Markandeyapurana 89
English (machine translation) 89
- Language
- English
Contents
- 89.39 — 2 parts
89.1
'Wonderful is this narrative of the glory of the goddess's deeds
concerning the slaying of Raktabīja that has been related to me by your honor.
89.2
I wish to hear further what deed Śumbha did
when Raktabīja was struck down, and the exceedingly furious Niśumbha.'
89.3
The sage said:
'The asura Śumbha and Niśumbha felt incomparable rage
when Raktabīja was struck down and others were slain in the battle.
89.4
Then Niśumbha, bearing indignation upon seeing his great army
being slaughtered, rushed forward with the foremost army of asuras.'
89.5
In front of her, behind her, and on both sides, the great asuras / approached to slay the goddess, biting their lips in fury.
89.6
Śumbha of great valor also came, surrounded by his own forces, / in anger to slay Caṇḍikā, having engaged in battle with the Mothers.
89.7
Then a terrible battle took place between the goddess and Śumbha and Niśumbha, / with an exceedingly fierce rain of arrows, like two clouds pouring rain.
89.8
Caṇḍikā split the arrows shot by the two of them with masses of her own arrows, / and struck the two lords of asuras on their limbs with a torrent of weapons.
89.9
Niśumbha, taking up a sharp sword and a radiant shield, / struck the head of the lion, the excellent mount of the goddess.
89.10
Niśumbha, taking up a sharp sword and a radiant shield, / struck the head of the lion, the excellent mount of the goddess.
89.11
When his shield and sword were shattered, that asura hurled a spear; / and as it flew toward her, she cleaved that too in two with her discus.
89.12
Swollen with rage, the Dānava Niśumbha then seized a pike; / as it came at her, the goddess pulverized that too with a blow of her fist.
89.13
Then, taking up a mace, he hurled it at Caṇḍikā; / and that too, pierced by the goddess's trident, was reduced to ashes.
89.14
Then, as that bull among Daityas advanced with an axe in hand, / the goddess struck him with a flood of arrows and brought him down to the ground.
89.15
When that brother of terrifying valor, Niśumbha, had fallen to the ground, / [Śumbha], exceedingly enraged, advanced to slay Ambikā.
89.16
Standing in his chariot, he shone, completely filling the sky / with eight peerless arms raised very high, grasping supreme weapons.
89.17
Seeing him approach, the goddess blew her conch / and made an unbearable twang with her bowstring.
89.18
And she filled the directions with the sound of her bell, / which brought about the destruction of the majesty of all the Daitya forces.
89.19
Then the lion filled the sky, the earth, and likewise the ten directions / with great roars that stripped the great elephants of their rutting pride.
89.20
Then Kālī leaped into the air and struck the earth / with both hands; by that roar, those previous sounds were eclipsed.
89.21
Śivadūtī let out an ominous, loud, cackling laugh; / at those sounds the asuras were terrified, and Śumbha fell into the utmost rage.
89.22
When Ambikā cried, "Stand, stand, O evil-souled one!", / then the gods stationed in the sky called out, "Victory!"
89.23
The spear hurled by Śumbha as he approached, exceedingly terrible with flames, / resembling a mass of fire as it came, was dispelled by a great firebrand.
89.24
By Śumbha's lion-roar the space between the three worlds was filled; / it surpassed the terrible sound of thunderbolts, O king.
89.25
The goddess cut down the arrows discharged by Śumbha, and Śumbha the arrows loosed by her, / with fierce arrows by the hundreds and thousands.
89.26
Then Caṇḍikā, enraged, struck him with a pike; / struck by it, he fell to the ground swooning.
89.27
Then Niśumbha, regaining consciousness and taking up his bow, / struck the goddess, Kālī, and the lion with arrows.
89.28
And creating ten thousand arms, that lord of Danus, / that son of Diti, covered Caṇḍikā with his discus-weapons.
89.29
Then the blessed Durgā, the destroyer of distress and misfortune, in her wrath / cleaved those discuses and those arrows with her own arrows.
89.30
Then Niśumbha, swiftly taking up a mace, / rushed to slay Caṇḍikā, surrounded by the Daitya army.
89.31
Even as he rushed upon her, Caṇḍikā quickly severed the mace / with her sharp-edged sword; and he seized a pike.
89.32
As Niśumbha, the tormentor of the gods, approached with pike in hand, / Caṇḍikā pierced his heart with a pike hurled with force.
89.33
From the heart of him who was pierced by the pike, another man / of great strength and great valor emerged, crying, "Halt!"
89.34
As he emerged, the goddess, laughing loudly, / severed his head with her sword; then he fell to the ground.
89.35
Then the lion devoured the asuras whose necks were crushed by his fangs; / and similarly Kālī and Śivadūtī [devoured] others.
89.36
Some great asuras perished, pierced by Kaumārī's spear; / others were dispelled by water consecrated with Brahmāṇī's mantras.
89.37
Others fell, pierced by Māheśvarī's trident; / some were crushed to powder on the ground by the blow of Vārāhī's snout.
89.38
The Dānavas were cut to pieces by Vaiṣṇavī's discus, / and others by the thunderbolt hurled from the tip of Aindrī's hand.
89.39
Some asuras perished, some fled from the great battle, / and others were devoured by Kālī, Śivadūtī, and the king of beasts.
89.39.p1
Thus ends the eighty-ninth chapter, entitled "The Slaying of Niśumbha", in the Devīmāhātmya, in the Sāvarṇika Manvantara of the glorious Mārkaṇḍeya Mahāpurāṇa.
89.39.p2
Chapter 90 - 90
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Commentaries (1)
- Guptavatī — Bhāskararāya Makhin 1741, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit