Story of Durgama

An asura chief born in the dynasty of Hiraṇyākṣa and son of Taru, Durgama was an enemy of the Devas from his very birth. He argued to himself thus: "the very strength and power of the Devas depend on the Vedas; if there is no Veda there is no yajña, if there is no yajña the Devas do not get their share of the havis, if they do not get the havis they will lose all their strength and prowess, and, therefore, the best means to teach the Devas a lesson is to destroy the Vedas." Durgama decided that the surest means to achieve that was to perform penance. Accordingly he went to the Himālayas and began doing penance abstaining from food and drink. After a thousand years Brahmā appeared to him and asked him what boon he wanted. Durgama said "I must get the Vedas; I should get all the mantras known to brahmins and Devas in the three worlds, and all the presiding deities of those mantras should come and stand before me and be subject to my control; I must also get the strength to defeat all the Devas." Brahmā granted Durgama all the boons. And, thenceforth the brahmins could not recollect the Vedas or the mantras. No bathing, no homas, no daily rites, no rites for the dead, no yajñas, no japa (repeating divine names) and no tapas. Symptoms of old age caught the Devas in its grips. Durgama drove them out of Devaloka and they hid in mountain caves. Within a hundred years the world reached the rock bottom of destruction. Water disappeared from the world. Alarmed beyond measure at these developments the brahmins went to the Himālayas and prayed to Jagadambikā (mother of the universe). Ambikā appeared to them, and their lamentations brought tears to the eyes of Ambikā, and thus water scarcity came to an end. Ambikā gave them Śāka (a vegetable) fruits and roots to eat. Because she protected her devotees by supplying Śāka to them she came to be known as Śākambharī, thenceforward. Also because she shed tears from her eyes, thenceforth she came to be addressed as Śatākṣī also.

Being told about the above developments Durgama, with his army attacked Devī. The fight became fierce and furious. From Devī’s body emerged numerous Śaktis fully armed. Dhāriṇī, Bālā, Tripurā, Bhairavī and Kālī with 10,000 hands were some of the prominent and powerful Śaktis which thus emerged. The army of Durgama was annihilated. Then the fight commenced directly between Devī and Durgama. Fifteen arrows of Devī hit the asura at the very same time and he was killed. (Devī Bhāgavata, Saptama Skandha).