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A statue of Mahishasura in Chamundi Hills, Mysore.

In Hindu mythology, Mahishasura was an asura.

Mahishasur's father Rambha, was king of the asura, and he once fell in love with a water buffalo, and mahishasur was born out of this union. He is therefore able to change between human and buffalo form at will ("mahisha" means buffalo).

Despite being a demon (the word asura used to mean "not-god" and does not have as strong a negative connotation as "demon"), Mahishasura was also pious in his meditation to Brahma, who granted him a boon that no man or god would be able to conquer him.

After this he started terrorising Swarga Loka (Heaven) and Prithvi Loka (Earth). He invaded Swarga Loka and defeated the king of gods Indra and took control of Swarga Loka. He drove all the devas (gods) out of heaven. The gods went to the trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh to seek their help. They were enraged on hearing about the invasion of heaven. In the ensuing battle, they themselves interceded on the side of the gods, but were vanquished.

Eventually, they created his nemesis in the form of a young woman, Durga, also known as Shakti or Parvati. She combined the powers of all the devas to fight Mahishasura. The goddess then attacked Mahishasura's empire and after nine days of fighting, during which much of Mahishasura's army was decimated, he was finally killed on the tenth day of the waxing moon, by her incarnation, Kali (which appeared from her forehead).

The festival of Durga Puja is celebrated on this tenth day, especially in Bengal, to celebrate this victory of good over evil.

Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Indian epic poetry
Female Deities: Devi | Saraswati | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Gayatri | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Radha | Mahavidya | more...
Male Deities: Deva |Brahma | Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Murugan | Hanuman | Indra | Surya | more...
Texts: Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata | Rigveda
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