Do you Know: How the lion became the ride of Maa Durga, know the reason behind it

Every deity has its own importance in Hinduism. He is worshiped on a daily basis. Similarly, the ride of all the gods and goddesses is different and the stories behind it are also different. Lord Ganesha rides a mouse, Kartikeya the peacock, Mother Saraswati rides a goose. Similarly, Goddess Durga rides a lion, hence she is also known as Sheravali. But do you know how the lion became the ride of Goddess Durga. If not, then we tell you about the mythology related to it.

According to the legend, Mother Parvati started doing severe penance to get Lord Shiva as her husband. During the severe penance, the complexion of Mother Parvati had turned dark. One day Mata Parvati and Lord Shiva were laughing and joking. At that time Lord Shiva jokingly called Mother Parvati as Kali. Goddess Parvati felt bad about this thing of Lord Shiva and she left Kailash and got absorbed in doing penance. During this, a hungry lion reached there with the desire to eat the goddess. But seeing Goddess Parvati absorbed in penance, he sat silently.

The lion sat there and thought that when the goddess would wake up from penance, he would make her his food. But during this many years passed. Lord Shiva, pleased with the goddess, granted him the boon of being Gauravna i.e. Gauri. When Mother Parvati went for a bath in the Ganges, a dark goddess appeared from her body, which was called Kaushiki and Mother Parvati came to be called Mahagauri.

Lion got the fruit of penance

Goddess Parvati saw that the lion sat with her hungry and thirsty during the penance. Seeing his penance, Goddess Parvati made her vehicle.

A legend related to this is found in Skanda Purana. According to the legend, Kartikeya, the son of Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati, defeated the demon Taraka and his two brothers Simhamukham and Surapadnam Asuras in the Devasura battle. Simhamukham apologized to Lord Kartikeya. Kartikeya forgave and blessed him to become a lion and ride on Mother Durga.

Note – (The information given here is based on religious beliefs and folk beliefs, there is no scientific evidence for this. It has been presented here keeping in mind the general public interest.)