Durga in Vedas

Claim: The Goddess Anahita with her lion later becomes known as Durga- commemorated at Durga Puja in Bengal every year.

Source: https://x.com/DalrympleWill/status/1732613973214986688

Fact:

Persian Goddess Anahita did not move east to become Devi Durga Mahisasuramardini worshipped in India. Devi Anahita is associated with powerful sacred waters, and is more relatable to Saraswati, and not Devi Durga.

Simhavahini Durga is derived from Vedic Ambika, the martial goddess of the mountains, found mentioned in Yajurveda. Devi Ambika is personified sarat (autumn season), hence Durga Puja is celebrated in autumn.

The concept of Devi Durga (Killng a mahisa) is there in our Sindhu-saraswati Vedic Civiluzation as seen on a seal found in Harappa. In one passage of the Durga-saptasati, while describing the fight between the goddess Durga and Mahisasura the lines run as:

“sarudh tam mulasuram padenakramya kanthe ca Sulenainamatadayat”

Meaning: the goddess jumped to climb upon the great demon, attacked him with her leg and struck at his neck with her sula (a trident or a barbed spear).

The Puranic description of this fight is a close parallel of the image on the Harappan seal

Earliest archaeologically found Simhavahini Durga is from 1st c. BCE, and was found spread across Nagar in Rajasthan, to Mathura, Bhita, Ahichchatra, etc., and is dated prior to Kanishka.

I can also see goddess Nana here among the images shared by Dalrymple. Nana is not Anahita.

Nana is a goddess worshipped within the Polytheistic traditions of various people in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and parts of Pakistan. Nana is the Counterpart of India’s Devi Durga Simhavahini, and her images are later than India’s earliest Simhavahini Mahisasuramardini (1st c. BCE). She is said to be Devi Hinglaj in Afghanistan.

Source: https://x.com/monidipadey/status/1733320556781752330