Post 1/?
Speaking of probably superficial/coincidental similarity:
There is a famous Goddess in Taoism who has 2 benign "demons" accompanying her. And, as always, positioning the attendant Beings correctly beside the primary Deity under consideration is crucial in Taoist religious practice. So these 2 "demons" - who each have their own specific colourings and physical characteristics - are also always depicted/placed alongside the Goddess in the correct configuration.
An associated narrative is that she (or specifically, the earthly avataaram of the Goddess) was wandering about, being all-round good and was so sublimely beautiful, that the aforementioned two "demons" each wanted her hand in marriage. It must be said that she was rather a capable, heroic Goddess. So they challenged her to duel against them: if one of the demons were to win, it could marry her. As it happened, she bested them both. And she invariably radiated her divine Taoist self on them despite their defeat, so that they became her fast friends and helpers, and tagged along everywhere with her. That is why the Goddess is always depicted with her famous helper "demons".
The Taoist Goddess is already (eternally-)married to a famous Taoist God. I'm not certain whether her avataaram got married, but I do know her avataaram is worshipped as the wife of the famous Taoist God (also apparent from several of her famous epithets), since in Taoism there's a 1-to-1 correspondence between an avataaram of a deity and the deity's original identity.
Parts of the above famous Taoist narrative could sound familiar to Hindus, especially during this time of year. However:
1. There are differences and these differences are important too: in the Hindoo case of a famous Hindoo Goddess faced with an asura duo, the Goddess was aiming for their destruction since the very start (bringing an end to them was her purpose for appearing). Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum fell hopelessly for her beauty and pleaded that they should be allowed to marry her if they won against her. (She was already engaged/married, but since she had no intention of losing anyway, she agreed, as a ruse.) The first difference: she put a permanent end to Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.
Second difference: they are not her friends and not usually depicted with her (and certainly not as her accompanying friends and helpers), though another of her vanquished foes is often specifically depicted in imagery with the Hindoo Goddess, but as her defeated foe.
2. The pattern of male enemies falling in love with a beautiful heroine and challenging said female hero to a duel in order to win her hand (or date her or be her lover) as their "prize", is a common motif in lots of tales, including even recent fiction. The ending regularly varies, as also seen in the difference between the Hindu and Taoist cases.
A couple of examples in famous fictional stories that come to mind at this moment include:
- Ranma 1/2, which has all the males in a high school - including the male Kendo champion - challenging the Kendo-trained heroine every morning when she turns up at school. They all insist that if they win, they should get to date her, but she's disinterested and fights to be left out of their lives. She beats all of them every day. However the hero, when he appears, is not one of the belligerent males and does not extend the same ultimatum/"challenge" to her, despite being better at fighting than her (having moreover learnt Tai Chi martial arts in China), so they eventually strike up the inevitable romance.
- Famous 80s fantasy B movie Red Sonya (which likewise has comic origins I think?) has Brigitte Nielsen playing the "irresistible undefeatable" sword-wielding femme of the title. Many a warmonger/warlord who enters her path hopes to be her lover [but IIRC they were portrayed lecherous, so they probably just hoped to sleep with her] and, IIRC unfortunate past experiences having made her a misandrist, she issues the same famous challenge to them all, knowing they will all fail miserably and fall to her sword. Note that in this story, the heroine is the one who issues the challenge. Eventually Ahnuld - channelling his Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer type persona again - fights her in what's IIRC supposed to be a "romantic scene" (cheesiness is inevitable as it's a 1980s B movie and all); and, I think at least the movie version has her willingly losing** so that Ahnuld's character - who from memory turned out to be the High King of something or other, prancing about incognito to restore the forces of good - wins, and is allowed to become her lover. <- Uh, spoiler alert.
Speaking of probably superficial/coincidental similarity:
There is a famous Goddess in Taoism who has 2 benign "demons" accompanying her. And, as always, positioning the attendant Beings correctly beside the primary Deity under consideration is crucial in Taoist religious practice. So these 2 "demons" - who each have their own specific colourings and physical characteristics - are also always depicted/placed alongside the Goddess in the correct configuration.
An associated narrative is that she (or specifically, the earthly avataaram of the Goddess) was wandering about, being all-round good and was so sublimely beautiful, that the aforementioned two "demons" each wanted her hand in marriage. It must be said that she was rather a capable, heroic Goddess. So they challenged her to duel against them: if one of the demons were to win, it could marry her. As it happened, she bested them both. And she invariably radiated her divine Taoist self on them despite their defeat, so that they became her fast friends and helpers, and tagged along everywhere with her. That is why the Goddess is always depicted with her famous helper "demons".
The Taoist Goddess is already (eternally-)married to a famous Taoist God. I'm not certain whether her avataaram got married, but I do know her avataaram is worshipped as the wife of the famous Taoist God (also apparent from several of her famous epithets), since in Taoism there's a 1-to-1 correspondence between an avataaram of a deity and the deity's original identity.
Parts of the above famous Taoist narrative could sound familiar to Hindus, especially during this time of year. However:
1. There are differences and these differences are important too: in the Hindoo case of a famous Hindoo Goddess faced with an asura duo, the Goddess was aiming for their destruction since the very start (bringing an end to them was her purpose for appearing). Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum fell hopelessly for her beauty and pleaded that they should be allowed to marry her if they won against her. (She was already engaged/married, but since she had no intention of losing anyway, she agreed, as a ruse.) The first difference: she put a permanent end to Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum.
Second difference: they are not her friends and not usually depicted with her (and certainly not as her accompanying friends and helpers), though another of her vanquished foes is often specifically depicted in imagery with the Hindoo Goddess, but as her defeated foe.
2. The pattern of male enemies falling in love with a beautiful heroine and challenging said female hero to a duel in order to win her hand (or date her or be her lover) as their "prize", is a common motif in lots of tales, including even recent fiction. The ending regularly varies, as also seen in the difference between the Hindu and Taoist cases.
A couple of examples in famous fictional stories that come to mind at this moment include:
- Ranma 1/2, which has all the males in a high school - including the male Kendo champion - challenging the Kendo-trained heroine every morning when she turns up at school. They all insist that if they win, they should get to date her, but she's disinterested and fights to be left out of their lives. She beats all of them every day. However the hero, when he appears, is not one of the belligerent males and does not extend the same ultimatum/"challenge" to her, despite being better at fighting than her (having moreover learnt Tai Chi martial arts in China), so they eventually strike up the inevitable romance.
- Famous 80s fantasy B movie Red Sonya (which likewise has comic origins I think?) has Brigitte Nielsen playing the "irresistible undefeatable" sword-wielding femme of the title. Many a warmonger/warlord who enters her path hopes to be her lover [but IIRC they were portrayed lecherous, so they probably just hoped to sleep with her] and, IIRC unfortunate past experiences having made her a misandrist, she issues the same famous challenge to them all, knowing they will all fail miserably and fall to her sword. Note that in this story, the heroine is the one who issues the challenge. Eventually Ahnuld - channelling his Conan the Barbarian/Destroyer type persona again - fights her in what's IIRC supposed to be a "romantic scene" (cheesiness is inevitable as it's a 1980s B movie and all); and, I think at least the movie version has her willingly losing** so that Ahnuld's character - who from memory turned out to be the High King of something or other, prancing about incognito to restore the forces of good - wins, and is allowed to become her lover. <- Uh, spoiler alert.