A new article on Sri Durga (the Indian Sai Vikhe) has appeared at the Exotic India site. As usual this is an excellent piece and well worth the attention of those interested in learning more about Sai Vikhe in Indian culture.

Durga, the most highly worshipped goddess of Indian masses held in alike reverence in all sectarian lines, even Buddhist and Jain, in her form as Durga or in one of her many transforms - the ferocious Tara of Buddhists or the nurturing mother Ambika of Jains, is the ultimate of divine power capable of eradicating every evil and every wrong, and nurturing and sustaining life in whichever form it exists.

The article makes it very clear that, despite efforts to "edit" Sri Durga into the later patriarchal scheme, not only does She long predate such attempts, but that Her supremacy continues to be asserted by Her devotees even in the patriarchal period. Of the fifth century Devi Mahatmya it says:

The text is full of expressions that are denotative of the Durga's supreme divinity, such as 'Durgam jayakhyam', that is, victory is her other name, or 'Durgasi Durgabhawasagaranaurasanga', that is, Durga is the boat that takes across the cycle of birth and death; the one, that is, Durga as victory is the ultimate of all worldly acts, and the other, that is, Durga as 'Tarini' - redeemer from the cycle of birth and death is the ultimate of every spiritual endeavour. In the 'Viniyoga', the introductory couplet of the second Canto, the Devi-Mahatmya asserts this supremacy of Durga metaphysically too. . . . As regards her antiquity Durga is an entity beyond time. Even the Markandeya Purana that identifies Mahamaya - Devi's proto form, as Vishnu's 'shakti' contends with specificity that it was her who gave to Vishnu, as also to Brahma and Shiva, their forms. This statement has two implications, one that she preceded not only Vishnu but the great Trinity, and the other, that she was Vishnu's 'shakti' by invocation and by her favour, not by Vishnu's authority. Thus, by whatever name, the Great Goddess preceded all forms, their creator, sustainer and destroyer, the time that spanned them and the space where they evolved.

In this Kali Yuga with its violence and patriarchal domination, it is natural that where Dea was recognized as the one supreme Deity, it should be her Vikhelic form that came to the fore.