Durgamasuraदुर्गमासुर

The Loss and Recovery of Sacred Knowledge

Durgama reasons that the gods draw strength from offerings made with Vedic mantras. He undertakes a thousand years of austerity in the Himalayas and asks Brahma to place all Vedic knowledge under his control. Brahma grants the request. The priests forget the mantras, ritual offerings cease, and the gods grow weak. Durgama attacks their capital, forcing them into mountain refuges.

The disruption also brings a hundred years without rain. Rivers, wells and reservoirs dry up, and people and animals die. Sages appeal to the Goddess, who appears with innumerable eyes and weeps in compassion for nine nights. Her tears replenish the waters. She supplies fruits, roots and vegetables to people and grass to animals until crops grow again. These acts explain her names Shatakshi, the hundred-eyed one, and Shakambhari, the provider of vegetation.

Hearing that the Goddess has aided his opponents, Durgama brings his army against her. She places the gods and sages within a protective circle and fights outside it, aided by powers emerging from her body. After his forces are destroyed, Durgama confronts her in his chariot. She strikes down his horses and driver, disables his weapons and kills him with arrows. She then restores the Vedas to their custodians, ending the crisis he created.