"Promotion of the fertility of the crops by stimulating Durga's powers of fecundity also seems to underlie the practice of publicly making obscene gestures and comments during Durga Puja. Various scriptures say that Durga is pleased by such behavior at her autumnal festival"

"Kali, Tara, and sometimes Durga are the main forms of the goddess in this tradition [non-scriptural], and there are ten different forms of Kali that are worshiped (the ten Mahavidyas or great wisdom figures)."

"A composite form of the female energies emerged as Mata or w:DevIDevi....When she enetered the puranic pantheon the virgin Earth Mother become Durga and, changing with provenance and tribe, her names andanthropomorphic forms are legion."

"Worship may be on a small scale, with household altars and family ceremonies, or it may be on a larger community scale, with large shrines, jeweled statues, and sacred food piled high on silver trays, at festivals such as Durga Puja and Kali Puja."

"In Bengal, again, the worship of Durga is accompanied by wearisome puerilities and gross idolatry. The cult of Kalı Devı is also associated with the horrors of Thagi."

"The major Bengali Hindu goddesses—Kali, Durga, Tara, Lakshmi, Saraswati— are generally shown as young and attractive. Even Kali, whose images in other regions of India are emaciated and ugly, is frequently shown as beautiful."

"Sometimes the goddess is offered blood at ritual times, such as on Durga Puja, in her role as Durga/Kali/Chandika. It is rarely seen today, but was important in the nineteenth century"

"The yantra of Nava-Durga (Durga surrounded by nine shaktis) hung by a thread around the arm or neck prevents diseases, whereas a yantra of Lakshmi brings fame and wealth, and keeps away danger and anxiety."

"The goddess Kundalini is sometimes portrayed in the form of Durga, as a beautiful woman who rides a lion, as a symbol ofstrength, courage, and virtue. When kundalini energy is aroused in a person, the goddess rides the lion of yoga."

"There are homa fire sacrifices twice a day, with vegetables and milkproducts, and large yearly pujas for Durga and Kali, with high attendance. There are offerings of bananas, vermilion, rice, and sweets, and on Durga Puja there isimmolation."

"Durga is a goddess with several important aspects: the folk dimension offertility and threat, a military and royal aspect, a Sanskritic side, and an ethical dimension. There are many types of devotion associated with Durga. In her modern and urban aspect, Durga is the Goddess of courage annstrength, who remained pure when tempted by demons and was able to conquer them resorting to the power and dominion of the Hindu gods."

"Accompanied by these goddesses, she conquers the demon army (which is exclusively male). The story of Durga in the Devi Mahatmya revolves around three battles: Durga fought with Madhu and Kaitabha, with Mahishasura and his armies."

"Ambika/Durga responded that she could only marry the man who conquered her in battle. The demon kings sent their armies, which she conquered, and then sent Chanda and Munda. When Durga saw them, her skin became black with anger, and Kali emerged from her forehead. Kali devoured elephants and riders, ate weapons and killed Chanda and Munda (Durga then gave her the name Chamunda, as conqueror of Chanda and Munda). The demon kings and their remaining armies came out and surrounded Durga. At that moment, the creative energies (Shaktis) of the various gods came forth in female form, as an army to fight the demons. When drops of blood from the demon Raktabija fell to earth and created new demons, Kali drank all of the blood so that no new demons would arise, and Raktabija was conquered. When Shumba accused Durga of being dependent on her female army to win the battle, she absorbed them back into herself, saying that they were only her own powers. Both demons kings were slain in the battle."

"When Ravana kidnapped Sita (who was one of the incarnations of the goddess), Durga became angry with him, and she shifted her loyalties toward Rama. When Rama and his armies came to rescue Sita, Rama was terrified, and Brahma suggested that he would worship the goddess who would give him courage."

"Durga Puja also involves home worship, in which wealthier houses can afford their own statues, and Durga is welcomed in a more personal manner as the daughter of the household who has come for a visit. Because a daughter would often leave have her natal family at a very early age in an arranged marriage in which she went to live with her husband’s family there was a great sense of loss on the part of both the daughter and the parents. Durga Puja represents the time that the daughter could return to her parent’s house and was a time for happiness and reunion. Families welcome their own married daughters by honouring and worshipping Durga. When Durga (and daughter] leave, at the end of the festival, the married women of the family or neighbourhood typically gather in the household and walk around the goddess in a circle making the noise of ululation (a thrilling sound of farewell), and then wipe of the goddess’s tears with betel leaves (she cries because she is leaving her loving household). She is offered consecrated food and red kumkum powder, symbolizing her return to married life."

"Kali's origin is described traditionally as an emanation from the goddess Durga in the Chandi section of the Markandeya Purana: Thereupon Amibika [Durga] became terribly angry with those foes, the great bhakti goddesses of w:West BengalWest Bengal"

"The Puja celebrations of Durga and Kali are the largest Shakta festivals of urban West Bengal. They reflect the importance of the Bengali bhakti or devotional tradition, but incorporate historical change: Durga in a British bonnet,..."

"There are well-known goddesses such as Durga and Kali who are richly endowed in many brahmanic temples and have acquired a plethora of textual references, yet these goddesses still carry with them explicittribal associations. Over many centuries Durga and Kali were transformed dramatically as they were successively associated with devotes of tribal, agricultural, warrior, priestly and modern urban orientations."

"A wife who is dedicated to her husband is often referred to as Sita, or a woman who exhibits a fighting spirit to make things right is referred to asKali or Durga. Feminist movements have started to use this traditional understanding to empower women."

"Contemporary Iterations of Hindu Deities on the Move. Resentations of her appear. She has obviously been well integrated into the official iconographic traditions of South India by the mid-seventh century. Durga is also prominent ..."

"Durga is a very old divinity known in prototype as Vac, the goddessof victory. Suggestive references can also be found to a similar goddess onIndus valley seals, and even among early Mesopotamian artifacts. There are also strong hints of a “Durga-like” presence in early Indus Valley settlements. The first known sculpture of Durga asMahishasuramardhini in Indian art dates from the first century BC. The same female power is also mentioned in the early Sangam literature from Tamilnadu, where she is named Kirravai. Again in these ancient sources, she is portrayed as the goddess who kills the buffalo demon Mahisaura. Durga is also very prominent in the famous stone carvings at w:MahabalipuramMahabalipuram, in Tamilnadu, where several sculpted representations of her appear. She has obviously been well integrated into the official iconographic traditions of South India by the mid-seventh century."

"In 1639, Kantirava Narasimharaja made the transition from local hill goddess to Puranic deity by referring to the protector Godess of the Mysore kingdom as both Chamundi and as the slayer of the buffalo demon (Mahishasuramardhini), clearly associating Mysore and the myth of Durga slaying the bufflow-demon Mahishasura. As such he also explicitly reconfigured his realm with the Puranic landscape. The hill was no longer just important to the inhabitants of Mysore, but it acquired pan-Indian significance, and its influence reached farther. It is at this point that the goddess of the hill was clearly associated with Chamunda and Durga and with the Puranic narrative of Mahadevi, signaling a period of greater imperial aspirations."

"At the time of Ganesha's 'birth', Shiva was away from the family home. On returning, and finding an unknown young man standing guard outside the bathroom of his wife, he naturally challenged him. Ganesha was equally unknowing of his father, and the two came to blows. The result was never in doubt, for Shiva is the greatest of the Gods, and the father killed his own son., by cutting off his (human) head. When Parvati found out what had happened and explained the circumstances to Shiva, the god undertook to restore Ganesha to life. This he did by ordering by one of his retinue to bring the head of the first he met. This was an elephant, and thus Ganesha was returned to life with an elephant’s head. Further, as compensation for the loss of his human head, Ganesha was entrusted by Shiva with the leadership of the members of his rowdy and dwarfish retinue (the ganas). Ganesha’s name means no more than ‘Lord of the Gana’. In recognition of his courage in the defense of his mother’s chamber, Ganesha is given custody over all doorways."

"Parvati, (Sanskrit: “Daughter of the Mountain”) wife of the Hindu god Shiva is the benevolent aspect of the goddess Shakti and is sometimes identified with Uma. The legendary account of her marriage relates that she won Shiva’s notice only after severe ascetic discipline. The couple had two children, the elephant-headed Ganesha and the six-headed Skanda. Parvati is often represented in sculpture with Shiva—as an attendant figure, or looking on as he performs a miraculous feat, or engaged in a game with him in their mountain kingdom Kailasa—and is always depicted as a mature and beautiful woman. The Tantras—texts of sects worshipping Shiva—are written as a discussion between Parvati and Shiva."

"Once directed by the other gods to arouse Shiva’s passion for Parvati, he disturbed the great god’s meditation on a mountaintop. Enraged, Shiva burned him to ashes with the fire of his third eye. Thus, he became Ananga (Sanskrit: “the Bodiless”). Some accounts say Shiva soon relented and restored him to life after the entreaties of Kama’s wife, Rati. Others hold that Kama’s subtle bodiless form renders him even more deftly omnipresent. than he would be if constrained by bodily limitation."

"When the two boys [Ganesha and Skanda] were of marriageable age, Shiva and Parvati did not know which of the children to marry off first. So they proposed a competition: We shall celebrate the marriage of the one who first returns after having gone round the world. The clever Ganesha walked around his parents and said to them “You are the Universe”. He was considered the winner and his wedding was celebrated with Siddhi (Success) and Buddhi (Intelligence), the two daughters of the Lord of the World - Visharupa."

"She [Parvati] makes her first major appearance in Sanskrit culture in the Devi-mahatmya (“The Glorifications of the Goddess,” c. 6th century CE), where she springs from the anger of the goddess Durga to slay the demon Raktabija (“Blood-Seed”). During the struggle a new demon emerges from each drop of Raktabija’s blood as it hits the ground; to prevent this, Kali laps up the blood before it can reach the ground. She is also said to have been born when the goddess Parvati shed her dark skin; the sheath became Kali—who is also called Kaushika, “The Sheath”—leaving Parvati in the form of Gauri (“The Fair One”)."

"Ganesha is the eldest son of Shankara and Parvati. Karttikeya or Skanda is his younger brother. As regards the origin and birth of Ganesha there are several stories and legends enshrined in Puranas and Upa-puranas"

"Parvati has wrathful incarnations surely, As Durga, Kali, Shitala Devi, Tara, Chandi, She has benevolent forms like Katyayani, Kamalatmika, Bhuvaneshwari, Lalita, Gauri."

"Parvati as the Goddess of Power does be, Who source of all forms and of all beings be, In Her all the power but exists undoubtedly, And She who the destroys all fear clearly be."

"The apparent contradiction that Parvati be, The fair one, Gauri, and the dark one, Kali, Suggests the placid wife, can change fully, To her primal chaotic nature as powerful Kali."

"Three images are central to the mythology, To iconography and philosophy of Parvati: They reconciliation, interdependence do be, And harmony of ascetic and householder be."

"Parvati is able to restrain Shiv dramatically, Shiv dwels in Parvati’s father’s house clearly This implies their relationships priority And her ability thwart Shiva’s will surely"

"Shakti: the Mother Goddess, power or energy, originating, perhaps, in the non-Aryan culture of the Indus Valley. Mythologically Shakti is equated with the Goddesses Kali, Parvati and Durga, consorts of Shiva. The cult of Shakti flourished since the fifth century A.D."

"... befriending good by the destruction of hell in the same way as Parvati befriended the gods by destroying the army of demons; like Lakshmi rising from the sea in the assembly of the saints"

"One day when Shiva had finished eating, he called to his wife Parvati to come and take her food too before it got cold. She pleaded that she had not finished repeating, according to her daily wont, the thousand names of Vishnu; whereupon her husband instructed her that it would suffice if she said the mere name of ‘Rama’ once for that had as much virtue as all the thousand."

"In fact, she [Minakshi] in the temple of Madurai] appears late enough not to be identified with Parvati, his usual spouse, but as a separate wife. Likewise, the Tamil god Murugan became identified as the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati."

"It is said that Shiva revealed the secret of immortality to Parvati at this cave. Beneath the tiger skin on which Shiva sat, pigeon eggs later hatched. Those who do pilgrimage to this place often see the immortal pigeons incubated by the Lord."

"Andhaka (Blind One) is the blind demon born to Shiva and Parvati in the following way: Parvati was joking with Shiva and covered up his three eyes with her hands. As she did this, the entire cosmos fell into darkness. Parvati's hands began to sweat as they covered Shiva’s potent third eye. From the sweat of her hands heated up by the third eye of Shiva, arose Andhaka, an angry black blind demon."

"Literally “She who is abundant [purna] with food [anna],” the goddess Annapurna is considered a form of Durga or sometimes of Parvati, both being wives of Shiva. In her iconography she is light colored and stands on a lotus or sits on a throne."

"Ardhanarishvara, “The Lord Who is Half Woman,” is a form of Shiva whose left half is the Goddess Parvati or Shakti, with breast and sari drape. The iconic image is a popular one at temples and shrines to Shiva everywhere in India."

"Uma, sometimes called PARVATI, is the principal goddess of Bali; she is the Goddess of the Mountain Gunung Agung, where she dwells as the consort of Shiva, the Great Ancestor. She has many manifestations. As Uma, she nourishes and causes seeds to germinate."

"One myth has Chinnamasta as a form of Parvati, the consort of Shiva. Another sees her as Parvati in the form of Chandi. In both myths the goddess is begged for food by her attendants and cuts off her head to offer them her blood."

"In one tale she [Matangi] emerges from leftover food that Shiva, Parvati, Vishnu, and Lakshmi have just eaten. Another myth calls Matangi a sister of Shiva, cursed by Parvati to be reborn in an untouchable (Dalit) family, forced to survive on leftovers."

"The most common story of his [Ganesha's] origin is that he was made by Parvati, who rubbed off material from her skin and formed it into a shape of a person. She set this “child” Ganesha to guard her shower or inner chamber."

"Parvati, his [Shiva's] second wife and the daughter of the Himalaya mountain, may well have been a distinct divinity in ancient times. Later, as Durga and Kali became recognized as wives of Shiva, many of the local goddesses lost some or all of their original character and began to be understood as Durga or Kali under other names."

"In one example, Himavat has a ragged beggar thrown from his house only to learn later that this was Parvati's beau Shiva, with whom she had become enthralled."

"Kali first appears in developed literary form in the Devibhagavatam of the 11th to 12th centuries, where she is seen to be Parvati, wife of Shiva, who becomes completely black out of fury when battling the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha."

"Karttikeya is the younger son of Shiva and Parvati; Ganesha is the elder son. There are many versions of his life story, as is usual in Hindu tradition."

"Among Shiva's many celebrated dances: he danced in the sky with Vishnu; once he danced in the cremation ground to please Kali, his female counterpart; once he danced as a beggar for Parvati's hand; once he danced a mad, erotic dance in the deodar forest for the wives of the Rishis there and he danced after the destruction of Dakhs’a sacrifice."