by Bibek Debroy
‘He started to devour the poison. He picked up the halahala poison in his broad palm. Compassionate, the creator of all beings devoured it. The poison that was generated from the water exhibited its own strength. It made his throat blue and this became an ornament for the virtuous one. In general, virtuous people torment themselves by accepting the torments of the worlds. This is regarded as supreme worship of the Purusha who resides in all atmans. Witnessing the deed of Shambhu Midusha, 932 god of the gods, the subjects, Daksha’s daughter, 933 Brahma and Vaikuntha praised him. As he was drinking it, a little bit of the poison trickled down from his palm. This was accepted by scorpions, poisonous snakes and plants and dandashukas.’
Chapter 8(8)
Shri-Shuka said, ‘When the one who is seated on a bull drank up the poison, the immortals and the danavas were delighted. As they swiftly churned the ocean, the source of oblations appeared. 934 O king! The rishis who know about the brahman and perform agnihotra sacrifices accepted her. They did this to perform sacrifices for deva yana and for oblations and clarified butter. After this, the horse named Ucchaishrava emerged. It was as white as the moon. Since Bali desired it, as he had been instructed by the lord, Indra did not wish for it. Airavata, Indra among elephants, emerged next. With its four tusks, it was more glorious than the white mountain the illustrious Hara resides in. 935 O king! After this, Airavana and the other eight diggajas were generated. 936 Two jewels known as Koustubha and Padmaraga were produced from the great ocean and Hari desired to wear those two jewels on his chest as ornaments. After this, Parijat, the ornament of the world of the gods, emerged. Just as you fulfil all desires on earth, it fulfils every kind of desire. Next, the apsaras came out. They wore golden ornaments and were clad in excellent garments. With their gentle gaits and glances, they delighted all the residents of heaven.
‘After this emerged Rama, the embodiment of prosperity and supremely devoted to the illustrious one. She illuminated the directions with her beauty, like a flash of lightning atop Soudamani. 937 All the gods, asuras and humans desired her. Her beauty, grace, youth, complexion and greatness agitated their minds. The great Indra brought an extremely wonderful seat for her. Assuming embodied forms, the best among the rivers brought golden pots filled with pure water. The earth brought all the herbs required for her consecration. Cows brought the five sacred objects. 938 Spring brought the produce of the months of Chaitra and Vaishakha. Following the prescribed rites, the rishis performed all the rituals for consecration. The gandharvas sang auspicious songs and accomplished dancers danced and sang. The clouds produced the sounds from musical instruments like drums, kettledrums, smaller drums, trumpets, conch shells, flutes and veenas, producing loud notes. The goddess Shri was seated, with a lotus in her hand. To the sound of mantras pronounced by the brahmanas, the elephants in charge of the directions used full pots too bathe her. The ocean brought two yellow silken garments. Varuna brought the Vaijayanti garland, with bees intoxicated with honey buzzing around it. Prajapati Vishvakarma brought wonderful ornaments. Sarasvati gave a necklace. Aja 939 gave her a lotus. Nagas gave her earrings. While benedictions were being pronounced, she picked up a garland of blue lotuses, with bees buzzing around it, in her hand. Her beautiful face and cheeks were illuminated by the earrings. Her bashful smile enhanced her excellent beauty. Her symmetrical breasts touched each other and were smeared with sandalwood and kunkuma. Her stomach was flat. She started to walk and her movement was like that of a golden creeper, with the sounds of her anklets jingling. She was faultless herself and looked around among the gandharvas, the Siddhas, the asuras, the yakshas, the charanas and the residents of heaven for an abode that permanently possessed all the virtuous qualities. But she couldn’t find one. “Indeed there are those with austerities, but they have not conquered their anger. 940 Some possess knowledge, but they are not devoid of attachment. Some are great, but have not conquered desire. Even a lord depends on someone else as a refuge. There are some with dharma, but they are not fraternal towards beings. Some have renounced, but that is not reason enough for emancipation. There are those with valour, but they have not been able to cast aside the force of time. There are those without attachment to the gunas, but they do not want a second. 941 Some possess long lifespans, but do not possess good and virtuous conduct. For those who have good conduct, their lifespans are not known. There are some with both, 942 but they are not auspicious. Someone who is extremely auspicious does not desire me.” Having thought about all the virtuous qualities in this way, Rama accepted Mukunda as her groom, though he was indifferent about desiring her. He possessed all the desired qualities. He was supreme and depended on himself alone. Indeed, he transcended all the desired qualities. She approached him with the garland made out of freshly blooming lotuses, with bees intoxicated with honey buzzing around it, and placed it around his shoulders. Smiling bashfully and with shining eyes, she indicated her place on his bosom. The supreme divinity, the father of the three worlds, made an abode for Shri, the mother of prosperity, on his chest. Stationed there, with her own compassionate glances, Shri increases the welfare of the lords of the three worlds. The followers of the gods, 943 along with their wives, sang and danced, loudly playing on musical instruments like conch shells, trumpets and drums. Chanting mantras and worshipping the illustrious one, Brahma, Rudra, Angiras and all the lords who were creators of the worlds showered down flowers. Shri glanced at the gods, the Prajapatis and the subjects and they obtained all the qualities and good conduct, becoming greatly content.
‘O king! However, the daityas and the danavas were neglected by Lakshmi. Dispirited and greedy, they lost their enterprise and became shameless. The goddess Varuni 944 appeared in the form of a lotus-eyed maiden. With Hari’s permission, the asuras accepted her.
‘After this, Kashyapa’s descendants continued to churn the ocean, desiring amrita. O great king! An extremely wonderful being arose. His arms were long and thick. His neck was like a conch shell. His eyes were red. His complexion was dark and he was young. He wore a garland and was adorned with all the ornaments. His garments were yellow and his chest was broad. His earrings were polished and were made out of jewels. His soft hair was curled and was beautiful at the tips. The extremely fortunate one was like a lion in his valour. In hands decorated with bracelets, he held a pot filled with amrita. He was born from a portion of the illustrious Vishnu himself. He was known as Dhanvantari and he is the originator of ayurveda. He has a share in sacrifices. All the asuras saw that he was holding a pot filled with amrita. Desiring the pot and its contents, they seized it. The asuras took away the pot, filled with amrita. The gods were distressed in their minds and went to Hari for refuge. The illustrious one satisfies the desires of his servants and saw that they were distressed. “Do not unnecessarily be dejected. I will use my maya to accomplish your purpose.” O lord! For the sake of the amrita, dissension was created in their minds. “I will be first. You won’t be the first. I am first, not you.” The gods also sought to obtain their own shares. “In a sacrifice, everyone has an equal share. That is eternal dharma.” O king! The daityas were filled with intolerance and tried to prevent their own. The weak ones repeatedly protested to the strong ones, who had seized the pot. Vishnu is the lord who knows about all the different techniques. Meanwhile, he assumed the form of an extremely wonderful woman, impossible to describe. She was dark to behold, like a blue lotus. All her limbs were beautiful. Her symmetrical ears were adorned with earrings. Her cheeks, nose and face were beautiful. She was in the bloom of youth, with heavy and round breasts. Her waist was slender. Her face attracted delighted buzzing bees and her eyes were anxious. Her mass of excellent hair dazzled and a garland of mallika flowers was entwined in it. Her shapely neck had a necklace and her beautiful arms were adorned with armlets. Her hips were like an island and a sparkling garment was spread across them, with a girdle adorning it. As she moved, there was the enchanting sound of anklets. She arched her eyebrows and modestly smiled at the leading daityas, glancing a
t them repeatedly, igniting desire in them.’
Chapter 8(9)
Shri-Shuka said, ‘The asuras had given up all affection towards each other and were trying to seize the vessel, snatching it from others. They had adopted the dharma of bandits. They saw the woman advancing. “Her beauty is wonderful. Her body is wonderful. Her blooming youth is wonderful.” Filled with desire, they rushed towards her and started to ask. “You possess eyes like the petals of a lotus. Who are you? Where have you come from? What do you wish for? O one with the beautiful thighs! Whom do you belong to? You are churning our minds. We know that we, immortals, daityas, Siddhas, gandharvas, charanas and lords of the worlds have not touched you, or seen anyone like you, not to speak of men. O one with the excellent eyebrows! It is certain that destiny has sent you for embodied beings. Haven’t you been fashioned to take pity and delight our senses and minds? O beautiful one! O one with the excellent waist! Because of this one object, 945 we are challenging each other and relatives are bound in enmity. You should resolve this. Because we are descended from Kashyapa, we are brothers and have demonstrated our manliness. You should divide it properly, so that there is no dispute.” Hari, who had used maya to assume the form of a woman, was thus invited by the daityas. The one with the beautiful limbs smiled. She looked towards them and spoke. The illustrious one said, “How can Kashyapa’s descendants be attracted to a pumshchali 946 like me? A learned person never trusts a woman. O enemies of the gods! It has been said that the friendship of wolves and svairini women 947 is temporary. They are always searching for new friends.” Teasing in this way, she assured the minds of the asuras, though her intent was serious. They laughed and handed over the vessel of amrita to her. Having accepted the vessel of amrita, Hari smiled pleasantly and addressed them in these words. “If you accept whatever I do, good or bad, I will apportion the share of the amrita.” The bulls among the asuras heard her words. They did not discern the import and agreed.
‘They fasted, bathed and offered oblations into the fire. 948 They donated to cows, 949 brahmanas and other beings, and brahmanas pronounced benedictions. As they chose, they attired themselves in excellent garments and adorned themselves with ornaments. All of them seated themselves on kusha grass, with the blades pointing to the east. O Indra among men! The gods and Diti’s descendants sat down, facing the east. The hall was fragrant with incense, with garlands and lamps. She entered, holding the pot in her hand. Her thighs were like an elephant’s trunk. Because of her heavy hips, covered in a silk garment, her movement was slow. Her eyes were intoxicated. Her golden anklets tinkled. Her breasts were like pitchers. Adorned in beautiful golden earrings, she was like Shri’s companion. Her nose, cheeks and face were superior to those of the gods. She glanced at them and smiled repeatedly. The end of the garment slipped, revealing her breasts. The gods and asuras were captivated. Asuras are unruly and violent by nature. Thinking that giving them amrita would be like giving it to snakes, Achyuta did not give them a share. The lord of the universe made the two categories 950 sit in separate rows, each sat down in his respective seat in his respective row. She took the pot and went to the daityas, deceiving them with sweet words. She then fed the amrita, which destroys old age and death, to those who were seated further away. 951 O king! The asuras adhered to the pledge they had themselves given. Because of their affection towards her and because they did not want to fight with a woman, they remained quiet. They had developed great love for her and did not wish that love to be destroyed. They also held her in great respect and did not wish to say anything unpleasant. Disguising himself with the signs of a god, Svarbhanu entered the ranks of the gods and drank the amrita. 952 However, the sun god and the moon god pointed this out. As he was drinking, with his razor-sharp chakra, Hari sliced off his head. Since the torso had not been touched by the amrita, it fell down, dead. The head became immortal and Aja 953 conferred the status of a planet on him. Because of the enmity, on the days of the new moon and the full moon, he attacks the sun and the moon. When the gods had almost finished drinking the amrita, the illustrious Hari, the creator of the worlds, assumed his own form, while the Indras among the asuras looked on. Thus the time, the place, the reason, the objective, the effort and the intention of the large number of gods and asuras was identical, but the fruits were different. Because they sought refuge with the dust on his lotus feet, the large number of gods obtained the fruit of amrita, but the daityas did not. For the protection of one’s own physical body and that of the offspring, men do many things with their wealth, deeds, thoughts and words. However, since these stem from differentiation, 954 these are temporary. That which is done without a sense of differentiation is alone permanent. Like watering the root, everything then becomes successful.’
Chapter 8(10)
Shri-Shuka said, ‘O king! Thus, the danavas and the daityas did not get amrita. Though they tried to make the efforts, they had turned their faces away from Vasudeva. O king! After accomplishing the task of obtaining amrita and feeding it to those on his side, the gods, while all the creatures looked one, the one with Garuda as his mount left. Diti’s descendants saw the supreme prosperity of their rivals. They could not tolerate this. Raising their weapons, they attacked the gods. All the large number of gods were energized from drinking the amrita. Having sought refuge with Narayana’s feet, they used their weapons to fight back. There was an extremely terrible encounter known as the devasura battle. O king! That tumultuous encounter occurred on the shores of the ocean and it made the body hair stand up. With intolerant minds, the rivals attacked each other in the battle. They clashed and tried to kill each other with swords, arrows and many kinds of weapons. There was a loud sound of conch shells, trumpets, drums, tambourines, smaller drums and kettledrums. There was the sound of elephants, horses, chariots and infantry and it was tumultuous. Chariots clashed against chariots there, foot soldiers against foot soldiers and elephants against elephants. Some fought astride camels, others astride elephants. Some were astride donkeys, others astride white-faced bears, tigers or monkeys. Some were on the backs of kites, vultures and cranes, with others on hawks and cocks. 955 Some were on timingilas and sharabhas, others on buffaloes, rhinos, cows, bulls, gavayas and arunas. 956 Some were astride jackals, rats, lizards, rabbits and men. Others were on goats, sheep, black antelopes, swans and pigs. There were some on creatures that moved on land and in water, others on creatures with deformed shapes. O king! Those two armies penetrated deeper and deeper into each other. O king! There were colourful flags and canopies and white and sparkling umbrellas, with extremely expensive handles studded with diamonds. There were fans made out of peacock feathers and whisks made out of yak hair. The upper and lower garments were stirred by the wind and the polished armour and ornaments glittered. The sharp weapons dazzled, sparkling in the sun’s rays. O descendant of the Pandu lineage! The valiant gods and the danavas possessed their own standards. The brave ones were adorned with garlands. The two armies resembled two oceans.
‘In the battle, the commander of the army of the asuras was Bali, Virochana’s son. His vehicle was known as Vaihasaya. It had been made by Maya and could travel as it willed. It was filled with all the required implements. O lord! It was extraordinary in every respect. It could not be described and its movement could not be determined. It was sometimes visible and sometimes invisible. He was astride that excellent vimana, surrounded by all the generals of his army. With the best of fans, whisks and an umbrella, he was as radiant as the rising moon. On all his sides, on their respective vehicles, were the leaders of the asura hordes—Namuchi, Shambara, Bana, Viprachitti, Ayomukha, Dvi-murdha, Kalanabha, Praheti, Heti, Ilvala, Shakuni, Bhuta-santapa, Vajra-damshtra, Virochana, Hayagriva, Shanku-shira, Kapila, Megha-dundubhi, Taraka, Chakradrik, Shumbha, Nishumbha, Jambha, Utkala, Arishta, Arishtanemi, Maya, the lord of Tripura and others like the Poulamas, Kaleyas and Nivatakavachas. They had not obtained a share of the soma. They had only obtained a share of the hardships. Earlier, in the field of battle, they had v
anquished many immortals. They roared like lions and blew loudly on their conch shells. On seeing his enemies, the destroyer of Bala 957 became extremely angry. His own ruler, he was resplendent astride the diggaja Airavata. The lord was as radiant as the sun rising from behind Mount Udaya, where there are flows from waterfalls. Everywhere around him, there were gods on many kinds of vehicles, with different standards and weapons. The guardians of the world, Vayu, Agni, Varuna and the others were there, along with their followers. They approached each other and abused each other with words that struck at the inner organs. Having entered the forefront of the battle, those warriors challenged each other to fight in duels. O king! Bali fought with Indra, Taraka with Guha, Varuna fought with Heti and Mitra with Praheti, Yama with Kalanabha and Vishvakarma with Maya. Shambara fought with Tvashta and Savitra with Virochana. Namuchi fought against Aparajita, the two Ashvins against Vrishaparva and the god Surya against Bali’s one hundred sons, of whom, Bana was the eldest. Rahu fought with Soma and Puloma with Anila. The spirited goddess, Bhadrakali, fought against Nishumbha and Shumbha. O destroyer of enemies! Vrishakapi fought with Jambha, Vibhavasu with Mahisha and Ilvala and Vatapi with Brahma’s sons. Durmarsha fought with Kamadeva, Utkala with the Matrikas, Brihaspati with Ushanas and Shanaishchara with Naraka. The Maruts fought with the Nivatakavachas, the Kaleyas with the immortal Vasus, the Vishvadevas with the Poulamas and the Rudras with the Krodhavashas. In this way, in the field of battle, the asuras and the gods mingled and fought against each other in duels. They approached and struck with great energy. Striving for victory, they used sharp arrows, swords and spears. They used bhushundis, chakras, clubs, double-edged swords, battleaxes, javelins, blazing torches, darts, axes, swords, long swords, maces, bludgeons and catapults to sever heads. Elephants, horses, chariots, many kinds of mounts and riders and foot soldiers were struck down. Arms, thighs, necks and legs were severed. Standards, bows, armour and ornaments were shattered. With feet and wheels of chariots striking against the ground, particles of dust arose from the field of battle. This enveloped the directions, the sky and the firmament. Whirling around and sprinkled with blood, this dust settled down on the ground. The earth was strewn with heads, severed diadems and earrings, eyes that still gazed in rage, teeth biting the lips in anger, garments, giant arms with ornaments and weapons, and thighs that were like the trunks of elephants. The headless torsos of soldiers seemed to see with the eyes in their fallen heads. Indomitable, they suddenly rose up and seizing weapons in their arms, rushed forward and attacked.