In the history of cults and iconography in India, the goddess, in her form of slaying the buffalo demon, plays a dominating role. Even today, thousands upon thousands of idols abound in every urban centre or village environs.

As the story goes, two royal demon Brahmin brothers practised severe austerities for the purpose of acquiring sons. Rambha was promised a wife of his choice. When a beautiful, dark brown she-buffalo offered affectionate amours, Rambha married her. The buffalo Mahisha was born out of the burning pyre of his buffalo mother who had committed sati when her husband was murdered.

Here we have the conflation of many streams of the legend – of deity, royalty, Brahmin, demon and animal which were the characteristic attributed to Mahisha. He too had received a boon after severe penances- he would not be killed by any man. As the father Rambha was soon revived, when Mahisha grew to manhood, father and son conquered first the demon world, then the temporal world, then the temporal world and finally, Mahisha and his armies conquered heaven and all the gods.

The gods roamed the earth in misery. To regain control, they created a magnificent goddess out of the various parts of their bodies.

When the demon Mahisha, reigning in heaven, now as a god, heard bout the newly formed exquisite creature, the goddess Durga, who was sitting on a hill, he declared his love for her. So, transforming himself into a young heroic human prince, he approached her lovingly. She sent out ambivalent signals, both amorous and threatening, but eventually, the goddess managed to chop off Mahisha’s head. When he died, the world was blessed with peace, prosperity and compassion, and he was soon resurrected to sit at the side of the goddess in Heaven.

Early status openly depict their symbiosis; later, and until today, during the Kolkata Durga festival, Mahisha’s human form is emphasized.