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Ashly Guzman
Professor von Uhl
FIQWS 10105
16 November 2016
Nonconformant Goddess
Gender Roles are something we are all exposed to since birth. We are told girls dont
like to fight and boys dont like dresses. Society's skewed ideology of what a girl can do and a
boy can do has been present for centuries. Recently, there has been an immense uproar of people
who simply can not agree. The trans and gender nonconforming communities around the world
have recently changed the way society thinks. Individuals have come to learn that gender roles
are too binary for us humans, who have such complex and unique personalities. Examples of
these ideas have been rarely seen in religious texts, as many religions were unaccepting of people
who did not fit these gender roles. But a very early mythological text effectively represented a
gender nonconforming goddess named Devi. Devi was a goddess with no real gender and
possessed qualities of both binary, female and male genders; she had the beautiful and confident
appearance of a woman, but had the power and strength of a man. The story of Devi was the
first of its kind to oppose societys existing gender roles. Moreover, it effectively contradicts
Bettelheims claims that myths do not have optimistic endings.
The original story of Devi was first written before time was recorded by Vyasa as a
part of the Hindu religious epic Mahabharata. When the story of Devi was published it was
the first of its kind as it's very uncommon to see evidence of non-binary genders in religious texts
or at least modern renditions of religious textsthe influence that Devi has had on the
Indian culture is groundbreaking as Devi, is seen as the mother figure of India nicknamed

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Durga i.e The Invincible. Although Devi was described as someone who is timeless and
sexless, being neither man nor woman, but both (Narayan 54), she is typically seen as a woman.
Comparably, to how conservative cultures viewed gender ambiguous individuals and simply
labeled them as one gender or the other. The truth is Devi was one of a kind as she was created
with the purpose to kill Mahisha. Mahisha was a half demon half buffalo king who in order to
become invincible performed tapas, and requested for Brahma to make him immortal. Brahma
refused and instead made him invisible to gods and men meaning he could only be killed by a
woman. Mahisha began to tease and torment the gods so they called upon the Great God to then
transform into Devi (a female) but still have the power of a god.
Devi was able to defeat Manisha because of her androgynous qualities, but she was also
battling gender roles. Women in India were not allowed to join the front lines of battle. While
men could easily start wars women needed their husbands to start wars for them, like Draupadi
who convinced her husbands to get back their kingdom and fight for her honor. (Narayan 160)
Unlike Draupadi, Devi, started the war on her own and won the war herself. This shows just how
brave and unique she was, since she contradicted the Indian traditions and wasn't afraid to take
on the role of a leader which had never been done by other women in the Mahabharata.
The story of Devi seemingly cannot be classified into a specific category of fairy tale
or myth. While the story is mythological since it deals with gods and heroes; it has a happy
ending which Bettelheim said was a key point to making a story a fairy tale, an optimistic
ending in the story of Devi completely disproves Bettelheim's claims. Bettelheim argues that
the ending in myths is nearly always tragic, while always happy in fairy tales... The myth is
pessimistic, while the fairy story is optimistic, no matter how terrifyingly serious some features
of the story may be. It is this decisive difference which sets the fairy tale apart from other

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stories (37). However, in the end of Devi, Devi was able to defeat Mahisha effectively
protecting the gods and restoring peace on earth.
While some might say that the ending was pessimistic since Manisha's life ended in
tragedy, he played was a secondary role compared to Devi who is the main character and since
she was able to achieve her goals, the story ended optimistically. The main focus of the story was
seemingly Mahisha because it tells the story of his origins and his conflict with the gods and it
only includes Devi in the second half of the story. But, once Devi is incorporated it is clear that
the purpose that Mahishas background serves is not to tell his story but to explain the reason for
Devis appearance. Therefore, The main focus of the story was Devi and her victory, making the
ending -from the point of view of the story- optimistic.
Another of Bettelheim's claims is that Although the same exemplary figures and
situations are found in both and equally miraculous events occur in both, there is a crucial
difference in the way these are communicated. Put simply, the dominant feeling a myth conveys
is: this is absolutely unique; it could not have happened to any other person, or in any other
setting; such events are grandiose, awe-inspiring, and could not possibly happen to an ordinary
mortal like you or me (37). But this is simply not true. While it is true that there's no physical
person like Devi who comes and saves Gods from demons it is true that there are people who
have lived in circumstances like Devi where they become the hero in their world. Take women
like Malala Yousafzay [who] has become famous for her activism for girls education, especially
around her home in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, where the local Taliban had banned girls from
attending school. In 2009, at the age of 11, she started to campaign for education, appearing in
the media worldwide. A year later, a gunman boarded her school bus, asked for her by name,
then shot her three times. The attack nearly killed Malala. After her condition stabilized, she was

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sent to a hospital in Birmingham UK for rehabilitation. That is where she now lives, attends
school and continues to speak out for girls education (Bokova). Malalas determination will turn
these girls into the leaders of her country so she, like Devi, battled her demons to save the gods
who will protect the community she lives in and allow everyone to have equal opportunity.
While Bettelheim meant that the story cannot happen exactly to someone else, he
claimed that There is a general agreement that myths and fairy tales speak to us in the language
of symbols (36). And by that claim, it is clear that the stories and characters presented in myths
and fairy tales can symbolically happen to people in the everyday world, people like you and me.
Women like Malala who fought for the innocent girls in her community but also women like
Michelle Obama fighting obesity in America, Harriet Tubman fighting slavery, and Rosa Parks
fighting segregation. All of these women were not under the exact circumstances that Devi was,
but they symbolically fought against their demons to protect their planet and their people.
Devi was a groundbreaking story that did not only break religious stereotypes and
societies expectations of gender but also effectively proved that Bettelheim's claims of what
differentiates a myth and a fairy tale. Bettelheim claimed that myths were pessimistic and were
not relatable to the everyday person but the story of Devi effectively proved just how her story
ended in victory and had a happy ending for her and everyone in her world. And the character
Devi proved that although everyday people cannot be exactly like her there are many women in
our present day society who symbolically had the same battles to fight.

Works Cited

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Bettelheim, Bruno. "Fairy Tale Versus Myth." The Uses of Enchantment. New York:
Vintage, 1989. N. Print.
Bokova, Irina. Nobel Peace Prize: Director-General Congratulates Malala and Khailash
Satyarthi. 2 Nov. 2016, Paris, Nobel Peace Prize 2014.
Narayan, R. K. "Devi." Gods, Demons, and Others. New York: Viking, 1964. Print.

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