Who is Durga?

0:00 Welcome to Philosophy is not boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn! If you haven't already, tap follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode.

0:13 Okay, Mira. Imagine a monster so powerful that literally none of the strongest heroes in the entire universe could beat it. Not even if they all took turns fighting it.

0:25 That sounds like a game where someone put in a cheat code so they can never lose. What do the heroes do?

0:32 They realise they have to do something completely different. They combine all of their separate powers into one brand new superhero. And this hero rides a lion and has ten arms. Okay, that is an epic image. Ten arms and a lion. Right? Think of how many things you could hold at once. You could do your homework, play a video game, eat a sandwich, and pet a dog all at the exact same time.

1:01 Well, today we are talking about someone way cooler than a superhero. We're asking, who is the Hindu goddess Lodga and why does she have so many arms? Right around now, millions of Hindus all over the world are actually celebrating a huge, colourful festival called Navratri. It honours this exact goddess.

1:23 Navratri? Does that mean something specific? It does. In the ancient language of Sanskrit, Nava means nine, and Ratri means nights. So it's a nine-night festival.

1:37 Nine nights? That is a really long party. What do they do?

1:42 There is music, dancing, special foods, and lots of joy. It's all about celebrating the victory of good over bad. And to understand why Durga is at the centre of it, we have to go back to a very old story from Hindu teachings.

1:59 Oh, I love a good story. Lay it on me.

2:02 The story is about a time when the world was in big trouble. There was this shape-shifting demon named Mahishasara. He could turn into a giant water buffalo.

2:14unknown Hahaha!

2:15 A buffalo? That's kind of awesome, but also terrifying. Buffaloes are huge and they have massive horns.

2:23 Exactly. And Mahishasara wasn't just big. He had meditated for years and years, and because of his discipline, he was granted a special magic promise, which is called a boon. What was the promise? He asked that no man and no male god would ever be able to defeat him in battle. He figured that if all the strongest male gods couldn't beat him, he would be invincible forever.

2:51 Wait, so he made a rule that basically banned anyone from winning against him? That feels like a total glitch in the universe's rules.

3:00 It really did. The most powerful gods tried to stop him from taking over, but they couldn't do it. His magic shield of protection was just too strong. They were totally stuffed.

3:12 Okay, so if the strongest gods can't win because of this magic promise, what do they do? Do they just give up?

3:19 No! They realize there is a catch in the magic words. The promise said no man or male god could beat him. Mahishasura was so arrogant, he never even imagined a woman could be strong enough to challenge him. Oh! He didn't say anything about a goddess! Exactly! But they needed a goddess more powerful than anyone who had ever existed.

3:44 So, the gods did something incredible. They stood together and they poured all of their glowing, fiery energy out of their own bodies into one spot.

3:55 Whoa! Like putting all their superpowers into a giant blender.

4:00 Kind of. And out of that massive, blinding light stepped the goddess Durga. She was made of the combined strengths of everyone, the energy of the whole universe in one person.

4:14 Okay, that is the most epic entrance ever. But wait, why does she have so many arms?

4:21 Because she was made from all the gods' power. They each wanted to give her their most powerful tool or weapon to help her. But if you have ten different gods handing you tools, you need a way to hold them all.

4:35unknown Ha!

4:36 Oh I get it. So she just grew more arms to hold everything.

4:39 Yes. In the stories, she has eight or sometimes ten arms. Shiva gave her a trident. Vishnu gave her a spinning disc called a chakra. Another god gave her a bow and arrows. And someone else gave a thunderbolt.

4:55 Ten hands all holding magical weapons. That is so cool.

5:00 And to top it off, the mountain god gave her a fierce lion to ride. So she rode out on her lion with her ten arms. And because she wasn't a man or a male god, she finally defeated the buffalo demon and saved the world.

5:16 That is an amazing story. But is Doga just a superhero character to people who follow Hinduism? Or does she mean something deeper?

5:24 She means something much deeper. She represents a really beautiful philosophical idea called Shakti. Shakti. What does that mean? In Hindu philosophy, Shakti is the idea that the deepest, most active energy of the universe, the power that makes plants grow, planets spin, and life happen, is female.

5:46 Wow! So she's not just a warrior, she's literally the energy that keeps the whole universe moving. Exactly.

5:53 And to celebrate that incredible energy during Navratri, people do something really amazing. Especially in a big city in India called Kolkata, during a celebration they call Durga Puja. What do they do? Artists spend months building these giant, beautiful statues of Durga riding her lion. They build frames out of bamboo and straw, and then cover them in clay taken right from the local river.

6:19 How giant are we talking?

6:21 Sometimes as tall as a house. They paint them in gorgeous colours, dress them in real silk clothes and shiny jewels, and put them up in huge decorated tents called pandals. Millions of people walk the streets all night just to see them. Haha, that sounds like the biggest, best art gallery ever. It is.

6:42 But here's the part that might bend your brain a little, Finn. After all that work, after days of worship and celebration, they don't keep the statues. Wait, what? Where do they go? Do they put them in a museum? No. At the very end of the festival, with huge crowds cheering and playing drums, they carry these gigantic, gorgeous statues down to the river.

7:07 And they push them right into the water.

7:09 No way. They just push them in. But they spent months making them. Don't they get ruined?

7:15 Well, the clay isn't baked hard like a coffee mug. It's unbaked mud. So when it hits the water, the statue slowly dissolves back into the mud of the river it came from.

7:27 That feels kind of sad. Why would they destroy something so beautiful?

7:31 They don't see it as destroying it at all. It's a reminder of a big philosophical idea called impermanence. It means that nothing in this physical world lasts forever in the exact same form. The clay comes from the river, it holds the shape of the goddess for a while, and then it returns back to nature.

7:51 Huh. I kind of love that actually. It's like building a really amazing, complicated sandcastle. You know the tide is going to wash it away in a few hours, but that makes it even more special while you're looking at it.

8:04 Exactly! And the story of Durga has a really cool meaning for our lives right now, too. Think about the gods facing that demon.

8:12 You mean how they were totally stuck?

8:15 Yes. Sometimes you face a problem that feels impossible. Like a math puzzle that makes absolutely no sense, or a huge project you can't finish alone. What did the gods do? They stopped trying to do it by themselves. They pooled their energy together.

8:32 Oh wow. So Durga is like the power of teamwork. When a problem is too big for one person, you combine forces and turn into something completely new and unstoppable.

8:44 That's it exactly. Now, Finn, do you have any fun facts about this for us?

8:49 I sure do. Did you know that when they make the clay for the Durga statues in Kolkata, tradition says they have to mix in a handful of soil taken from outside the homes of people who are often treated very poorly by society? It's a beautiful rule that means all of society, every single person, is needed to create the divine.

9:10 That is really beautiful. It proves the point about needing everyone's energy. Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready? Born ready, let's do this. First question. What is the name of the nine-night festival celebrating the goddess? Next one. What kind of animal could the demon Mahisha Sura shapeshift into?

9:38 Question three. What does the word Shakti mean in Hindu philosophy? Here's number four. What animal does the goddess Durga ride? Last question. What happens to the giant clay statues of Durga in Kolkata at the very end of the festival? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is Navaratri. For question two, a giant water buffalo.

10:15 Number three, the answer is the active female energy of the universe. Question four, she rides a lion. And the final answer is they are pushed into the river to dissolve back into mud.

10:29 You know, I really like the idea of things dissolving back into the earth. It feels honest. It makes you really look at a beautiful thing while it's in front of you.

10:40 I agree. It's a wonderful reminder to be present and appreciate what we have today, right now.

10:48 Hey, if you enjoyed thinking about this with us, please leave us a five-star review.

10:53 Yes! If you think teamwork makes you as strong as a ten-armed goddess, leave those five stars. Just scroll down and tap the stars.

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11:23 See you next time on Philosophy is not boring.

11:26 Bye, everyone!