She was the first born in the house of Daksha, one of the progenitors of mankind and was named as Satee. She was married to Shiv but sacrificed her life by self-immolation on a pyre. The story says that Daksha instituted a massive sacrifice and in the ceremonies apportioned no share to Shiv. Satee, his daughter had come to this ceremony against the wishes of the later’s father in law. Satee could not bear this insult and entered the sacrificial fire. Hearing the news Shiv flew in a rage and reached there with his blazing trident.
He pierced the sacrificial altar with great violence. He ran up to the gods sitting there and knocked out all things at the spot. So many powerful demi-gods in attendance to Shiv attacked the place together with their lord. The mountains tottered, the earthshook, the winds roared and the depths of the sea were disturbed. The catastrophe is thus described in puranas: Indra is knocked down and trampled on, Yama has his staff broken, Saraswati and Matris have their noses wounded, Bhag has his eyes pulled out, pushan has his teeth caked down his throat, Chandra (the moon) is pummeled, Agni’s hands are broken, Bhrigu’s beard is crushed, Prajapatis are beaten and the gods are running helter – skelter. In the end Vishnu intervened and propitiated the Wrath of Shiv. Daksha acknowledged Shiv’s supremacy and apportioned a due share to this God.In her second appearance Durga came to the world as Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya. As she was satee, the daughter of Daksha married to Shiv in her previous birth, in the second life too she wanted to be the consort of Shiv. But after the sacrifice of his first wife Shiv and lost all interest in marriage.
Parvati now realized that there was only one way of attracting his attention and winning his affection. She undertook ascetic rites and recited praying hymns for one thousand years to please God Shiv. Only then Shiv was convinced that Parvati was worthy of being accepted as a wife. The wedding of Shiv and Parvati is described in a very colourful manner in Puranic literature and so many songs have been composed how the marriage procession of Shiv is composed of beggars, mendicants and wanderers.
As mentioned above Goddess Durga has a variety of forms with different attributes. In her milder form she is Parvati (the mountain girl), Uma (the light) Gauri (the yellow complexioned beauty) Himavati (daughter of Himalaya) Jaganmata (Mother of the World) and Bhavani (the goddess of the universe) in her terrible form she is Durga (the terrible form she is Durga (the inaccessible) Kali or Shyama (he black complexioned) Chandika or chandi (the fearful one) and Bhairavi of Devi or Maha Devi (the great Goddess).
How Parvati the consort of Shiv came to have the name of Durga is an interesting narration. On one occasion the sage Agastya asked Kartikeya why Parvati, his mother was called Durga. Kartikeya replied that some time back there was a demon, named Durga, the son of Ruru. He with his austerities placed Brahma very powerful. He conquered the three worlds and even dethroned Indra, the king of gods. Every one was afraid of him. He abolished all religious ceremonies so the Brahmans were terrified and stopped reading Vedas.
All the Gods assembled and prayed to God Shiv to protect them from the tyranny of this demon. Shiv took pity on them and asked Parvati to go and destroy the evil demon. She calmed the Gods and accepted the mission. There was long drawn out and fierce battle. As soon as the giant came near with his evil followers Parvati assumed 1000 arms and also brought out a number of weapons out of her body. She repelled every attack and in the end of the demon assumed the shape of a fearful buffalo and with his horns cast trees, rocks and mountains on the Goddess, who cut everything into pieces.
The Goddess Parvati pierced him with her trident and subdued him. The Gods with his deliverance praised the Goddess and honoured Parvati with the name of Durga.
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