The Markandeya Purana

by Frederick Eden Pargiter | 1904 | 247,181 words | ISBN-10: 8171102237

This page relates “the slaying of the asura mahisa” which forms the 83rd chapter of the English translation of the Markandeya-purana: an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with Indian history, philosophy and traditions. It consists of 137 parts narrated by sage (rishi) Markandeya: a well-known character in the ancient Puranas. Chapter 83 is included the section known as “the devi-mahatmya”.

Canto LXXXIII - The Devī-Māhātmya: The slaying of the Asura Mahiṣa

The description of the battle is continued—The goddess slew the Asura chiefs in single combat and finally the Asura Mahiṣa.

The ṛṣi spoke:

Now the great Asura, the general Cikṣura, seeing that army being slaughtered, advanced in wrath to fight with Ambikā. The Asura rained a shower of arrows on the goddess in the battle, as a cloud deluges mount Mem’s summit with a shower of rain. The goddess, cutting asunder the masses of his arrows then as it were in play, smote his horses with her arrows and their charioteer; and split his bow forthwith and his banner raised high aloft; and with swift missiles pierced his limbs as he stood with shattered bow. His bow shattered, his chariot useless, his horses killed, his charioteer slain, the Asura armed with sword and shield rushed at the goddess. With the utmost celerity he smote the lion on the head with his sharp-edged sword, and struck the goddess also on her left arm. His sword shivered to pieces as it touched her arm (O prince). Thereon red-eyed with anger, he grasped his pike, and he, the great Asura, flung it at Bhadrakālī, as it were the Sun’s orb blazing brightly with its splendour from out the sky. Seeing that pike falling on her, the goddess hurled her pike, and it shattered that pike into a hundred fragments and the great Asura also.

When he, Mahiṣa’s very valiant general, was slain, Cāmara, the afflicter of the thirty gods, advanced mounted on an elephant; and he also hurled his spear at the goddess. Down to the ground Ambikā quickly struck it, assailed with a contemptuous hoot and rendered lustre-less. Seeing his spear broken and fallen, Cāmara filled with rage flung a pike; and that she split with her arrows. Then the lion leaping up fastened on to the hollow of the elephant’s forehead, and fought in close combat aloft with that foe of the thirty gods; but both then fell, as they were fighting, from the elephant to the ground. They fought closely locked together with most terrible blows. Then quickly springing up to the sky, and descending, the lion severed Cāmara’s head with a blow from his paw.

And Udagra was slain in battle by the goddess with stones, trees and other things, and Karāla also was stricken down by her teeth and fists and feet.[1] And the goddess enraged ground Uddhata to powder with blows from her club; and killed Yāskala with a dart, Tāmra and Andhaka with arrows. And the supreme three-eyed goddess slew Ugrāsya and Ugravīrya and Mahāhanu also with her trident. With her sword she struck Viḍāla’s head clean down from his body. She despatched both Durdhara and Durmukha to Tama’s abode with her arrows.[2]

Now, as his army was being thus destroyed utterly, the Asura Mahiṣa in his own buffalo-shape terrified her troops. Some he laid low by a blow from his muzzle, and others by stamping with his hooves, and others because they were lashed with his tail and gashed with his horns, and others again by his impetuous rush, his bellowing and his wheeling career, and others by the blast of his breath— thus he laid them low on the face of the earth. Having laid low the van of her army, the Asura rushed to attack the great goddess’ lion. Thereat Ambikā displayed her wrath. And he, great in valour, pounding the surface of the earth with his hooves in his rage, tossed the mountains aloft[3] with his horns and bellowed. Crushed by his impetuous wheelings the earth crumbled to pieces; and the sea lashed by his tail overflowed in every direction; and the clouds pierced by his swaying horns were rent to fragments; mountains fell in hundreds from the sky, being cast down by the blast of his breath.

Caṇḍikā looked on the great Asura, as swollen with rage he rushed on, and gave a way to her wrath then in order to slay him. She flung her noose full over him, and bound the great Asura fast. And he quitted his buffalo shape when held hound in the great battle, and then became a lion suddenly. While Ambikā is cutting off his head he took the appearance of a man with scymitar in hand. Straightway the goddess with her arrows swiftly pierced the man together with his scymitar and shield. Then he became a huge elephant, and tugged at her great lion with his trunk and roared, but the goddess cut off his trunk with her sword as he made his tugs. Next the great Asura assumed his buffalo shape again, and so shook the three worlds with all that is moveable and immoveable therein. Enraged thereat Caṇḍikā, the mother of the world, quaffed a sublime beverage again and again,[4] and laughed as her eyes gleamed ruddy. And the Asura roared out, puffed up with his strength and valour and frenzy, and hurled mountains against Caṇḍikā with his horns. And she, shivering to atoms with showers of arrows those mountains that he hurled, spoke to him in confused words, while her mouth was rendered ruddier by the mead that she had drunk.

The goddess spoke:

Roar, roar on thy brief moment, O fool, the while I quaff this mead! The gods shall soon roar, when I shall slay thee even here.

Exclaiming thus she leaped upwards and sat herself on that great Asura, and kicked him on the neck with her foot and struck him with her spear. And thereupon he, being assailed by her foot, half issued forth[5] from his own mouth in sooth, being completely encompassed by the goddess’ valour. That great Asura being thus attacked half issued forth indeed. The goddess struck off his head with her great sword and laid him low.[6]

Then perished all that Daitya army with great lamentation. And all the hosts of the gods rose to the highest exultation. The gods and the great heavenly ṛṣis poured forth praises to the goddess, the Gandharva chiefs burst into song and the bevies of Apsarases into dances.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Danta-muṣṭi-talaiś; or, according to the commentator, “with the lower parts of her ivory sword-hilt.”

[2]:

The Bombay edition inserts four lines here.

“And she, who is the Night of Fate, laid Kāla low with her rod of Fate. She belaboured Ugra-darśana. with very fierce blows from her scymitar. She clove Asiloman indeed with her sword in the battle-festival. Her troops, her lion and the goddess herself raised aloud the battle-cry of victory along with those battle-festivals.”

[3]:

Uccaiḥ, which the Bombay edition reads, is preferable to uccān, “high moumtains.”

[4]:

See canto lxxxii, verse 29.

[5]:

For evāti the Bombay edition reads evāsīd.

[6]:

The Bombay edition inserts two verses here.

“Thus the Asura named Mahiṣa was destroyed by the goddess along with his army and his bands of friends, after he had bewitched the three worlds. When Mahiṣa was slain, all created things in the three worlds then uttered the shout ‘Conquer thou!’ along with gods and Asuras and men.”

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