Goddess Mahisasura-mardini played a significant role in the religious and cultural life of India. It is very difficult to trace the origin of her worship. In India, the worship of goddess Mahisasura-mardini originated from the cult of mother goddess, traceable since Neolithic period. The sacrifice of bull to the mother goddess was popular in ancient India. The SkandaPurana gives an account of the origin and the worship of mother goddess. The goddess is known as a form of Uma or Parvati, the consort of Siva, also known as sakti of Siva. The text mentions the deity as Durga, because she killed a powerful demon named Durga, son of Ruru (SkandPurana, IV, ii, 72.71). She is also named as Durgadurgatinasini (Ibid, III, ii, 20, I, 9; IV. ii, 72, 82). In course of the flight with Devi, the demon Durga assumed the form of a “mahamahisa” (great buffalo). The goddess killed “mahamahisa” in the battle. Thus she is known as Mahisasura-mardini (SkandaPurana, I, iiiu, 21 and 27).
The Markandeya and the MatasyaPurana mention the origin of goddess Mahisasura-mardini. As a result of the meditation of gods led by Siva, the goddess appeared in the beautiful form, having three eyes, multiple arms, adorned with the crescent moon. Later gods equipped her with their weapons as well as adorned her with jewels and ornaments for fighting a battle againstasuras. In the battle, the goddess struck the head of the asura, who was emerging out of severed neck of the buffalo.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is situated between the continents of Asia and Australia extending some 5000 square kilometers along the equator between 4o N and11oS and 95o and 141oE. The country consists of over 17000 islands of which 600 are inhabited. Out of the inhabited islands, the most important are Bali, Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra. The goddess Mahisasura-mardini, a form of Durga, played a significant role in the classical Indonesian culture. Quite a large number of sculptures of this deity are found in the different parts of Java and Bali. She has been placed on the northern niches of the temples. The most fascinating statue is found at the Shiva temple Prambanan located in Central Java.
The myth related to Mahisasura-mardini is quite different in Indonesia. In a Javanese myth, demon Mahisasura is given due importance. The Javanese Serat Kanda 54 mentions the birth of demon Mahisasura. On the mountain of SelaKunin, there was an independent kingdom. One Mahesavati, the daughter of Suratani lived there. She was married to the king. From her two children was born: one of them MahesaPurusa had the form of a buffalo. MahesaPurusa, after becoming older, killed all the buffaloes in the forest and added their females to his herd. Once he assaulted a female calf. The child of assaulted female calf was Mahisasura. Later, Mahisasura did penance in order to get powers to be able to avenge his mother and finally he succeeds in killing the old buffalo (Stutterheim, 1989, p. 61). The Javanese version the Virataparvaexplains the birth of Kala from Siva's power. How Siva kills the demon Mahisasura is described in Ch. 231 v. 96. However, sculptures of Indonesia attribute this feat to Mahisasura-mardini.
There is another prominent Javanese legend connected to this deity. It says that some of the temples of classical Java are constructed on the initiatives of this goddess. The legend narrates that Ratu Baka, the king of MedangKamulan, Central Java, wanted to ravish his own daughter Devi RetnaCendila because of her fault. The girl fled from her father’s house and met a young man named as JakaBandun, the son of a nun. The youth fell in love with this beautiful girl and wanted to get her favour. Devi RetnaCendila agreed to marry him if he could construct in a single night Candi Sevu, a complex of thousand temples.
