This month's altar honours the Hindu Goddess of Power, Durga, and her Victory of Good over Evil. Her victory signifies the preservation of Dharma in the universe and the cosmic supremacy of the feminine divine power Shakti, which underlies and sustains all existence.
Durga's annual ten-day festival, Durga Puja, was celebrated earlier this month. The world's largest Durga Puja festival in West Bengal is recognized by UNESCO in its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
Durga is always depicted riding a lion, just like Ishtar the Great Goddess of Babylon. My statue of Durga is hand-carved white soapstone from India. She is one of the first goddess figurines I found when I moved here to Edmonton nearly 30 years ago. (And I found her at West Edmonton Mall -- of course!)
Several varieties of flowers associated with Durga's many positive qualities are traditionally offered to honour her during Durga Puja ceremonies. My altar represents four of the most popular tributes -- Red Hibiscus (altar cloth), Lotus (fibre-optic devotional lamp), Jasmine (scented stick of incense), and Rose (fresh-cut in the fingertip bowl).
[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]
39 comments:
I learned something new. Whether I will remember it is another matter entirely!
This is so lovely. Interesting to read about it
What a lovely presentation of the Hindu Goddess Durga 🤩
I'm interested in this kind of mythology 🎑
May Durga have that victory of good over evil.
And the full moon was dazzling!
Love!
The statue is fantastic and I love that cloth! A victory over evil. I can get behind that.
XOXO
Beautiful statue. There was even victory of good over evil in some countries yesterday :) I love the placemat!
I wonder if the parties on my largely Indian street were celebrating Durga recently. There are many celebrations and I don't always know why.
I love this month's colorful altar.
It was a gorgeous full moon, too!
That's just such a beautiful little set up!
I'm not up on my Hindi gods and goddesses so I really enjoyed this.
Absolutely beautiful !!!
bobbie
Anyone riding a lion must be quite powerful...and of course your altar is beautiful.
That is just lovely - such a positive Goddess.
As always the best altars are made by you.
I love ❤️ the pink 💗 and green 💚 lamp colours.
May Durga shower her blessings upon us! Love the altar, the flowers are beautiful. The incense holder is lovely as well.
The world needs more Durga.
Thanks for the info, Debra. It was cloudy here last night.
I love that changing flower in the back. How cool!
How interesting. Thanks for sharing this with us.
We definitely need her at this moment in history.
So much Evil around. And bold. They don’t care, they show their evil proudly
West Edmonton Mall? You made me recall a slogan they had years ago? So I googled it: ""Do what you want to do, be what you really want to be, and find yourself at West Edmonton Mall." Ha, of course you found it there.
@ DB Stewart -- It's funny what you can stumble across at WEM when you least expect it. I've bought 7 different Goddess statues over the years from WEM stores. Each one is a gem!
Hello Debra, In Delibe's opera of Lakme, there is an invocation to Durga, called Blanche Dourga in French, or Candida Durga in Italian. Here it is beautifully and thrillingly sung by the great Luisa Tetrazzini:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi-a9HPHRBo
--Jim
Hi Barbara, There is that famous limerick:
There was a young lady of Niger,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride,
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
But I fully agree with your comment. --Jim
@ Parnassus (Jim) -- Thanks for that link -- once again you have educated me! The only aria I know from that opera is the famous "Flower Duet."
Beautiful altar, Debra. Somehow the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity escaped me. What a wonderful thing.
I’ve learned something new today! I didn’t know this before, so thank you for broadening my knowledge and opening my eyes to something new.
This is a lovely colourful altar.
If Durga is the goddess of power, perhaps she can do something about the frequent power interruptions we are experiencing here, probably as a result of a nearby data center. Do you have her number?
i am familiar with ma durga dear Debra because in some old Indian movies i watched leading character dressing like durga before going to avenge her enemies ,fascinating it felt
I see she has several arms. Seems to be a common trait among goddesses.
She is just lovely!!! I love that you have such a vast collection of Goddesses; do you have a separate storage facility for them all, or a special closet or cabinet? I'm intrigued!
@ Busy Bee Suz -- Yes, I have about 75 goddess statues, 90% of which are all crammed together cheek-by-jowl in a special glass-fronted display case in my living room. The remaining 10% are sitting out in various places around my apartment. I keep most of them in the display case so that (1) they don't need dusting, and (2) in order to minimize breakage by cleaners. The ones sitting out are the least fragile ones.
Debra---thanks for the information. I'll sleep well tonight knowing they're all well taken care of. XO
Loved the altar with Durga. of course, this one is personal to me (being an Indian). She is celebrated in almost every part of the country during her 9 days. She is a warrior goddess (almost all Hindu gods and goddesses, except Uma, are warriors by default), and her images are usually fierce (the one in Bengal requires the idol to be slaying the demon), the celebrations are ALL feminine. So when introducing Durga to a child, I tell them - She rides a lion and slays demons in full feminine finery - red saree, bangles, bindi, and the works. You dont have to stop being feminine to be a warrior. they are not two sides of the same coin. They are the same side :)
@ How do we know -- I love the insight and wisdom of your concluding observation about Durga -- thank you!
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