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Devi, also known as Maha Devi or Uma Devi, is the mother of the Hindu world. She is known as the mother goddess or the mother of all life, she is gentle and she is the goddess of nature because she brings rain and protects against disease. She is also the mother of death and destruction; in this form she is terrible. Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu is an incarnation of Devi. She is the goddess of creative power and represents all women in the universe. She also has many other incarnations and forms such as the warrior Durgha and the bloodthirsty Kali or she can be gentle in the form of Parvati, mother of the Hindu elephant god Ganesha. Devi is the wife of Shiva which is Parvati; Shiva is the god of generation and destruction. Devi is the “Mother Goddess,” meaning she is the mother of all. In her hands she holds joy and pain, right hand and life and death in the other. As the mother of death, she is horrible. In her description, Devi has eight arms, and only one of those arms has a sword. When is fighting against evil, she is usually mounted on lion or tiger. Devi holds the universe in her hands alone. Devi is the warrior Durgha when she is the mother of death. The gods begged her to kill and protect them from the evil Mahisasura, who is the goddess of destruction of all creation and feeds off the power of gods. When in religious form she is known as Uma. The Hindus have created a rich, complex mythology which is still very much alive. Hundreds of millions of people continue to believe in the multitudes of gods which inhabit the Hindu pantheon. This tapestry of religion is the result of millennia of integration. The Indian sub-continent has been a crossroad for several cultures, and the Indian people have incorporated numerous ideas from different faiths.
Parvati – Mountain Girl
Uma – The light or the religion
Gauri – The yellow complexioned beauty
Himavati – Daughter of the Himalaya
Jagatmata – Mother of the world
Bhavani – Goddess of the universe
Durga – The inaccessible
Kali or Shyama – The black complexioned
Chandika or Chandi – The Fearful one
Bhairavi – The terrible
All these names are broadly included under the name Devi or Mahadevi meaning The Great Goddess. Now when Devi was born her parents did not know what kinds of powers she really possesed, it was only until Devi was enraged when her father was killed that was when her mother had witnessed her true power, she named this form of Devi, Durga. Her mother also gave her the name Uma for when she is being worshipped in India at her own temple.
Modern
As Hinduism has continued to evolve over the centuries, it has willingly accepted the creation of new forms of various deities, including the goddess. In the early years of the twentieth century, the nationalist movement in India picked up the theme of the goddess and transformed her into Mother India. In the 1980s a temple to Mother India was built in the pilgrimage town of Hardwar where the sacred river Ganges finally descends to the plains of India. Today, new formulations or manifestations of Devi tend to be intensely localized and temples to new forms of the goddess continue to be built.
Epic
During the Gupta period (320-647), the goddess, as object of worship, was celebrated in the Devi Mahatmya, a fifth-sixth century Sanskrit text. Through the dynamic narration of three stories about her great feats, the Devi Mahatmya proclaims Devi's supremacy as the creator of the universe and the one who pervades and sustains creation. Copies of the Devi Mahatmya illustrating Devi's adventures in detail became increasingly popular into the 19th century.
Six forms
Devi has six forms. She has a forceful and dynamic form. She can recreate the universe first by becoming a cosmic force. Devi has a gentle form where she has great amounts of wealth, fortune, and success. As a heroine she comes down to earth and provides inspiring models for the women. Devi is sometimes seen as a protector of towns and tribes. As a fifth form she manifests her self through nature, fertility spirts, and celestial nymphs. She is also represented in woman saints.
Names for forms
Warrior- Durgha Gentle- Parvati Blood Thirsty- Kali Religion- Gauri Beauty- Himavati Mother Goddess- Devi Mahatmya