Shrine to Durga

Wooden shrine. On a stepped base or podium, the ten-armed goddess Durga is astride her mount, a lion, in a pose in which she is killing Mahisa, the buffalo demon. On her right are the goddess Lakshmi and the god Ganesh, who has the head of an elephant. On her left , the goddess Saraswati and the god Kartikeya. This sculptural ensemble is crowned with a semicircular panel depicting various scenes from the lives of Shiva and his wife Parvati in her incarnation as Durga.
Her name is associated with the legend of Durga and the buffalo demon Mahisa. The gods of Hindu mythology, lead by Indra, waged war against the spirit Mahisa, a demon and antigod. The latter triumphed and he banished the gods, usurping their kingdom. The gods roamed the Earth until, under the direction of Shiva and Vishnu, they combined their powers to create a new goddess, Durga. With a lion as her mount and weapons given to her by the other gods, she successfully fought and defeated the demon Mahisa.
She carries a different weapon in each of her hands: the trident of Shiva, the discus of Vishnu, the spear of Agni, the bow of Vayu, the arrow of Surya, the thunderbolt of Indra, the mace of Kubera, the sword of Kala, the axe of Vishwakarma, and the lotus flower and jar of Brahma. During the battle, the demon took many forms until, wounded and helpless, he turned into a buffalo. As Durga cut off the head of the buffalo, Mahisa tried to escape his disguise, and it was then that he met his crushing death at the end of the goddess' trident. And so the gods were restored to heaven, and Durga was worshiped as the portrayal of the triumph of gods over demons.
Every year at harvest time, around September or October, many festivals paying homage to the goddess, known as Durga Puja, are celebrated in India. The celebrations last several days and culminate in a procession in which images of the goddess, built specially for the festival, are led to a river or pond where they are submerged in a ceremony called “Vijaya”.
In this piece, the image of Durga and her four sons are outlined in a “chalchitra” (semi-circular facade where many deities are painted). The final appearance of the object is similar to the “pujo” (processional floats). Every class of the population sees themselves in these artworks; the “shudras” are represented by the god Ganesh, the symbol of work and success; Lakshmi embodies wealth, representing the “vaishyas”; Kartikeya is the personification of the strength and power of the “kshatriyas”, and, finally, the “brahmins” are represented by Saraswati, the goddess of learning. Durga, in the physical center of the composition, symbolizes central divine power, the balance between different forces. The creation of these types of images is regulated by a set of rules found in the Sri Chandi of the Mârkandeya Purana.