Mythological Origin of The Goddess
In the Ramayana, after Sita was abducted by Ravana, Lord Rama and his brother Lakshmana started searching for her. When they reached the forest, near which later Vijayanagar was founded, Rama worshipped Devi Durga and sought her help. The Goddess instructed Rama while he was meditating that he must not see her when she appears or she will turn to stone. Rama could not control himself and saw her and the Goddess was embodied as a stone idol. She told Rama not to worry and call her later when she would definitely aid him.
This second puja was performed by Ravana himself near Rameswaram before the Vanara Sena could cross over to Lanka. Ravana was deemed fit because this ceremony was performed in order to achieve victory in the war to follow. In order to defeat a warrior like Ravana, the performer had to be a Brahmin who performed the ritual of Trisandhya everyday without fail. At that time, Ravana was the only such Brahmin in all of Creation.
After Lord Rama left, the stone idol was worshiped by the local tribes. Thus the ancient tribal Goddess was described as a Hindu Goddess.
Read more about this topic: Maa Tarini
Famous quotes containing the words mythological, origin and/or goddess:
“Both magic and religion are based strictly on mythological tradition, and they also both exist in the atmosphere of the miraculous, in a constant revelation of their wonder-working power. They both are surrounded by taboos and observances which mark off their acts from those of the profane world.”
—Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942)
“Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“As if the musicians did not so much play the little phrase as execute the rites required by it to appear, and they proceeded to the necessary incantations to obtain and prolong for a few instants the miracle of its evocation, Swann, who could no more see the phrase than if it belonged to an ultraviolet world ... Swann felt it as a presence, as a protective goddess and a confidante to his love, who to arrive to him ... had clothed the disguise of this sonorous appearance.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)