Durga Quotes

He was a versatile scholar who knew several languages, kept the company of learned Brahmins and composed excellent poetry on varied themes. He had been fascinated by the Puranic story of Goddess Durga particularly in her incarnation as Mahisamardini. He performed an elaborate Yajna presided over by pundits of the ancient lore and invoked the Devi for the protection of dharma. The Devi came to him in the shape of the sword which he now asked some of his followers to pick up and ply against bigotry and oppression.... Soon it became a hallowed tradition in many Hindu families, Sikh as well as non-Sikh, to dedicate their eldest sons to the Khalsa which rightly came to be regarded as the sword-arm of Hindu society. (Guru Govind Singh)

I read it because I was asked to explain what the truth is. I said it with a lot of pain. I myself am a practicing Hindu, I myself am a Durga worshiper. These are authenticated documents from the university itself.

Smriti Irani

Some other practices discontinued by Akbar were revived by Shahjahan. Forcible conversion during war became common in his reign. "When Shuja was appointed governor of Kabul (he carried on) a ruthless war in the Hindu territory beyond the Indus... Sixteen sons and dependants of Hathi were converted by force. The sword of Islam further yielded a crop of Muslim converts... The rebellion of Jujhar Singh yielded a rich crop of Muslim converts, mostly minors. His young son Durga and his grandson Durjan Sal were both converted to become Imam Quli and Ali Quli... Most of the women had burnt themselves... but such as were captured - probably slave girls and maids - were converted and distributed among Muslim Mansabdars... The conquest of Beglana was followed by conversion of Naharji's son... who now became Daulatmand.”.

Shah Jahan

From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga, to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first, I came to associate food not only with feminity, but also with purity and divinity.

Padma Lakshmi

This... excuse of the provocative slogans leading mechanically to stone-throwing and worse, is used routinely by biased reporters.... A procession with about 100 women members of Durga Vahini had gone out to the Ghanta Ghar area. "There they raised communal slogans, resulting in stone-pelting and bomb-throwing." (Remark the belief in mantra magic: a slogan is uttered, and hocus pocus, a bomb explodes.) This cheap excuse for a pre-planned bomb attack is even contradicted by other information in the same article.... This case proves that newspapers keep on blaming the slogan-shouters even when it is crystal-clear from their own information that the violence was premeditated and engineered by the other side.

Koenraad Elst