The Great Goddess Durga was born from the energies of the male divinities when the gods became impotent in the long-drawn-out battle with the asuras (demons). All the energies of the gods united and became a supernova, throwing out flames in all directions. Then that unique light, pervading the Three Worlds with its luster, combined into one, and became a female form. A tremendous power is poised ready for the grim battle to wipe out demonic forces, the asuras whose exaggerated ego-senses destroying the balance of the universe. Whose sole purpose is to dominate and control.

It is the universal war between knowledge and ignorance,
truth and falsehood, the oppressor and the oppressed.

The world shook and the seas trembled as the goddess engaged the Great Demon Mahisasura and his hosts in fierce battle, creating her own female battalions from her sighs breathed during the fighting . When the battle was over, the Devi had destroyed the demon's army, symbolic of disruptive aggression.

Enraged by her victory, Mahisasura took on buffalo- form to overcome the goddess. Repeatedly the goddess slew the buffalo- demon, and each time he transformed himself into a new and more ferocious shape. Then with the strength of spiritual energy gained by drinking from the wine-cup charged with spiritual force, the goddess struck the demon-head from the buffalo-body. The chief demon Mahisasura was dead, and the gods praised the goddess, joyfully worshipping her with flowers, incense and fragrant paste: But this victory was not the end of the episode. Two other powerful asuras, Sumbha and Nisumbha, had deprived the gods of their divine functions, and once more the gods prayed to the goddess.

The Goddess as Parvati did not yield at once to this masculine adoration. Instead, she projected her feminine psyche from her body, personified as Kausiki, the sheathed one, to enable her to evaluate their prayers in her own shadow-self. Being convinced, she projected an overwhelming omnipotence. As Kalika she stationed herself on Mount Himalaya.

The departing Durga offered the gods a boon. She promised that as Sakambari she would nourish the world in time of need with the vegetation grown from her own body, and that in her terrible form she would deliver her worshippers from the enemies, and bless them. Then she vanished from the very spot on which the gods were gazing.

Durga is linked with some of the oldest known prayers for humankind's protection: the Durga and Savitri of the Taittereya Aranyaka, the Durga-Stotra or prayer of Yudhishira in the Mahabharata. According to the Brahmavaivarta Purana Krishna worshipped Durga in Goloka, the cow-realm of his youth. Siva invoked Durga when confronted by the demon Tripura; Brahma worshipped her when attacked by two demons Madhu and Kaitabha; and Indra when cursed by Durvasa.