Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati) & Devi Bhagwat

Devi Mahatmya is the collection of stories and hymns related to the goddess Adi Parashakti (whose full incarnation is Parvati as mentioned in the Mahatmya. It translates as “glory to the goddess.” It is part of the Markandeya Purana. It is also known as Durga Saptashati or Chandi Path. The Devi Bhagwat, on the other hand, is a collection of all the stories and hymns related to the goddess in many different forms. It contains the Devi Mahatmya in it as well. It contains dialogues of different rishis, deities, and devotees. It is the most important literature in Shaktism sect of Sanatan Dharma.

The book is named as Shri Durga Saptashati. Devi Bhagwat is slightly different. Actually both tells the Glory of Maa Durga. I write briefly on this. This is a book regarding the glory of Maa Durga and the consequences . Devi mahatmya describes the Goddess as the supreme power and creator of the universe. It is the part of Markandeya Purana. As far as the content of this book is concern this book contain many stotra. Now this book contains a glorious stories of Maa Durga in Sanskrit. It is translated in Hindi also. These stories are divided into Adhyaya [chapters] . There are 13 chapters in this book of glorious stories. After that this book contains many more Stotra which are very powerful.

Now when it comes to Devi Bhagwat it is very big sacred scripture. The text contains of 12 skanda with 318 chapters. Actually Devi Bhagwat contains all the stories of Durga Saptashati. but it contains many more Gods. Whenever we do Devi Bhagwat it is completed in 7 days. The main difference between them is that Durga Saptashati contains Stotra to worship Maa Durga & some glorious stories. Where Devi Bhagwat contains stories.

Maa Durga is one of the nine divine form of Maa Parvati. She is also called Mahishasura Mardini. She is the mother of every living being and wife of Lord Shiva and sister of Lord Vishnu. Durga killed Mahishasura from where she got her name as Durga. Before Durga, she was renowned as Mahishasura Mardini as she killed that Buffalo demon.

According to Devi Bhagwat - there was (and still is) a Universal Mother in the beginning. She created the Trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Maheswara. Later she assumed the forms of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati (Durga) and thus, herself became the wives of the Trinity. So it was only the feminine principle (????????) that existed in the beginning. Masculine principle is a late-comer. It is just a creation/ son of the former. I personally believe in this, because scientifically speaking, every form of life that came into being was originally a female. Later Nature intervenes to modify some of them into males. That’s why even males have nipples and areola by birth, just like females, though the features are absolutely inactive and of no use for them.

So both the accounts you have heard are true according to our scriptures. She is simultaneously their mother and also wives, but in different forms. i.e. the Mother-form is not exactly the wife-form. It is a separate form. But then, be it the motherly element or wifely element and whatever relation you name it after - all these roles finally merge into the grand, integrated feminine principle of the creation. These words ‘mother, wife, sister, daughter’ etc signify nothing but different points of time in man’s life. Mother signifies man’s past (the roots), while wife stands for his present and daughter, to his future. The same element, but called differently, donning different irreplaceable roles in different physical frames.

So not just Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati, every female in the world has an element of the Universal Mother inside her. Probably even males (XY) have it too, because they are not from some other Universe.

?? ???? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ? ????????? ????????? ????????? ??? ??? ?(From Devi Saptashati of the Markandeya Puranam) (Meaning : Repeated salutations to the Goddess who resides in all beings as the motherly element).

The actual relationship between God Shiva and Goddess Durga is Husband-Wife. Lord Shiva doesn’t have Parents. Goddess Durga is Goddess Parvati, wife of God Shiva. I don't think there is any mention of her being the Mother of Tridev in Shiv Puran or Bhagwat Gita. It’s in Devi Puran because that is based on Shaktism, according to it she is not only Parvati but she is everything. But she is not the mother of Tridev because they are Swayambhu. So Durga Mata is Goddess Parvati because if you see her nine forms, all are associated with Parvati Mata. This is the truth. Also, Durga ji is also known as Bhavani, Bhavani is another name of Maa Parvati. She is the wife of Bhava, Bhava is a name of Lord Shiva.

Goddess Parvati is Goddess Durga. She is the Supreme Goddess along with Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati. Goddess Parvati/Durga is the Goddess of Power, Beauty, Love, devotion, fertility, motherhood, food, nourishment etc. She is the wife of Supreme God Shiva, she is Mother of Lord Kartikey and Lord Ganesh etc. Actually she is the Mother of whole universe. Let’s see in detail that how Goddess Parvati became Maa Durga. First, Prajapati Daksh once asked a boon from Goddess Adi Shakti. He asked Mata Shakti to take birth as his daughter. Then Goddess Shakti took birth as Sati, she married with Lord Shiva. We all know the story that when Daksh insulted Lord Shiva, Mata Sati out of anger, jumped in the Agni of Yagya. She ended her life.

Then Lord Shiva sent Veerbhadra to slay Daksh, he did that. Then after many years, Goddess Shakti took birth as the daughter of King Himavat and Queen Menavati. Since she took as the daughter of King Himavat. The word “Parvat” was the reason way she being the princess got name “Parvati”. So, Goddess Shakti is Parvati. Then she again married Lord Shiva. She took many forms and manifestations and slayed many demons. She has many divisions and sub-divisions like Durga ji has nine forms.. one of them is Kaalratri, Kaalratri has further more divisions as Mahakali, Bhadrakali etc. But all are same. Now, we all know that Goddess Durga slayed Demon Mahishasur. So, she is known as Mahishasur Mardini, but she slayed him in her Katyayani form.

She is also known as Goddess Bhavani. So what is the difference between Durga, Bhavani, Mahishasur Mardini and Katyayani? The answer is there is no difference. See many people say that there are many Gods and Goddesses in Hindu/Sanatan Dharm. But we need to understand that most of the Gods and Goddesses are same only appearance and names are different. So now, Goddess Shakti (Parvati ji) once slayed a demon called Durgamsur or commonly as Durgasur. When Parvati Mata slayed Durgasur, she got the name “Durga”. Just like Lord Shiva slayed Tripurasur and got the name Tripurari and Lord Krishna got the Murari after slaying demon Mura (according to some texts). Now Goddess Shakti who took birth as Parvati, got the new name as Durga. Then she further took nine more forms which are worshipped as Navdurga in Navratri. She mainly has Lion and Tiger as her vehicles but sometimes Nandi Maharaj (Divine Bull) and Donkey are depicted with her as vehicles. Durga Mata Ki Jay