Durga literally means an inaccessible place like a fort or one who is not easily reachable or conquered. In many ancient Holy Scriptures, Goddess Durga is said to be the incarnation of the supreme Mother Goddess. She is the protector of mankind and the upholder of virtues. She destroys the demons threatening the universe and evil forces existing in a human being like hatred, ego, greed etc and eases the sufferings of humanity. She is the remover of miseries in this world. She is known to ride a lion or tiger; which actually represents unlimited powers. She is said to have eighteen hands, each having different weapons. The different weapons signify that each enemy needs a different weapon to be vanquished. She is shown to be wearing red clothes which depicts the fierce nature, that the goddess can assume when needed to destroy evil forces.
She is also known as Parvati or wife of Shiva. She represents the female half of the divine power while Shiva depicts the male half. Together they form Ardhnarishwar. Although, she is known to be the consort of Shiva, she has her own distinct identity.
Goddess Durga is known by several names like Bhavani, Kali, Jagdamba etc. Reciting the 108 names of the goddess daily is said to bring great prosperity to the devotee. Goddess Durga represents the united divine forces as she was said to be created from the divine energy of all the gods carrying their powers and weapons from each of them. Then she went on kill demons like Mahishasura, Shumbha, Nishumbha etc.