# Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev

Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev (transl.  Lord of the Lords… Mahadev), often abbreviated as DKDM, is a series based on Mahadev, one of the main deities of Hinduism. It premiered on 18 December 2011, airing Monday to Friday nights on Life OK. The 820-episode series concluded on 14 December 2014. The entire series has been made available on Disney+ Hotstar and Hulu.

## Plot

The show's plot revolves around the story of Lord Shiva, which follows his journey from being an ascetic to a family man.
During the creation of the world according to Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, Adi Parashakti leaves Shiva from his Ardhanarishvara form. In order to shape the universe, she takes various births to marry Shiva but fails 106 times due to which Shiva becomes an ascetic. Hence Lord Brahma suggests his mind-born son Prajapati Daksh to please Adi Shakti and request her to incarnate as his daughter.
Adi Parashakti is born the 107th time as Daksh's daughter Sati. Meanwhile, Shiva cuts off Brahma's fifth head making Daksh hate him. Sati falls for Shiva and finally marries him, much to Daksh's dismay. Hence, Daksh humiliates Shiva in front of Sati in his yagna. Unable to tolerate her husband's insult, Sati sacrifices her life once again. An infuriated Shiva orders Virabhadra to behead Daksh. Later, he revives him at Prasuti's request and goes into deep meditation for centuries.
Adi Parashakti then is born as Parvati the 108th time as the daughter of Himavan and his wife Menavati. She is aware of her divinity as are her parents, and grows up in Dadichi's hermitage. From an early age, she starts addressing Mahadev/Shiva as her husband which Menavati, as a concerned mother, dislikes strongly.
When she grows up, Parvati tries to make Mahadev realize that she is none other than his wife Sati reincarnated. But he rejects her and in the process, turns Kamadev into ashes. As a result, Kama's distraught wife, Rati curses Parvati.
Parvati then agrees to marry as per her mother, Menavati's wish. However eventually Parvati and Himavan make Menavati realise who Parvati is, after which she gives in. Parvati goes on to meditate for 3,000 years to please Mahadev to marry her. And finally, Mahadev and Parvati are married. Later, Mahadev imparts some tantric knowledge to Parvati that helps her to take various forms like Nav Durga; Mahavidyas (Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari, Bhuvaneshvari, Tripura Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala) and Matrikas to destroy Raktabeej, Shumbha Nishumbha, Chanda Munda, Durgmasura, Arunasura, Banasura, etc.

## Cast
### Main

* Mohit Raina as Shiva / Mahakala / Nataraja / Nilakantha / Jalandhara / Jata / Virabhadra / Bhairava / Ardhanarishvara / Chandrashekar / Dattatreya / Lohitang (elder) / Yaksha / Kiraat / Vyadh / Aadi Yogi / Aghora / Martand (Khandoba) / Nat Bhairav / Acharya Mahatapa / Vrishabh / Loknath / Bhoothnath / Pashupatinath / Shambhu / Vaidhyanath / Har-Narayan / Harihara / Bhola (2011-2014).
* Mouni Roy as Devi Sati / Dakshayni / Mahadevi / Adi Parashakti / Adi Shakti (2011-2014)
* Sonarika Bhadoria / Puja Banerjee / Suhasi Goradia Dhami as Parvati / Mahadevi / Adi Parashakti / Adi Shakti / Durga / Matsya Kanya / Ashta-Matrikas / Kali / Mahakali / Bhadrakali / Devi / Dasha-Mahavidyas / Bhramari Devi / Akilandeswari / Bheelni / Gayatri / Bhairavi / Mahalasa / Navadurga (Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, Siddhidhatri) / The Mahavidyas (Kali, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Kamalatmika) / Ambika / Ardhanarishvara / Devi Kanya Kumari (2011-2012/2012-2013/2013–2014)
** Anushka Sen as Young Parvati (2011)
* Saurabh Raaj Jain as Lord Vishnu / Garuda / Narayana / Lord Krishna / Rama / Dattatreya / Harihara / Nara-Narayana / Har-Narayan / Guru Pratyaya (2011-2014)
* Ragini Rishi as Goddess Lakshmi / Sridevi / Haripriya / Vedavati / Sita / Radha / Rukmini / Padmavati(2011-2014)
* Rushiraj Pawar as Senapati Kartikeya / Murugan (2012-2014)
* Darshan Gurjar as young Kartikeya
* Tanya Sharma as Devayanai (2013-2014)
* Ahsaas Channa / Ashnoor Kaur as Ashokasundari
* Lavanya Bhardwaj / Rishi Khurana as Nahusha
* Sadhil Kapoor / Alpesh Dhakan / Ehsaan Bhatia as Ganesha / Vinayak
* Aarya Vora as Siddhi
* Amrita Singh as Riddhi / Buddhi
* Kratika Sengar / Reem Shaikh as Mansa
* Piyush Sahdev as Rama / Vishnu
* Rubina Dilaik as Sita / Lakshmi
* Radhakrishna Dutta as Lord Brahma / Dattatreya
* Puja Kameshwar Sharma / Salina Prakash / Via Roy Choudhary as Saraswati
* Jiten Lalwani as Lord Indra
* Gaurav Shetty as Lord Ayyappan
* Abrar Qazi as Shumbh

### Recurring

| Cast | Character(s) |
| Kumar Hegde | Nandi: A devotee of Mahadev |
| Priyanka Thakare | Suyasha: Nandi's wife |
| Vishal Kotian | Hanuman: A devotee of Rama |
| Shivangi Sharma | Indrani |
| Manish Bishla | Surya |
| Vicky Batra/ Aryaman Seth | Chandra |
| Hans Dev Sharma | Vishvakarma |
| Manoj Kolhatkar | Dadhichi / Pippalada |
| Yogesh Mahajan | Bhrigu |
| Rajeev Bharadwaj | Kashyap |
| Romanch Mehta | Atri |
| Jayant Rawal | Maharishi Halahal |
| Jitendra Trehan | Markandeya |
| Shailesh Datar | Narada |
| Pankaj Kalra | Brihaspati |
| Darshan Kumar | Shukracharya |
| Raman Khatri | Atharvan |
| Atul Singh | Pulaha |
| Susheel Parashar | Pitamber |
| Vikramjeet Virk | Banasur |
| Hemant Choudhary | Prajapati Vishwaroop |
| Samiksha Bhatt | Jaya |
| Ram Awana | Chakri |
| Deepika Upadhyay / Sangeeta Khanayat / Yashashree Chiplunker | Ganga / Godavari / Banai |
| Anjali Abrol | Meenakshi: Avatar of Parvati |
| Mohit Sharma | Vasuki |
| Kunal Verma | Lakshman |
| Garima Jain | Urmila |
| Rohit Sagar | Vayu |
| Vineet Kumar | Bharat |
| Harshad Arora | Shatrughna |
| Ulka Gupta | Devi Kanya Kumari |
| Arbaaz Ali Khan | Balarama |
| Vishesh Bansal | Grihapati |
| Mohit Dagri | (Younger) Lohitang |
| Raj Premi | Demon Tarakasur |
| Shubh karaan | Shumbh |
| Pravisht Mishra | Nishumbh |
| Rahul Dev | Demon Arunasur |
| Chetan Hansraj | Nighas |
| Deepak Jethi | Mahishasura |
| Manav Gohil | Andhaka |
| Tej Sapru | Shankhachudha |
| Ankur Nayyar | Krauncha Giri |
| Ibrar Yakub | Tuhund |
| Tushar Jha | (Younger) Jalandhara |
| Arun Bali | Vajranaka (Tarakasur's father) |
| Akhilendra Mishra | Mahabali |
| Sanjay Swaraj | Bhasmasur |
| Manish Wadhwa / Tarun Khanna | Ravan |
| Sudesh Berry | Malla / Mani |
| Abhaas Mehta | Adi |
| Rakshanda Khan | Madanike |
| Anupam Bhattacharya | Ripunjay / Devodas |
| Ojaswi Oberoi / Parakh Madan | Mohini |
| Ritu Chauhan | Rati |
| Pankaj Dheer | King Himavan |
| Mugdha Shah / Shilpa Tulaskar | Queen Menavati |
| Khyaati Khandke Keswani | Kritika |
| Surendra Pal | Prajapati Daksha |
| Shalini Kapoor Sagar | Queen Prasuti |
| Rishina Kandhari / Riyanka Chanda | Princess Khyati |
| Priyanka Panchal | Princess Aditi |
| Charu Asopa / Kanishka Soni | Princess Revati |
| Surbhi Shukla | Princess Rohini |
| Manini Mishra | Princess Vijaya |
| Annapurna Vitthal Bhairi | Shanta |
| Suhasini Mulay | Parvati's grandmother |
| Deepraj Rana | Parshuram |
| Amrapali Gupta | Matsyakanya |
| Prabhat Bhattacharya | King Aayu |
| Neha Kaul | Rajasekhar wife Queen |
| Jaya Bhattacharya | Diti |
| Anand Goradia | Pushpadanta |
| Dolly Sohi | Mahalasa's mother |
| Shilpa Shinde | Mahananda |
| Rajesh Vivek | Yella Koti |
| Pankaj Berry | Raja Durdum |
| Mitika Sharma | Queen Sunayana |
| Mohit Chauhan | King Janaka |
| Mihir Mishra | King Dashratha |
| Gauri Singh | Queen Kaushalya |
| Anushka Singh | Queen Sumitra |
| Manasvi Vyas | Queen Kaikeyi |
| Tapeshwari Sharma | Usha / Behula |
| Arti Singh | Vaani |
| Bhavna Khatri | Chitralekha |
| Daya Shankar Pandey | Lakulish |
| Tushar Dalvi | Chandradhar |
| Malhar Pandya | Aniruddha / Lakhsmichandra |
| Kalpesh Rajgor | Supriy |
| Parul Chaudhary | Sanaka |
| Deepali Pansare | Tulsi |
| Rajendra Chawla | Acharya Gyanmurti |
| Gungun Uprari | Maharani |
| Neha Marda | Vrinda |
| Jaya Binju | Andhaka's Wife |
| Chestha Mehta | Prithvi |
| Javed Pathan | Mayadhari |
| Samiksha Bhatnagar | Mandodari: Ravana's Wife |
| Mansi Sharma | Indrani |
| Sudeep Sarangi | Shatbhish |
| Anju Ajayakumar | Child Usha |
| Rajesh Kava | King Rajasekhar |

## Production
### Development

Ritoo Jenjani had done the prosthetic makeup for the presentation of Kali.
90 people were working in the graphic department of the series. An episode of the series cost ₹14 Lakhs for production.
In April 2014, a fire broke out on one of the show's sets in Mumbai. However, none were injured with only minor damages to property.

### Casting

Sonarika Bhadoria was replaced by Puja Bannerjee as Parvati in July 2013. However, in June 2014 Bannerjee quit citing health issues and was replaced by Suhasi Dhami. Mouni Roy who quit the series with the end of her role in 2012 returned as Sati in 2014.

## Home media

The series was released on DVD in 2014 by Ultra Media & Entertainment.

## Reception
### Ratings

The series started with a viewership rating of 0.7 TVR. Following which in the initial six months, it ranged between 2 and 3 TVR. Later, the episode of 9 September 2012, featuring Kali killing the demon Raktabija rated the show its highest viewership with an 8.2 TVR being the highest TVR of Hindi television program during the year.
In week 3 of 2013, it garnered an average rating of 3 TVR. In week 7, it was one of the top ten watched Hindi GEC program with 3.6 TVR.

### Critics

Amar Ujala claimed that some events mentioned in the series were distorted and not mentioned in any Puranas and Shastra.

## Legacy

Mohit Raina featured in Limca Book of Records for the portrayal of about 52 characters in the series with his main role being Shiva.