulls the demigod from
the animal and swiftly stabs him by surprise, before he can even
think of drawing a weapon. The perfect sculpture combines
dynamic power with static. According to Malinar, the artwork
of Durga represents power after successfully finishing of the
demigod (4). The sculptor successfully prompts the show of
victory through the sculpture. The sculpture also portrays the
triumph of good over evil. The story behind the statue of Durga
is simple, a long time ago it was believed that a demon called
Mahisha existed. The evil terrorized a lot of people, and it was
almost immortal. The only god who was able to kill it was
powerful energy formed by Lord Shiva and other gods, in the
form of a woman. The woman had several arms each holding a
weapon. Mahisha came in the form of a buffalo and saw a
woman, convinced that he would kill the woman, they fought,
and Durga killed him before he could take back his original
form. Durga Devi had sixteen arms each carrying a weapon from
all the gods who came together.
According to Bhattacharya, the name Durga means impossible
to overcome (2). Her victory gets portrayed in the towering
figure over her victim. The two companions of the demigod are
bowed down in defeat, the arms with which they carry weapons
dropped down in defeat. Hinduism is a religion that worships
many gods each with different reasons. There is a god of
harvest, god of prosperity, and a god of fertility. For the non-
Hindus, it is difficult to understand how they worship several
gods, the whole aspect is puzzling, but the Hindus believe that
when a particular god has a single problem to sort out, it will be
solved faster.
Deities often come with multiple arms generally used to portray
the energy they need to combat several powers. The evils are
equally compelling, so the need to use extra energy is vital. The
multiple arms symbolize the ability of the god to fight off

4. several evils at the same time. Or they can perform several tasks
at the same time (Bhattacharya 4). Sometimes the deity comes
with several heads to portray the different characters portrayed
in the heads.
Durga stands serenely with her feet apart. One foot on top of the
slain buffalo, to show how powerful she is. She gets dressed
elegantly in a curved sarong of a Cambodian queen. The
sculpture could represent a member of royalty thus the elegant
appearance. The base of the sculpture has a buffalo (Malinar 3).
The buffalo is under the foot of the goddess and her lion under
the right. This signifies the power depicted in the sculpture. The
energy in the bronze sculpture is represented by how the
goddess possesses all the weapons. The way she holds the head
of the demigod shows that the power combined by several lords
including Lord Shiva is powerful (Bhattacharya 5).
From the Hindu myths, the goddess received several weapons
from different gods like Lord Vishnu gave her the mighty
Sudarshan, and Lord Shiva gave her the terrible Trishul, arrows
from lord Varuna, the god of the sea. Goddess Durga perceives
power. Hinduism religion is complex and very old. The Goddess
Durga is the principal deity in the Hindu religion. She gets
associated with the theory of reality called Brahman. She gets
declared as the creator and the Supreme Being in the world. The
weapons that Durga holds are symbolic, and they include the
bow, arrow, sword, javelin, shield, conch, and a noose.
Symbolism is depicted by those weapons as believed by the
Shakta Hindus. They represent self-discipline, devotion, and
cheerfulness, remembering of mantras, self-examinations,
meditation, and generosity to others. The iconography of Durga
is flexible in all Hindu temples. Where there are intellectuals,
they place writing materials and pens in the many hands to
signify the importance of stylus (Bhattacharya 2).
Goddess worship is the primary form of worship in the Hindu
religion. All the people recognize the goddesses as their
protectors and providers. Durga has magnificently conceived
arms hanging in three dimensions, the original positions of the

5. arms pulled back as they get captured in contrasting positions in
the curve. According to the Hindu view, there are four purposes
of life in the world, and all individuals should strive to get all
four. Each person should target for righteous living (dharma),
legal wealth (Kama), human and sexual love and spiritual
uplifting (moksha).
Anyone did not start Hinduism, instead, its origin is mixed and
complicated. It emerged almost the same time as the beginning
of the Christian era. The first gods were lord Shiva, Lord
Vishnu, and the goddess Shakti. Shaktism regards Devi as their
supreme Brahman itself. Mahisha worshipped the sixteen armed
bhradkali after having a vision that the world was near.
Mahishasur pleaded with Devi to provide her Moksha by killing
after Uddhar; hence he was blessed.
Mahisha got the power of immortality, and only a woman could
kill him. Mahisha will always remain under the foot on the left
side and be present and worthy of worship. This was a good
aspect since he would also get worshiped whenever people
would worship Devi.
Durga's annual day is one of the most celebrated festivals in
India since Durga is one of the most important deities in India
most people worship him in their houses and temples. As firmly
believed that preservation, destruction, and creation of the
whole world, Durga means a building that cannot be defeated or
destroyed. She gets portrayed with a distinct appearance and a
beautiful, meticulous texture that the sculptor took time to
create the pattern of hands.
The array of hands are well arranged they seem to be waving in
the air holding tools and other symbolic objects. She is
imagined to be terrifying and destructive when she has to be.
She is multi-limbed as a symbol of being alert and ready to
combat all evil from all sides. The iconography of Durga is
depicted by how she stands on a lion thus showing how she has
the power over the most fearsome creatures and the freedom
from fear.
Hinduism is an interesting religion to study since it incorporates

6. all kinds’ people and all kinds of belief (Malinar 4).
Works Cited
Malinar, Angelika. "Religious Pluralism and Processes of
Individualisation in Hinduism". Religion, vol 45, no. 3, 2015,
pp. 386-408. Informa UK Limited,
doi:10.1080/0048721x.2015.1024038.
Bhattacharya, Niloshree. "Book Review: Tapti Guha-Thakurta:
In The Name Of the Goddess: The Durga Pujas of Contemporary
Kolkata". Sociological Bulletin, vol 66, no. 1, 2017, pp. 106-
108. SAGE Publications, doi: 10.1177/0038022916687183.