Durga Puja amongst Faith, Fallacy and Festivity

Our Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Arindam, discusses various contradictory tales and mythical lore. Faith must be laced with reason, he opines. He also outlines the two-day Special Feature on Durga Puja, Dussehra and Ramlila. An exclusive for Different Truths.

There are countless stories about Durga, gods and demons. Often these contradict each other, while at other times, these narratives merge and mingle.

According to one such version, Durga and Mahisasur are step-siblings. The mythical lore says that Rishi Kashyap had two wives, Aditi and Diti. Children of Aditi were Sur, while those of Diti were Asur. Both these clans, warring with each other, for all times to come, shared a common bloodline, their father.

How is it that the Asur clan was ugly and evil and Sur clan its opposite when both shared a common DNA – at least half of it? How did one become gods, while the other were condemned as demons? If all was good with the gods, why was Indra, the King of the gods so jealous and insecure?

In stories after stories, we see that the gods were vanquished. They had to lose the heavens. If gods tricked and cheated, to get back what was rightfully theirs, they were applauded. But, if the demons did any such acts, they were vile and vicious. We are told that the Surs were lazy and indolent, drinking sura (divine wine) and watching/ogling apsaras. Asuras were more focussed and dynamic.  Aren’t these arbitrary, discriminatory, reeking of double standards? Two sets of law, of right and wrong, for children of two mothers. Strange isn’t it!

Here are two random cases:

Bhasmasur sought a boon from Lord Shiva after appeasing him with his devotion. The next moment, he was chasing Shiva to kill him with the new boon. In my mind’s eye, it seems to be a scene straight out of the Tom and Jerry cartoon. Meanwhile, Vishnu, the wise one (read wily), came to Shiva’s rescue. Now, Bhasmasur dances like a buffoon, unable to see through the ploy of Vishnu. Most of us are happy that Bhasmasur dies. He is reduced to ashes. We are told this is poetic justice.

During Sumadra Manthan – the churning of the Cosmos – gods seek cooperation from the demons, on the condition that the wealth thus procured would be shared equally between them, including the elixir (Amrita). But the step-siblings, the Surs, cheat and trick the Asurs. They had conspired, aided by Vishnu, that not a drop would be shared with them. A demon’s head was severed from his body and these were placed as geostationary satellites on the orbit as Rahu and Ketu. He had seen through the cunning of Vishnu. He was condemned too for being smart. When bickering and wars started between the two clans, Vishnu took the form of Mohini to seduce the demons out of their senses. We find nothing wrong with crossdressing or trickery.

Also, if demons were of loose morals, gods were not much better. Brahma created Saraswati and defiled her, amounting to incest. Brahma is not worshipped except in a lone place somewhere in Uttarakhand.

Without digressing any further – there are umpteen such cases in our mythology – let us examine a few narratives of Durga and Mahisasur’s mythical lore.

A lesser-known tale is that Durga, the fiery beauty, challenged Mahisasur to a duel. The condition was that if he defeated her, she would marry him. This story is left hanging. Nothing more is said. Nothing more is asked. If Mahisasur had to marry her why should he slay her? Did Durga trick him too? Public memory is short. We chose to turn a blind eye to the faults of the Surs.

Here is another serious contradiction. If Durga was created from the rage of the Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh (Shiva) – opened their third eye in unison and out of that fire was Durga born. Does that make her a clone? In another story, we learn that Durga is another avatar of Sati and Parvati. Shiva is thus her consort. But, if Shiva was one of the three fathers of Durga to create her out of their rage (good anger), doesn’t it make their relationship questionable? Forget two sets of value systems between gods and demons, perhaps there were different rules for different gods – one for Brahma, another for Shiva.

Another contradiction is that the gods who are with Durga are a part of her army. Lakshmi represents wealth – wars cost a lost; Saraswati for wisdom – helping her make the right decision; Kartik, the general of the gods for war strategy and Ganesh to remove all obstructions. But we are also told, in another lore, that these four are her children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh, in that order.

In a nutshell, wading through contradictions, we are taught to pray to gods and hate demons. We are told that they are within us and the actual war, in the continuum, is more within than without. We are taught to live with the schism. Perhaps therein lies the answer to why our social system is so complex, so contradictory.

Let us make peace by accepting that what’s food for the gods is the poison for the demons. It does not matter what Rishi Kashyap might feel if he were to see half his children being discriminated against. Truth is packaged and sold with dos and don’ts. It is always from the-power-that-be’s point of view. Faith must not be devoid of reasons, otherwise, as Marx had said, “Religion is an opium of the masses,” would be true.

It is sad that during the pandemic, all festivities are suspended. Let us hope for better times when we accept rather than ask. There will be no Ramlila nor any Ramdal processions in my city, this year.

Happy Sharadiya Durgotsav, Dussehra and Ramlila. Stay safe, stay healthy!

Visual design Anumita Roy, Different Truths