Chapter 9 - The Greatness of Mahiṣakuṇḍa and Rudrasaras

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Vyāsa said:

1. Whence is that Mahiṣa Kuṇḍa? Why is it encircled by the Mothers? How was Mahiṣa, the Dānava, killed in the holy spot of Rudra himself?

Sanatkumāra said:

2-7. Mahādeva, the Lord of the universe, took up the piece of skull that had exquisite lustre, had divine Brahma Tejas (splendour of the Supreme Absolute), and that appeared to blaze with flames.

Playing with it, the Lord fascinated the Suras. The Lord of Yogic Ātman reached this world through Yogic Sport. He came to the holy spot and stayed there. The Great Lord, the Lord of the Devas, placed that great divine skull with flames in front of the Gaṇas.

On seeing it placed, all (the Devas) of great strength and prowess came there. With loud shouts they made the ten directions reverberate. Thereby the sky appeared to be rent asunder as though the oceans were agitated by thunderbolt.

On account of that terrible sound, the Dānava, well-known as Hālāhala, a veritable thorn unto the Devas, rushed to that place.

8. The wicked-souled one could not bear it. He was extremely furious. Due to the boons granted by Brahmā, he was invicible unto the Suras. He came there assuming the form of a buffalo.

9-13. He was surrounded by crores of terrible Daityas with uplifted weapons. On seeing the furious Mahiṣa, the thorn of the Devas, coming onward, the Pināka-bearing Lord said to the Gaṇas: “O leaders of the Gaṇas, this Daitya is a master of Māyā (black magic). He is a thorn as it were unto all the three worlds. He is rushing this side. Do kill him, ye all.”

All the leaders of the Gaṇas resorted to the velocity of the Kapāla. The groups of the Devas saw the great Asura rushing towards them, roaring loudly and shaking his huge arms. They pierced him with a mass of tridents, swords and Musalas (big iron rods). After making him faint with a volley of arrows, they made him fall on the ground.

14. When he was killed, Mahādeva said to the Devas, “Lo, the foolish one deluded by arrogance has died due to it.”

15-17. In the meantime, O Vyāsa, all the greatly terrible Mothers with fiery mouths, came out of that Kapāla. They rushed towards that place with fierce weapons. After intimating to Mahādeva, they tore and pierced the Daitya and ate him up. Those deities of great strength are therefore called Kapāla Mātaraḥ. Being of such a nature it is glorified as Mahākapāla.

18-20. Forcing its way out of the Kapāla so placed, there emerged a lake of water well-known as Śivataḍāga. It is destructive of all sins. That lake shines as great and divine one even today. It is well-known in all the three worlds and is resorted to by the Gaṇas and Gandharvas. The lake of Rudra sanctifies one as though one has taken the Avabhṛtha bath, whether one uses the water in a pot after taking it out of the lake, whether it is lukewarm or boiled.

21. Brahmā too came there surrounded by hundreds of Devas. It is proclaimed by Brahmā himself as a ladder leading to the heavenly world.

22-24. Those who cast off their lives here, go to Rudraloka. O Vyāsa, blessed indeed are the men in the mortal world who stay in Mahākālavana. Those who take bath in the lake of Rudra or drink the water thereof, and are engaged in practising their own Dharma, see Īśāna, the Lord. Thus Devas, the heaven-dwellers, always entertain this desire.

25-26. Mahākapāla is auspicious and divine. It is destructive of impiety. It is honoured by Suras and Daityas, is highly refulgent and eternal, rarer than even the world of the Lord of Suras. It is eulogized by groups of Siddhas engaged in penance like the solar disc in the firmament. He who listens to this with concentration and clearness of mind, goes to heaven and is blessed.