Mahisasura - Character Design

Reimagining the Mythical Character Mahisasura

Salute to Messiah of the oppressed, Asura Emperor, King of Mahisha, Buffalo-rearer Mahishasura 🐃

So called upper-caste feminists and progressives often see the fair-skinned goddess Durga as a symbol of feminine energy, feminism, and women’s empowerment. However, they completely overlook the fact that Mahishasura, the indigenous figure she is slaying, is revered by many marginalized caste and tribal communities in India. Even in mythology, the targets are often from non-savarna communities, and they are portrayed in a visually grotesque ways.

These upper-caste progressives deny any caste angle, choosing instead to frame the story as a simple narrative of good triumphing over evil, or women versus men. For a moment, I might have seen Durga as a symbol of women’s empowerment if the stories showed her asserting herself against fair-skinned Aryan male gods. But such stories don’t exist.

Festivities like Durga Puja, to me, are symbolic of the savarna hatred toward avarna communities and reveal the deep-rooted caste bias of the oppressor caste people.