Elements of Hindu Iconography v3.c19.60

v3.c19.60

In other works also similar stories are given of the killing of Mahishāsura by the Dēvi. The destruction of Mahishāsura is considered to be allegorical; the Padma-purāṇa says that in the Svāyambhava-manvantara, Mahishāsura was killed by Vaishṇavi on the Mandaragiri, that he was once again destroyed by Nandā in the Vaivasvata-manvantara on the Vindhya mountain, and that thus personified ignorance was killed by Jñāna-śakti which is the same as personified wisdom. It may also be that this story indicates the substitution of the buffalo-totem worship by a form of goddess-worship among certain early primitive tribes in the country.