Matsyapurana 150

English (machine translation) 150

Language: English

150.1

Sūta said: / Then, seeing Grasana, Yama, overcome with rage, / poured down a rain of arrows, especially fiery in splendour.

150.2

Pierced by many arrows, Grasana of immense valour, / desiring retaliation, bent his dreadful bow,

150.3

and afflicted Yama with five hundred exceedingly fierce arrows. / Considering those arrows and the supreme prowess of Grasana,

150.4

Yama tormented Grasana with fierce showers of shafts. / That shower of arrows sent by Kṛtānta gliding through the sky,

150.5

Grasana, the lord of the Dānavas, severed with a rain of arrows. / Seeing that succession of arrows rendered futile,

150.6

Antaka, considering the volley of arrows aimed at Grasana's chariot, / hurled his dreadful mallet with great force against him.

150.7

Leaping up as that mallet came flying in the sky, / the son of the Dānavas seized the weapon of Yama with his left hand.

150.8

Having seized that very mallet, in anger he hurled it with speed / at Yama's buffalo, and it fell upon the ground.

150.9

Then, leaping off that buffalo as it was about to fall, / Yama struck Grasana firmly on the face with a dart.

150.10

Felled by the blow of the dart, he fell to the earth unconscious. / Seeing Grasana fallen, Jambha of terrible valour

150.11

struck Yama on the chest with a sling. / From that blow, blood flowed from Yama's mouth.

150.12

Seeing Kṛtānta thus distressed, the lord of wealth, mace in hand, / surrounded by a million Yakṣas, marched furiously against Jambha.

150.13

As he approached in anger, Jambha, surrounded by his army of Dānavas, / spoke wise words, as if spoken by an affectionate friend.

150.14

Having regained consciousness, Grasana hurled a mace at Yama, / adorned with gold and jewels, heavy, and crushing to enemies.

150.15

Seeing that formidable mace, the rider of the buffalo, / in order to counteract the mace, unleashed in wrath his staff,

150.16

terrifying enough to shatter the world, enveloped in garlands of flames. / Meeting the mace in mid-air, it roared like a rain-cloud.

150.17

A clash occurred between the two, unbearable as that of two mountains; / with the quarters stunned by the crashing din of their impact,

150.18

the world fell into confusion, suspecting the arrival of cosmic dissolution. / The roar having subsided in an instant, filled with blazing meteors,

150.19

the collision between the two in the sky was terrifying. / Having struck down the mace, the staff then fell forcefully

150.20

upon Grasana's head, like ruin falling upon an evil man to strip him of fortune. / Struck by that blow, he saw all the quarters enveloped in darkness,

150.21

and fell to the earth unconscious, smeared with the dust of the ground. / Then a dreadful cry of lamentation arose from both armies.

150.22

Then, within merely a muhūrta, Grasana, regaining his consciousness, / saw his own body battered, his ornaments and garments dishevelled.

150.23

And he reflected upon retaliating for what had been done: / 'When such a humiliation befalls a lordly being like myself,

150.24

the armies relying upon me will be destroyed once I am defeated; / let anyone who acts as he pleases remain unhonoured!'

150.25

“—not, however, a man whose wealth is celebrated and acclaimed in hundreds of vain ways.” / Thinking thus, the mighty warrior rose up with great speed.

150.26

Grasana, like a mountain, of terrible resolve, biting his lips, / took up a club resembling the staff of Death (Kāla).

150.27

Going swiftly in his chariot, he approached Antaka (Yama) in battle. / Reaching Yama in the fight, Grasana whirled his club,

150.28

and hurled that dreadful [weapon] with tremendous force at Yama's head. / Beholding the blazing club, Yama, his eyes bewildered,

150.29

dodged that irresistible club, mighty in strength as he was. / When it had flown far away, it crushed a thousand

150.30

of the fierce servants of Yama who perform dreadful deeds. / Then, seeing that terrible army of servants slaughtered,

150.31

raising various weapons, he was seized with extreme fury. / But Grasana, gazing upon that army consisting of servants,

150.32

thought they were thousands of Yamas created through Yama's illusory power (māyā). / Checking that host and discharging showers of weapons, Grasana,

150.33

resembling the terrible end of the cosmic age, was overcome with rage. / He pierced some with his pike, and others with straight-flying arrows;

150.34

some he crushed with his mace, and others with rains of clubs; / some were struck then by dreadful blows of darts;

150.35

many others clung to the circle of his arms. / Others struck him with rocks and with other very tall trees;

150.36

others bit into his limbs with their teeth; / and other servants struck his back with their fists.

150.37

Thus attacked by those terrible ones, Grasana, overcome with rage, / cast his body upon the surface of the earth and crushed them by the thousands.

150.38

Rising, he struck some crowds of servants with his fists. / Yet from that combat with the servants, Grasana grew fatigued.

150.39

Seeing him exhausted and his own army slain, / Yama, whose mount is a buffalo, came forward, lifting his staff.

150.40

Grasana struck him upon the chest with a mace as he approached. / Paying no heed to that deed of Grasana, Antaka, the slayer of foes,

150.41

furiously struck the tigers at the head of the chariot with his staff. / That chariot was dragged along by those tigers, half of them crushed by the staff,

150.42

like the mind of a man [dragged] by doubt. Abandoning that chariot, / the Daitya went on foot to the ground.

150.43

Seizing Yama with both arms, the Dānava fought him. / Yama also laid aside his weapons and engaged in arm-to-arm combat.

150.44

Grasana, grasping Yama by his loincloth, insolent with strength, / whirled him violently, as agitation [whirls] a scattered mind.

150.45

Yama too, gripping the Daitya by the throat with both arms, / lifted him from the surface of the earth and whirled him with great speed.

150.46

Then the two mercilessly struck each other with fists. / Because of the Daitya lord's colossal size, Yama's arms became exhausted.

150.47

Resting his face on the Daitya's shoulder, he sought rest. / Perceiving then that Antaka was fatigued, the Daitya, by his might,

150.48

dashed him repeatedly against the earth with his heels and hands, / until abundant blood flowed from Yama's mouth.

150.49

Seeing Yama lifeless, the Dānava released him. / Having gained victory, the Daitya, giving a fierce roar, exceedingly loud-voiced,

150.50

approached his own army and stood motionless like a mountain. / By Jambha, with vital-piercing shafts,

150.51

the quarters were blocked in wrath and the army of the lord of wealth was cut down. / Then the lord of wealth (Kubera), overcome with anger, pierced the Dānava Jambha

150.52

in the chest with a thousand arrows having the brilliance of fire, / and in battle [pierced] his charioteer with a hundred, his standard with ten,

150.53

his two hands with seventy-five, and his bow with ten arrows— / with straight-flying arrows smeared with oil and feathered with peacock plumes.

150.54

With one [arrow he pierced] the lion, and with ten sharp shafts he pierced him. / But Jambha, beholding that most difficult deed of the lord of wealth,

150.55

summoned courage in his heart, though his mind was somewhat terrified, / and seized sharp arrows that pierce the vital spots of enemies.

150.56

Drawing his bow to his ear, Jambha, flooded with wrath, / the Dānava pierced the bestower of wealth in the chest with sharp arrows.

150.57

With a stout arrow he struck his charioteer in the heart; / and then with a single oil-cleaned [shaft] the Dānava severed his bowstring.

150.58

Then, with ten sharp, cruel, vital-piercing arrows, / that perpetrator of cruel deeds pierced the lord of treasures in the chest.

150.59

The guardian of wealth, severely pierced, fell into great swoon. / In a moment, recovering his resolve and drawing his terrifying bow,

150.60

scattering thousands of sharp arrows, the lord of wealth / filled the quarters, the sky, the intermediate quarters, the earth, and the ranks of the Asura,

150.61

shrouding the disc of the sun with his speed. / But Jambha, striking swiftly, with many arrows in the battle

150.62

severed each one through his surpassing valor against the lord of wealth. / Then the lord of wealth, thoroughly enraged by the Dānava lord's exploit,

150.63

routed his armies with showers of various arrows. / Seeing that difficult feat of the overseer of wealth, the Dānava,

150.64

seizing a dreadful iron club adorned with gold, / crushed the Yakṣa followers of the bestower of wealth by the thousands.

150.65

Being slain by the Daitya, emitting terrible cries, / they all stationed themselves encircling the chariot of the lord of wealth.

150.66

Seeing them afflicted, the god took up a dreadful pike; / with it he swiftly slaughtered thousands of Daityas.

150.67

As the Daityas were being decimated, the Dānava, overcome with fury, / the Daitya seized an axe that crushes the enemies of Daityas.

150.68

With that sharp-edged weapon, the Daitya hacked the great chariot of the master of wealth / into hundreds of pieces, like a rat [chewing] soft cloth.

150.69

Now on foot, the lord of treasures took up a terrifying mace / that destroys arrogant foes in the crushes of great battle,

150.70

unassailable by all beings, worshipped for many cycles of years, / its body anointed with various sandalpastes, perfumed with divine flowers,

150.71

made of spotless iron, heavy, unfailing, and adorned with gold. / Enraged, the lord of wealth hurled it at Jambha's head.

150.72

Seeing it arriving, adorned like a mass of lightning, / the Daitya unleashed a shower of weapons to counter the mace's impact.

150.73

Discus weapons, iron clubs, barbed darts, missiles, and spears — / with his two arms bound with golden armlets, [the Daitya] of fierce prowess,

150.74

having rendered all those weapons futile, [the club] flashing fiercely / fell upon the Daitya’s chest like a great meteor into a mountain cleft.

150.75

Severely struck by it, he fell upon the pole of his chariot, / and blood flowed from his orifices as he lost consciousness.

150.76

Thinking Jambha to be slain, Kujambha of terrifying roar, / enraged at the lord of wealth and exceedingly infuriated by [his] words,

150.77

cast a net of arrows in all directions against the lord of Yakṣas; / then, with sharp crescent-tipped arrows, he cut through that net of arrows.

150.78

The mighty lord of Yakṣas showered a rain of arrows upon him, / [but] the Daitya severed that volley of arrows with his own sharpened shafts.

150.79

Seeing that rain of arrows thwarted, the lord of wealth / seized an unassailable spear, ringing with a loud peal of golden bells,

150.80

with an arm beaming with a continuous radiance of jeweled armlets; / having aimed it with speed, he hurled it at Kujambha.

150.81

It tore open Kujambha’s dreadful heart, / like the greed for wealth cherished by a man of little courage.

150.82

Then, having pierced his heart, it went into the surface of the earth. / Thereupon, for a moment, the Dānava of terrible form was shaken;

150.83

then the Daitya seized a tall spear with a stone-sharpened tip. / In the battle, with that spear, into the chest of Dhanada,

150.84

as a wicked man pierces the heart of a noble person / with harsh speech penetrating deep into the vitals,

150.85

by that spear's blow, Dhaneśa swooned away, / falling into the middle of his chariot like a worn-out draft ox.

150.86

Seeing Dhaneśa, whose vehicle is a man, reduced to such a state, / the god Nirṛti, wielding a sword as his weapon and followed by a force of night-wanderers,

150.87

rushed swiftly toward Kujambha of terrifying prowess. / Then, seeing the unassailable sovereign of Rākṣasas,

150.88

Kujambha spurred his troops forward to slay the king of Rākṣasas. / Seeing that urged-on army dreadful with broad-headed arrows and diverse weapons,

150.89

leaping swiftly from his chariot, radiant with the splendor of ornaments, / with an unsheathed sword shining with the luster of the sky, as if [cutting] lotuses,

150.90

the long-armed [Nirṛti] cut off the varied heads of the enemies all around, / sideways, behind, below, and above, with his great sword.

150.91

With a terrifying face whose brows were knit with fury and whose lips were bitten, / his eyes red with intense rage, he cut down the Dānavas in battle.

150.92

Then, seeing his army almost completely destroyed, / Kujambha left Dhanada and rushed at the king of Rākṣasas.

150.93

Regaining consciousness, Jambha seized alive the attendants of the lord of wealth, / binding them by the thousands with nooses.

150.94

The Dānavas [also seized] various gems in personified forms, / divine vehicles, and thousands of aerial chariots.

150.95

Then Dhaneśa, having regained consciousness and seeing that state, / sighing long and hot, his eyes red with rage,

150.96

meditating upon the divine Gāruḍa weapon and fitting an arrow to his bow, / released that arrow, destructive to foes, into the Dānava army.

150.97

First, lines of smoke issued from his bow, / and immediately after, millions of sparks of blazing splendor.

150.98

Then the weapon made the sky filled with flames all around; / thereupon, by degrees, it became irresistible and multiform.

150.99

The world became formless and shrouded in darkness; / then, in the mid-region, they praised that radiant splendor.

150.100

Observing that, the Dānava Kujambha of extreme valor / rushed swiftly on foot, roaring at Dhanada.

150.101

Then, seeing the Daitya coming straight toward him, the lord of wealth / was filled with panic and set his mind on flight.

150.102

Then, as he was fleeing, his jewel-adorned crown / fell to the surface of the earth, blazing like the disk of the sun from the sky.

150.103

“For noble warriors, when their master has retreated from the battle, / it is fitting to die at the head of the fight in front of that ornament.”

150.104

Having thus resolved, unassailable and holding diverse weapons and missiles in hand, / the Yakṣas stood eager to fight, surrounding that crown.

150.105

Seeing those heroes, the followers of Dhanada, whose wealth was their honor, / the Dānava of fierce prowess, filled with wrath,

150.106

seizing a terrifying missile heavy as a mountain, / crushed the night-wanderers who were guarding the crown.

150.107

Having crushed them, the Danu-born enemy of the immortals placed that crown on his own chariot, / having vanquished Dhanada in battle.

Taking all the wealth, the personified gems, and the bodily treasuries, / the Daitya Jambha, a lion among the lords of Danu's sons, went to his own army; / and the lord of wealth, his hair disheveled, went in dejection to the presence of the lord of the gods.

150.109

Then, closely locked in combat with Kujambha, the delight of the night-wanderers, / the king of Rākṣasas, having resorted to an unerring dark illusory power,

150.110

deluded the Daitya lord by plunging the world into darkness; / then the forces of the Dānavas, their eyes rendered useless,

150.111

were unable to stir even a foot from their place at that time. / Then, with a shower of diverse missiles against the great army of the Dānavas,

150.112

he struck them whose steeds and mounts were distressed by the dense misty gloom. / While the Daityas were being slain and Kujambha was bewildered in mind,

150.113

Mahiṣa, the Dānava lord, resembling the cloud at the end of the cosmic age, / discharged the Sāvitra weapon adorned with a multitude of meteors.

150.114

As that glorious supreme Sāvitra weapon blazed forth, / the intense, terrible darkness immediately went to destruction.

150.115

Then the weapon, marked with sparks, dispelled all the darkness, / as an autumn morning reveals a clear lake with a multitude of blooming red lotuses.

150.116

Then, when the darkness had subsided, the Daitya lords, regaining their sight, / fought wondrously with cruel minds against the hosts of gods.

150.117

With weapons released in fury, the serpent-missile was dispelled; / then, taking a dreadful bow and arrows like venomous serpents,

150.118

Kujambha rushed swiftly toward the army of the king of Rākṣasas. / Seeing him approaching, the king of Rākṣasas, along with his followers,

150.119

pierced him with sharp arrows, dreadful like vicious serpents; / and neither his grasping, nor his aiming, nor his releasing [of arrows] could be discerned.

150.120

With extreme dexterity, he severed his volleys of arrows with his own shafts, / and with an extremely sharp [arrow], he of marvelous deeds [severed] the standard of the enemy of the immortals.

150.121

And with a broad-headed arrow he knocked down his charioteer from the seat of the chariot. / Seeing that deed of the lord of the Rākṣasas in battle, Kujambha,

150.122

his eyes red with rage, leaped from his chariot, / and the Dānava swiftly seized a sword as clear as an autumn sky,

150.123

and a shield decorated with ten crescents of the rising moon. / In battle, the Daitya rushed with fury against the sovereign of the Rakṣases.

150.124

As he approached, the sovereign of the Rakṣases struck him in the chest with a mallet. / Weakened by that blow, his mind confounded,

150.125

the Danuja stood motionless, like a steadfast mountain. / Reviving after a moment, the exceedingly unconquerable lord of the Dānavas,

150.126

mounted his chariot and seized the Rakṣas by the hair with his left hand; / pinning down Nirṛti, the Daitya subdued him with his knee.

150.127

Then, indignant, he wished to cut off his head with his sword. / In that interval, the god Varuṇa, the lord of the waters, swiftly

150.128

bound both arms of the lord of the Dānavas with his noose. / Then, as the Daitya's arms were bound and his prowess rendered futile,

150.129

the wielder of the noose struck him with a mace, abandoning all mercy. / Struck by that blow, vomiting blood from his apertures,

150.130

he took on the appearance of a cloud encircled by creepers of lightning-wreaths. / Seeing Kujambha fallen into that condition, Mahiṣāsura,

150.131

with his abyss-like mouth wide open, fierce with sharp fangs, / wished to swallow both Suras, both Nirṛti and Varuṇa.

150.132

Perceiving the wicked intention of that Daitya, / the two, terrified, fled the path of Mahiṣa's chariot with great speed.

150.133

Fleeing swiftly in both directions, distraught with fear, / Nirṛti quickly went for refuge to Pākaśāsana.

150.134

Enraged, the Daitya Mahiṣa rushed after Varuṇa. / Seeing him caught in the jaws of Death, [Soma], possessing the splendour of snow,

150.135

discharged the missile of Soma, creating barbed spikes of compacted ice; / and the Moon created a second matchless missile, that of Vāyu.

150.136

By that wind, by that Moon, and by the parching frost, / all the Dānavas were afflicted, paralyzed by cold and bereft of prowess.

150.137

They were unable to move on foot or even to grasp their weapons, / because of the great downfall of snow and the weapons impelled by the Moon.

150.138

The limbs of the Asura armies burned on every side. / Devoid of effort, his face trembling from the cold,

150.139

holding his armpits with both hands, Mahiṣa sat with downcast face. / All those Daityas, conquered by the Moon, were helpless;

150.140

abandoning afar their desire for battle, they stood wishing only for life. / There Kālanemi, inflamed with anger, addressed the Daityas:

150.141

“O heroes, decked with ornaments, masters of all weapons and missiles! / Each one of you alone is capable of lifting the entire world with his arms!

150.142

Each one alone is able to swallow the entire world of mobile and immobile beings! / Not even all the sky-dwellers together are a match for any single one of you,

150.143

even with effort to equal a sixteenth part of your great valour! / Why have you fled and why do you stand defeated by the gods in battle?

150.144

This is not worthy of heroes, especially those born of the Daityas! / And our king Tāraka, the slayer of the world, is close at hand;

150.145

enraged, he will take the lives of those who withdraw from this battle!” / Their hearing destroyed by the cold, their fluency of speech lost,

150.146

the Daityas were then mute, their rows of teeth chattering. / Seeing those Daityas deprived of consciousness, worn down by the cold,

150.147

and considering what deed was suited to the moment, the great Asura Kālanemi, / resorting to Dānava illusory power and expanding his own vast form,

150.148

filled the sky, the cardinal directions, and the intermediate quarters. / That ruler of the lords of the Dānavas produced ten thousand suns upon his body,

150.149

and through illusory power he filled the quarters with blazing fires. / Thereupon the entire three worlds instantly became filled with flames.

150.150

By that multitude of flames the Moon was pacified. / Then gradually that gloomy day of cold disappeared, and [there] shone forth

150.151

that army of the lords of the Dānavas through the illusory power of Kālanemi. / Seeing that host of Dānavas regain consciousness, the Sun, / the sole eye of the world, bewildered with anger, spoke to Aruṇa:

150.152

The Sun said: / “Drive the chariot quickly, Aruṇa, to where Kālanemi’s chariot is! / A violent collision will take place there, destroying warriors.

150.153

The Moon has been conquered here, upon whose strength we relied.” / Thus addressed, the elder brother of Garuḍa drove the chariot,

150.154

its horses held firmly by his effort and adorned with white fly-whisks. / Then the blessed light of the world took up his drawn bow,

150.155

and the illustrious one took two divine arrows, blazing like venomous serpents. / Fitting one arrow with the missile of transformation, he loosed it,

150.156

and he released a second charged with illusion. / By the missile of transformation, he instantly caused an inversion of appearances:

150.157

the appearance of the gods became that of Dānavas, and that of the Dānavas became divine. / Thinking his own forces to be the Suras, with swiftness of dreadful weapons,

150.158

Kālanemi, seized with wrath, slew them like Death at the cosmic dissolution: / some with his sharp sword, some with rains of iron arrows, / some with terrible maces, and some with dreadful battle-axes.

150.159

With ferocious speed, he struck off the heads, arms, chariots, and charioteers of some; / some he crushed with the speed of his chariot, and some in anger with violent blows of his fists.

150.160

Seeing his own troops slain in battle, Nemi, a leader of the Dānavas— / as the Asuras overpowered by the gods were returning to their own forms—

150.161

while Kālanemi, overcome by fury, did not recognise their forms; / seeing them, the Daitya Nemi spoke to Kālanemi:

150.162

“I am Nemi, not a Sura! Know me, Kālanemi! / Bewildered in battle, you have slain Daityas of immense valour,

150.163

a million Daityas who are difficult for the Suras to defeat here! / Quickly release the missile of Brahmā, which repels all weapons!”

150.164

Awakened by him, his mind agitated with confusion, that Daitya / indeed charged an arrow governed by the missile of Brahmā;

150.165

and the lord of the Daityas, that thorn to the Suras, loosed it himself. / Then the three worlds, together with mobile and immobile beings, were pervaded by the splendour of the missile,

150.166

and the entire army of the gods became filled with terror. / The missile of transformation was extinguished, and he shone by himself on the battlefield.

150.167

When that missile was thus repelled, the Sun, his splendour diminished, / resorted to a great illusion and multiplied his form into tens of millions.

150.168

Pervading the three worlds with the burst of flaring rays, / he scorched the Dānava army, its marrow, fat, and blood dried up.

150.169

Then the lord showered fire, exceedingly dense, on all sides, / and blinded the eyes of the foremost Dānavas.

150.170

The fat of the elephants melted away, and they fell noiselessly to the ground; / horses gasped, and charioteers were tormented by the heat.

150.171

Afflicted by thirst, seeking water here and there, / they sought shady boughs and mountain caverns.

150.172

As they sought coolness, wandering among the trees, / a forest fire blazed up with terrifying flames, burning down the trees; / seeing water adorned with waves before them as they craved drink,

150.173

crushed, they could not reach it though it stood right before them; / failing to obtain water, they fell senseless to the ground with gaping mouths.

150.174

Everywhere chiefs of the Daityas were seen dead on the earth; / chariots and elephants fell, and horses were finished off.

150.175

Standing, vomiting, running, their blood, fat, and marrow dripping, / thousands of Dānavas were seen lying dead.

150.176

While that great destruction of the Dānava chiefs was taking place, / Kālanemi, his eyes reddened with fury, seized with wrath,

150.177

became like a cloud at the end of a cosmic epoch, flashing with countless lightning bolts, / striking the heart of the world with the deep roar of thunder.

150.178

Shrouding the expanse of the sky, he dispelled the sun’s illusory power, / and showered cool water over the army of the Dānava chiefs.

150.179

Having obtained that rain, the Daityas gradually revived, / like withered seed-sprouts upon receiving rain on the surface of the earth.

150.180

Then that great Asura Kālanemi, in the form of a cloud, / showered a fierce, invincible rain of weapons upon the armies of the gods.

150.181

Tormented by that shower of the mighty Daitya chiefs, / seeing no way of escape, like cows afflicted by the cold,

150.182

with weapons dropped from their hands, they hid behind one another; / in their distress, they hid behind their own elephants and horses.

150.183

Terrified, the immortals hid here and there among the chariots; / others crouched with shrunken limbs, covering their faces with their own hands.

150.184

Bewildered, they wandered here and there in the ten directions / during that tumultuous battle, such a destruction of the gods.

150.185

They were seen fallen upon the earth, the joints of their limbs shattered by weapons, / armless, their heads broken, and their thighs and knees severed.

150.186

With the yokes of their chariots overturned, rows of banners crushed, / and with horses whose limbs were pierced and elephants resembling mountains,

150.187

the ground shone altered and gruesome with pools of oozing blood. / Thus in battle the mighty Daitya, the great Asura Kālanemi,

150.188

slew within a mere moment a hundred thousand Gandharvas, / five hundred thousand Yakṣas, and sixty thousand Rākṣasas.

150.189

He slew three hundred thousand swift Kinnaras, / and, fearless, he slew seven hundred thousand chiefs of Piśācas.

150.190

Enraged, that master of weapons slew countless tens of millions / of other hosts of the divine races with wonderful missiles.

150.191

Thus, during that terrible defeat and destruction of the immortals, / the two divine Aśvins, resplendent in wondrous weapons and armor, grew enraged;

150.192

they struck at the Daitya in battle, who resembled the fire of Death. / Approaching that terrifying [foe] in battle, each with sixty arrows,

150.193

struck at the vital spots of the fierce-looking Asura with sharp points; / his mind somewhat shaken by the blows of their arrows,

150.194

he seized an eight-spoked discus, wiped with oil, the ender of battles; / with that discus he severed the pole of the two Aśvins’ chariot.

150.195

Then the Daitya seized a bow and arrows resembling venomous serpents, / and covering the region of the sky, showered them on the heads of the two physicians.

150.196

They too cut down the Daitya’s arrows with their sharp weapons; / seeing that deed of theirs, he was astonished and fell into rage.

150.197

With great fury he seized a terrifying iron club, entirely made of iron, / fearsome as the staff of Death.

150.198

Whirling it with speed, he hurled it toward the chariot of the Aśvins; / but seeing that club flying through the sky,

150.199

the two Aśvins quickly abandoned their chariots and leaped away with speed; / crushing those two chariots, that mountain-like club,

150.200

adorned with golden lattice-work, cleft open the earth. / Seeing his deed, the two Aśvins, physicians and skilled fighters,

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Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit