Devi Forms personified, in the Devimahatmya, the goddess is described herself in three significant forms – Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati. In the first form she woke up Vishnu from his sleep, to face the Asuras, Madhu and Kaitabha, who had risen in the cosmic ocean. In the second form she faced the forces of the asura Mahishasura and killed him.
In the third form she destroyed the Asuras Sumbha and Nisumbha with their forces and brought peace to the gods in heaven and to the world of men. These three forms of Devi are identified with the revelations of Divinity through the primordial qualities of Tamas, Rajas and Sattva, respectively. The Devi Mahatmyam, is a Sakta text, visualizes the reality as feminine. Though other scriptures also speak of the goddess, the Sakta view is explicit in establishing the Goddess as the ultimate transcendent reality.
In fact it is Shakti worship that is a common feature of Hinduism of whether they are Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta. The Divine Mother is synonymous with Shakti, the unifying force of existence. Shakti is the Divine Power of creation, sustenance and transformation. In other words Shakti worship is worshiping the Power of the Supreme Divine. According to the Shakta this energy is the manifestation of the Divine Shakti, which exists in every form of our existence.
The Devi-Sukta of the Rig-Veda, the Sakta Upanishads, the Mahabharata, the Devimahatmya, the Devi-Bhagwatam are the most onportant scriptures that tells rhe myhtology and epic of Devi in her various aspects. The Skanda Purana tells us about Skanda and his power of demolishing the Asuras. Skanda is another name of Lord Kartikeya.
The Rishis or the great sages casta deep spell in Hinduism by the fact the great epics the told or written by them. They have great divine power and is beleived to have it from Lord Brahma. Some of the great Rishis are Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Bhrigu, Vasishtha, Daksha and Narada, Vyasa (Dwaipayana), Agastya, Brihaspati, Kasyapa, Suka, Dattatreya, Vamadeva, Visvamitra and Durvasa.
Devi Mahatmyamtells us of battle between the Devi and the asuras, there is a inner significance of these. The inner battle between the divine and the evil forces within the human actually defines between the positive and negative. The grounds of the wars are our own human consciousness, and its events symbolize our own experiences. The asuras are symbolic forces within the shadow. The Divine Mother is our own true being, our inherent divinity self realisation. Her fight with the asuras symbolize the outward and inward struggles we face daily. The Devi, is the one supreme Goddess and also the many goddesses, manifests the asuras of our inner pride which leads to self destruction, of excessive tamas and rajas, thus the myth is an symbolic state within our own consciousness, to the transformation of human consciousness. The threefold transformation of consciousness is described in the three sections or episodes of the Devi Mahatmyam. The first episode reveals the Mother Adi Sakti and how Madhu and Kaitabha is defeated. The second episode where Adi Sakti manifests as Durga and overcomes Mahishasura the buffalo headed asura who is half human and half animal. Third related the Killing of Shumbha and Nishumbha.