Durgama

Durgama was a daitya of the line of Hiraṇyāksha, from the branch of Ruruku. By a vara (a boon) from Brahmā, he took all the Vedas from the three worlds. A drought of one hundred years followed. Devī Mahāśakti, in her form as Śatākshī-Śākambharī, killed him. Devī is known everywhere as Durgā, a name she earned by destroying (ghna) Durgama.

Lineage and nature

Durgama belonged to the line of Hiraṇyāksha, from the branch of Ruruku. The text calls him dushṭa-daitya (a wicked daitya), paraṃdāruṇa (very fierce) and mūḍha (foolish in the spiritual sense). His aim was to strike at the root of the order of the world, the Vedas themselves.

Tapas and the vara from Brahmā

Durgama went to the Himālaya. He did tapas (austerity) there for one thousand years, living on air alone (vāyubhaksha). The heat of his tapas troubled all the lokas and all the surāsuras (devas and asuras together).

Brahmā came to him riding his haṃsa (swan) and offered a vara. Durgama asked for two things. First, that all the Vedas living anywhere in the three worlds, with the brāhmaṇas, with the devas and everywhere else, should come to him. Second, that he should have the power to defeat all the devatās. Brahmā gave both and went back to Satyaloka.

The great harm that followed

After the vara, Durgama took all the Vedas. Brāhmaṇas all over the world forgot their Vedas at once. Without the Vedas, the daily rites stopped. Without homa offerings, the devas went hungry and grew weak. When the devas did not receive their shares, the rain stopped.

For one hundred years the earth suffered drought. Rivers and tanks dried up and fields cracked. People and animals died in great numbers. Durgama then attacked Amarāvatī and drove all the devas out of svarga (heaven). They hid in caves in the mountains.

Death at the hands of Śatākshī

The brāhmaṇas worshipped Devī Tribhuvaneśvarī, and she appeared on the Himālaya. Durgama heard from his messengers that things were being set right. He gathered one thousand akshauhiṇī armies (very large armies) and marched against her.

The battle lasted ten days. Devī’s manifest Śaktis destroyed his whole army. On the eleventh day Durgama came forward himself in his chariot. He wore red garlands and was smeared with red sandal paste. They fought a fierce duel lasting two jāmas (watches of the day). Then Devī shot fifteen arrows. They killed his horses and his charioteer, and destroyed his eyes, his shoulders and his flag. Finally five arrows pierced his heart. Durgama died at Devī’s feet, and his divine tejas (radiance) entered her.

The names of Devī

Durgama’s death gave Devī one of her best-known names, Durgā. The Devī Bhāgavata says that she received the name Durgā from Durgama and from her act of destroying him (vadha).

The same account gave her two more names. Śatākshī means “the thousand-eyed”, for the countless eyes that wept rain. Śākambharī means “she who fed the world with vegetables”. All three names recall one moment of Devī’s full compassion and power.

Sources

• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 7, Chapter 28