Chapter 6 - On the Deva Dānava fight

1-8. Vyāsa said :-- O King! On the Daitya Tāmra becoming unconscious Mahiṣa became very angry and, raising his Gadā (club), came up before the Devas and said :-- “Devas! O Ye powerless like crows; wait; with one stroke of Gadā, I will kill you.” Thus saying, the powerful Mahiṣa swelled with pride, seeing Indra before him mounted on his elephant instantly struck him on his arms. Indra, again lost no time, and struck violently with his thunderbolt and cut the Dānava’s Gadā into pieces, and came up very close, wanting to strike at him. Mahiṣa, too, becoming very angry took up his lustrous sword and came to Indra to attack him with this weapon. A fight then occurred between the two, terrible to all the Lokas and wonderful to the Munis, where various weapons were showered from both the sides. The Demon Mahiṣa spread then his Śāmvarī Māyā, destructive to all the worlds and fascinating to the Munis.

Hundreds and hundreds of powerful buffalo-like appearances resembling Mahiṣa became, then, visible on the battle-field; they all began to kill the Deva forces with weapons in their hands.

9-14. Seeing this magic of the Dānava, Indra became thunderstruck and very much confounded with terror. Varuṇa, Kuvera, the Lord of wealth, Yama, Fire, Moon, Sun, and other Devas all fled with terror. Indra then, being surrounded by the network of magic, began to call Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa in his mind. At the instant when they were called in mind, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa riding on respective conveyances Swan, Garuḍa, and Bull, came up there with best weapons in their hands for Indra’s protection. Viṣṇu seeing the play of that fascinating magic hurled his bright discus, Sudarśan; and caused the magic to vanish at once. Seeing the three, the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer, the Dānava Mahiṣa came up there with his Parigha (a club tipped with iron) weapon, desirous to fight with them.

15-16. Then the general Cikṣura, Ugrāsya, Ugravīrya, Asilomā, Trinetra, Vāskala, Andhaka and other warriors came up to fight.

17-23. Those Proud Dānavas, clad in armour and mounted on chariots with bows in their hands besieged the Devas, like a tiger attacking an heifer. Then those Dānavas swelled with pride began to shower on arrows after arrows; the Devas, too, began to do the same, desiring to extirpate them.The General Andhaka, coming up to Hari, drew his bow with great force up to his ear and shot at him five sharp arrows tipped with poison. Vāsudeva, the Destroyer of the enemies, cut off those arrows no sooner they came up before him; and He shot at the Dānavas five arrows. Then Hari and the Dānava struck each other with various weapons and arrows, swords, discus, Muṣala, clubs, Śakti, and Paraśu. Here, on the other hand, the fight lasted for fifty days between Maheśa versus Andhaka; and it was a very close conflict, causing horripilation. Thus severe fights ensued between Vāskala and Indra, Mahiṣa and Rudra, Trinetra and Yama, Mahā Hanu and Kuvera, Asilomā and Varuṇa.

24-39. The Dānava Mahiṣa struck Garuḍa, the conveyance of Hari, with his club; Garuḍa, being very much distressed with the blow, sat down, gasping. Viṣṇu then comforted the powerful Garuḍa, the son of Vinatā and made him calm and quiet. Wanting to kill Andhaka, Janārdana became infuriated, and, drawing his bow made of horn, call Śārṅga, shot at him arrows after arrows. The Dānava cut off all those arrows to pieces with his own mass of arrows. Then, becoming very angry, he shot fifty sharp arrows at Hari. Vāsudeva quickly made all those arrows useless and hurled Sudarśana Cakra with thousand spokes on the Dānava with great violence. Andhaka thwarted this with his own discus and shouted aloud with such a great force that all the Devas became confused and confounded. Viṣṇu’s Cakra being baffled, the Devas became distressed with grief and the Dānavas got elated. Seeing the Devas thus grieved, Viṣṇu held aloft his Kaumodakī Gadā (club) and came hurriedly before the Dānava. Hari struck then with his Gadā on the Dānava’s head whereon he fell senseless on the ground. The hot-tempered Mahiṣa, seeing Andhaka senseless, bellowed aloud and, terrifying Hari, came up there. Seeing him there, Vāsudeva made such a thundering noise with his bow string that the Devas became highly glad. Then the Bhagavān shot showers of arrows on Mahiṣa; and Mahiṣa, too, cut those arrows while they were seen in the air. O king! Then a very close fight ensued between the two, Keśava struck on the head of the Dānava with his club. Thus struck, he fell in a swoon on the ground and a general cry of distress arose amongst the Dānavas. In a moment the Dānava got up again, free from trouble; he then struck again on Viṣṇu’s head with his Parigha (a club mounted with iron, a mace). Struck by that mace, Janārdan lay senseless; Garuḍa, seeing him thus unconscious, immediately took him away from the battle field.

40-55. When Viṣṇu thus fled, Indra and the Devas were much distressed with fear and began to cry aloud. Hearing the Devas cry, Śaṅkara became wrathful and, quickly coming before Mahiṣa, struck him with his trident (Śūla). The wicked Mahiṣa made his weapon ineffectual and bellowed aloud and struck on the breast of Śaṅkara with his Śakti (a kind of missile). Thus wounded in his breast Śaṅkara did not feel any pain; rather, with his eyes red with anger, He struck him again with Trisūla. Seeing Śaṅkara engaged with Mahiṣa, Hari becoming conscious came again on the battle-field. Seeing the two powerful Deva-chiefs, Hari and Hara, in the battle-field Mahiṣa became very much angry: he then assumed a buffalo body and wagging his tail to and fro came in front of them with a desire to fight. That terrible Mahiṣa of a huge body shook his horns and bellowed so deep like a thunder cloud that even the Devas got frightened. He began to hurl the huge mountain peaks with his two horns. The two powerful Devas Hari and Hara, began to shoot at the Dānava deadly arrows after arrows. Seeing these two gods shower arrows upon him, Mahiṣa began to hurl mountains on them by his tail. Viṣṇu cut off those mountains into hundred pieces by his arrow; and struck at him instantly with his Cakra. Struck thus by Cakra, the Lord of the Dānavas fainted, but he instantly rose up with a human body. The mountain-like terrible Dānava with a club in his hand frightened the Devas and uttered grave sounds like those of rumbling rain clouds. Hearing that, the Bhagavān Viṣṇu sounded a more terrible sound with his Pañchajanya Śaṅkha (conchshell). Hearing the sound of that conchshell, the Dānavas were struck with terror and the ascetic Ṛṣis and Devas became exalted with joy.

Here ends the Sixth Chapter of the Fifth Skandha on the Deva Dānava fight in Śrī Mad Devī Bhāgavatam, the Mahā Purāṇam, of 18,000 versus by Maharṣi Veda Vyāsa.