The Story of Navratri

Navratri's story is preserved in the Devi Mahatmya, also known as the Durga Saptashati, a set of seven hundred verses that forms part of the ancient Markandeya Purana. It opens with the gods in despair, driven out of heaven by a demon whom none of them could overcome.

That demon was Mahishasura, born of a union between an asura and a buffalo, able to shift between human and buffalo shapes at will. He had won a boon that no man and no god could ever kill him, and, believing himself untouchable, he seized the three worlds and cast the gods from their thrones.

In their helplessness the gods turned to the great trinity. From the concentrated anger and radiance of Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and all the devas streamed a blaze of light, and from that combined energy a resplendent goddess took form. She was Durga, the Mother, dazzling and many-armed. Each god gave her a weapon of his own: Shiva his trident, Vishnu his discus, Vayu his bow, Indra his thunderbolt, and the mountain Himavat gave her a lion to ride.

Mounted on her lion, the goddess filled the sky with a roar that shook the demon's army. A long and terrible battle followed. Mahishasura's generals fell one by one, and at last the buffalo-demon himself charged, changing shape again and again — now a buffalo, now a lion, now a man, now an elephant — to escape her.

As he sprang from his buffalo form, Durga pinned him beneath her foot and pierced him with her trident, striking off his head. With that, the boon that had made him invincible was undone, for he was slain by neither man nor god, but by the Divine Mother herself. Heaven was restored, and the goddess became known as Mahishasuramardini, the slayer of Mahishasura.

Navratri, meaning 'nine nights,' honours this victory across nine tithis from Ashwin Shukla Pratipada to Navami. Following the Devi Kavacha, a hymn within the same Durga Saptashati, the Mother is worshipped in nine forms, the Navadurga — Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri and Siddhidatri — one for each night. On the tenth day, Vijayadashami, her triumph is celebrated as the enduring victory of good over evil.

This retelling follows The Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati), part of the Markandeya Purana; the nine Navadurga forms follow the Devi Kavacha within the same text.. Godify keeps to the tradition and names its source, never inventing or distorting a sacred story.