Devalok
Festival story · 1 telling · Pan-India

The goddess who would not be married (Shumbha and Nishumbha)

Shumbha and Nishumbha have taken heaven; hearing of a beautiful woman in the Himalaya, they send a messenger to bring her as a bride. She answers that she vowed to marry only one who beats her in battle. Their generals and Nishumbha fall, and when Shumbha says she fights with others' strength, she takes all the goddesses back into herself and kills him alone.

Who is in it

Places: Himalaya · Texts: Devi Mahatmya

The story, beat by beat

  1. The gods, robbed of heaven, sing to the Goddess in the Himalaya.
  2. Kaushiki comes out of Parvati's body; Shumbha's servants see her.
  3. Shumbha's messenger asks her to marry; she says she vowed to marry only one who defeats her.
  4. Dhumralochana, Chanda and Munda, Raktabija and Nishumbha fall.
  5. Shumbha says she fights with others' strength; she takes the goddesses into herself and kills him alone.

power pride battle festival

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Devi Mahatmya, Markandeya Purana 85 to 91

Pan-India · sa Shakta 🪔 Navratri

The gods, driven from heaven by Shumbha and Nishumbha, praise the Goddess in the Himalaya with the hymn to her who dwells in all beings. Kaushiki issues from Parvati's body. Chanda and Munda report her beauty to Shumbha, who sends Sugriva to ask her hand; she replies that she vowed to wed only one who conquers her in battle. Dhumralochana is burned by her cry; Kali slays Chanda and Munda; the Matrikas and Kali destroy Raktabija; Nishumbha falls. Shumbha accuses her of relying on others; she says she alone exists, withdraws the goddesses into herself, and kills him in combat in the sky.

Markandeya Purana 81 to 93, the Devi Mahatmya (F. E. Pargiter, 1904)

Sources: Markandeya Purana 81 to 93, the Devi Mahatmya (F. E. Pargiter, 1904)

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