Mythology & Religion Power Ranking TOP100
I wrote a book ranking the most powerful gods, monsters, and heroes from world mythologies, religions, and legends in order of strength! Of course, the rankings reflect a fair amount of my personal opinion, but the reasoning behind each placement is grounded in the actual lore and episodes from each mythology, so I think it makes for a fairly convincing read.
In this series, I’d like to introduce some of the characters featured in the book’s ranking. There are plenty of other characters beyond the ones covered here, so I think anyone interested in mythology, religion, or legends will find it an enjoyable read!
Rank 20: Parvati (Durga & Kali) (Indian Mythology / Hinduism)
Overview
Parvati is the wife of Shiva and was originally a gentle and kind goddess. However, she later became identified with fierce war goddesses and goddesses of slaughter — such as Durga and Kali — and those goddesses came to be treated as different aspects of Parvati (though considering the origin story of Durga’s birth, she was likely a separate deity originally).
Durga is a battle goddess created to defeat the powerful Asura “Mahisha” — a being so formidable that Indra, Vishnu, Shiva, and the other gods pooled all of their divine power to bring her into existence. She was born equipped with the weapons and gear of India’s greatest deities.
Mahisha had received a boon from Brahma that “no male deity can defeat him,” which meant Indra and the other gods were powerless against him. To counter this, they had to create the battle goddess Durga specifically to destroy him.
Durga’s power was extraordinary — she crushed the entire Asura army and slew Mahisha himself.
As Durga continued to throw herself into battle, there came a moment when she was consumed by rage, turning black. From her forehead, a new goddess (or near-avatar) known as Kali was born.
Kali is the goddess of destruction and slaughter born from Durga’s wrath. When she rampages in earnest, even the gods struggle to stop her, and if she begins to dance, the world itself collapses.
In mythology, there is an episode in which Kali began to dance and the world was on the verge of collapse. Shiva lay down in her path so that she would step on him, and this act stopped the world’s destruction.
Ranking Reason
Parvati herself is a gentle goddess and falls outside the scope of this ranking, but since she is identified as the same deity as Durga and Kali, I have included this entry in the ranking.
What makes Kali especially terrifying is that she is treated as a pure destroyer — whenever she gets excited in battle and starts dancing, she drags the entire world along with her into destruction.
The fact that only someone like Shiva can stop her confirms that she holds the second greatest power in Indian mythology, right behind the Trimurti. On a subtler note, Durga’s particularly interesting strength is that she is capable of fighting alongside Kali simultaneously even while Kali is manifesting.
In the myths, she fights Raktavija at the same time as Kali. Durga herself is clearly stronger than high-ranking Indian gods like Indra, so taking down this powerful pair in a 2-on-1 would be extremely difficult even for other destroyer-level deities.
Taking all of this into account, I placed them at this position in the ranking.
