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I have been thinking about this, does anyone know if a God (Shiva, Durga etc.) has ever destroyed any devil without taking birth/avatar?

If God is so powerful then why does He/She need to transform into something else to destroy a devil?

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Prashant Sharma
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    Welcome to Hinduism.SE! Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, etc. have all killed demons without taking an incarnation. Shiva destroyed three floating cities of the Asuras (Tripura), Vishnu killed Madhu and Kaitabha, Durga killed Mahishasura, Indra killed Vritrasura, etc. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 13 '15 at 19:28
  • Thanks for the quick reply, But whats the logic behind taking avtars to kill demons? – Prashant Sharma Sep 13 '15 at 20:01
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    Well, for instance the reason Vishnu was born as Rama was that Ravana got a boon that he wouldn't be killed by any god or demon; see my question here: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/2187/36 Each incarnation has a specific reason why it occurred. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 13 '15 at 20:19
  • yes each asura gets varam and they cant be killed any God directly so in this case god take avatar to destroy the evil – Sree Sep 14 '15 at 05:14
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    The reason is that , the asura / devil is a certain skewed form of the original divine, cosmic energy. In order to destroy this energy (or sometimes matter), the original satchidananda parabrahma has to assume a form that can counter the evil energy of the asura. The original parabrahma is formless and guna-less (i.e. it does not have satva, rajas or tamo guna).Gunas are necessary to perform action. Action contains force and is usually imparted through matter or energy or their combination. Hence, chit-sakti which is pure ananda in its formless state has to assume a form to perform an action. –  Sep 16 '15 at 18:05
  • @Keshav You know, the word avatara means 'descent'. That is whenever Lord Shiva or Vishnu comes to the earth, heaven and other places it is called an avatara. Not necessarily involving birth of him in a human form. – Surya Dec 01 '15 at 01:51
  • @Surya It is true that etymologically avatarana means descent - but by that argument even a bird descending to a tree would be an avatara :-) The way the word avatara is used in practice is to refer to a god taking the form of another being, whether human, animal, or something else. Brahma granting a boon to Ravana is not an avatara in any sense the word is used In a religious context. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 01 '15 at 03:34

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