On day 4, Mā Durgā is worshipped as Mā Kuśmandā. Kuśmandā, a sanskrit word is made up of ‘Ku’ meaning a little; ‘uśma’ meaning ‘warmth’, and ‘anḍa’ meaning ‘cosmic egg’. As per purāṇa, she is considered the creator of the Universe.
Mā Kuṣmandā’s story begins at a time when there was nothing. The entire Universe was empty, there was no sign of life and darkness prevailed everywhere. Suddenly, a ray of divine light appeared and slowly illuminated everything. Initially, this divine light was formless and had no particular shape. However, soon it started taking a clear size and finally, it took the form of a Lady. This divine lady, the first being of the Universe, was Mā Kuṣmandā.
It is believed that Mā Kuṣmandā was able to create this Universe with her silent smile. She produced a “little cosmic egg” and her smile took over the darkness. Mā Kuṣmandā replaced it with light and gave new life to this Universe.
Soon, she created the Sun, the planets, the stars, and the galaxies that fill our night sky. She seated herself at the center of the Sun and is now believed to be the source of all energy in our Universe. She provides life to all living beings through the sun’s rays and is, therefore, also known as Śakti.
After this, She created three divine goddesses, who were also the first beings of our Universe. She used the central eye on her forehead to create a terrorizing form – “Mahālakshmi”. “Mahākāli” was created from her left eye and finally, she used her right eye to create “Mahāsaraswati”, a smiling and gracious form.
Later, the body of Mahākāli gave birth to a male and a female. The male was named Śiva and the female was named Saraswati. Similarly, Mahālakshmi also gave birth to a male – Bramha – and a female – Lakshmi.
Mā Kuṣmandā then glanced at Mahāsaraswati, who then gave birth to a male and female as well. The male was named Viṣṇu and the female was named Śakti. After this, Mā Kuṣmandā offered Sarwaswati to Bramhā, Lakshmi to Viṣṇu, and Śakti to Śiva as companions.
Later, Mā Kuṣmandā absorbed the three divine goddesses within herself and then entered Shakti as an object of divine, powerful, and unending energy.
