Skandapurana 1.4.19: adhyāyaḥ 21

Nārada said: / Seeing him fleeing, with his banner and bow broken, / and the Daityas rejoicing, Indra did not know what to do.

Then the lord of the gods quickly approached Viṣṇu / and spoke sweet words to him, filled with encouragement:

"Why do you sport, O Lord, with these wicked-minded Dānavas? / How can an individual whose vulnerable spot is seized by vile men perform his duties?

When disregarded by the capable, a base man believes in his own strength; / therefore, a wise man should never disregard a base man.

Moreover, charioteers attained victory through the excellence of their vanguards. / Who was your companion previously, O Lord, in slaying Hiraṇyākṣa?

The Daitya Hiraṇyakaśipu was mighty and arrogant with pride; / meeting you, he perished like straw. Who was your vanguard there?

Previously, rival Daityas like Madhu and Kaiṭabha, / having approached you, were consumed like moths in a flame.

In every age, O Hari, the destruction of the Daityas has come from you. / So too today, O Viṣṇu, you are the refuge of the terrified gods in this world!"

Thus urged, Viṣṇu, mighty-armed, the slayer of foes and refuge of all beings, / expanded in strength, splendor, and prosperity.

Then Keśava, as if smiling, spoke to the thousand-eyed [Indra]: / "It is so, exactly as you have spoken concerning me.

I am able in an instant to burn all the Dānavas of the three worlds. / But Tāraka is difficult to conquer, except by an infant seven days old.

And Mahiṣa and Śumbha are both to be slain by a woman. / Jambha was cursed by Durvāsas: 'You shall be slain by Śakra!' / Therefore, with divine valor, slay Jambha, swollen with pride!

That Dānava cannot be slain by all living beings, except by you.

Protected by me in battle, remove Jambha, the thorn of the world!" / Hearing that speech of Vaikuṇṭha, the thousand-eyed [Indra], slayer of the foes of the immortals,

commanded the lords of the gods regarding the array of the army. / Then, requested by the gods, Viṣṇu arranged the army.

What was the essence of all the world, and of valor and austerity— / that Hari made into the eleven Rudras at the vanguard.

The great gods, their limbs entwined by serpents, mighty, blue-throated, / with the crescent moon and the three lines of ash, yellow-eyed, bearing tridents in their hands,

with tall, tawny matted hair, wearing lion skins, / their limbs smeared with sacred ash, fearsome with circles of arms,

the Rudras, Kapālīśa and the others, put the great Asuras to flight: / Kapālī, Piṅgala, Bhīma, Virūpākṣa, Vilohita,

Ajaka, Śāsana, Śāstā, Śambhu, Candra, and Bhava— / these eleven Rudras were of endless strength and glorious power.

They protected the gods, roaring like clouds. / Mounted on Airāvata, who was like the Himālaya, wearing a garland of golden lotuses,

adorned with a host of swinging large golden bells, / four-tusked, an elephant in rut,

shedding copious rut-fluid, able to change form at will, Śatakratu [Indra] stood / like the radiant sun upon a peak of the snowy mountain. / The wind god of boundless valor protected his left flank;

Agni, filling the quarters of the sky with flames, guarded the other; / and Viṣṇu, the lord of the battle, protected the rear of Śatakratu.

The Ādityas, Vasus, Viśvedevas, Maruts, and the two Aśvins, / the Gandharvas, Rākṣasas, Yakṣas, along with Kinnaras and great serpents,

forming troops by the tens of millions, distinguished by banners, / proclaiming their own fame with hosts of bards marching before them,

haughty in slaying Daityas, with multicolored weapons and banners, marched forth.

Guarded by the host of immortals, that army of Śatakratu, resplendent with the sound of vehicles / and adorned with tens of millions of elevated white flag-cloths, brought joy to the sons of Diti.

Seeing that army of the gods approaching, Gajāsura, / having the form of an elephant, immense, with the prowess of the ocean of destruction,

a Daitya armed with a battle-axe, with his lips clenched over his tusks, / crushed gods with his feet and hurled others with his trunk.

The lord of the Daityas, of terrible prowess, struck down others with his axe. / As he was thus striking, the gods, Gandharvas, and Kinnaras, enraged,

banded together and all unleashed a multitude of diverse weapons and missiles: / battle-axes, discuses, javelins, and clubs.

Spears, darts, sharp arrows, and intolerable clubs— / that leader of the troop, the Daitya, swallowed them all like mouthfuls [of food].

With the tips of his tusks quivering in rage, resounding with the clapping of his hands, / that Dānava, dreadful to look upon, roamed about in the battle, striking down the gods.

Wherever Gajāsura fell upon the host of gods, / in that very place arose a great cry of "Alas! Alas!"

Then, seeing that army fleeing in all directions, / the Rudras, from whom rays of egoism arose, spoke to one another:

"Ho, ho! Seize the lord of Daityas! Pierce him, O mighty ones! / Drag him with sharp tridents! Crush him in his vital parts!"

Kapālin, hearing the words, wiped the trident, / which was exceedingly sharp at the tip, with his left hand, his eyes wide open with fury.

The multitude of blossomed red and blue lotuses [resembled his eyes gazing in] all directions; / then, his brow curved with a frown, he advanced facing the Daitya lord in battle.

Bracing his trident with a firm grip of his fist, the pure / Kapālin struck the elephant-Dānava on the frontal globe of his head.

Then those ten Rudras too struck the lord of Daityas, / who possessed the bulk of a mountain, with tridents made of pure iron in the fight.

Then blood flowed through all his channels; / smeared with the blood from the trident of Rudra, the elephant-Dānava shone

like a clear lake in autumn with blossoming pure blue lotuses, / surrounded by swans resembling Rudra with bodies bright with ashes.

With the leaf-like tips of his ears flapping, Gajāsura, enraged, / pierced the furious Kapālin and Bhava at the region of the navel with his tusks.

Seeing that he was engaged with the two Rudras, the nine Rudras then swiftly / pierced the body of the enemy of the immortals with arrows and tridents.

Then, abandoning Kapālin and Bhava, that bull among asuras, / the Daitya, enraged, charged with speed at the nine Rudras; / he trampled them with blows of his feet, and also with his tusks and his trunk.

Then, when he had attained exhaustion from the duel of tridents, / Kapālin seized the trunk of this enemy of the immortals.

And with great speed he whirled Gajāsura around; / seeing the Daitya afflicted with fatigue, his life almost departing,

deprived of zeal, his eagerness for battle gone in that fight— / then, tearing off his dreadful skin while he was still spinning,

which was flowing with a stream of blood from all its limbs, he made it his garment. / Then the gods praised him in many ways with numerous hymns of praise,

and they said to him: "Whoever would strike this one would die." Then he, / seeing the form of Kapālin clad in the garment of elephant hide,

[the Dānavas] were terrified, fled, struck [at random], and fell down by the thousands. / When that mighty lord of Dānavas was thus destroyed,

having mounted a rutting elephant that resounded with a hundred kettledrums, / Nimi rushed forward swiftly, throwing the armies of the gods into disorder.

Whichever quarter Nimi's elephant approached, / in that direction the gods fled along with their mounts and wailed, trembling repeatedly with fear.

At the scent of his elephant, the elephants of the gods fled. / When the armies of the gods had fled, Pākaśāsana

stood firm together with the eight guardians of the quarters and Keśava. / As soon as his elephant reached Śakra's elephant,

Śakra's elephant, terrified, uttered a dreadful cry, / and although held with effort, stood trembling like a cakora bird.

While that elephant was fleeing, Pākaśāsana, mounted upon it, / fought facing backwards with the lord of Dānavas.

Śatakratu struck Nimi on the chest with a trident, / and with a mace he struck his elephant violently on the cheek.

Disregarding that blow, Nimi of fearless prowess / struck Airāvata on the hip with a club.

Struck then by the club in battle, Śakra's elephant, / resembling a mountain, sank back onto the earth upon its hind legs.

Rising quickly with agility, the great elephant of the immortals / then retreated from the battle, terrified by Nimi's elephant.

Then blew a harsh wind, full of dust and many pebbles. / Facing [them], Nimi's elephant, unshakeable, shook the mountains; / flowing with blood, it shone like a mountain with a dense pool of red mineral ores.

The lord of wealth too hurled a heavy mace with speed / at that elephant of the Dānava; that mace fell upon its head.

Fainting from the fall of that mace, / the elephant, having pierced the earth with its tusks, fell with speed like a mountain.

When that elephant fell, a great lion's roar arose / from the armies of the gods on all sides, augmented by the trumpeting of elephants,

by the neighing of horses, and by the twanging of the bows of archers. / Seeing that elephant slain and Nimi turning away,

and the lion's roar of the gods that resounded through the quarters, / Jambha blazed with anger like an inflamed fire.

Then, his eyes red with rage, fixing an arrow on his bow, / he shouted loudly, "Halt!", and cheered his charioteer.

Seeing him approaching with an arrow placed on the bow, / Śatakratu, undaunted in spirit, firmly took up his bow

and a crescent-headed arrow whose tip was cleaned with oil, flying straight.

With it the slayer of Bala and Vṛtra sliced through his bow along with the arrow. / Casting aside that severed bow, Jambha, the delight of the Dānavas,

took another bow, swift and capable of bearing heavy strain, / and arrows resembling venomous serpents, cleaned with oil and flying straight.

He pierced Śakra with ten winged arrows in the clavicle region, / with three in the chest, and with two in his two shoulders.

Śakra too dispatched a volley of arrows at the lord of Dānavas; / but the lord of Dānavas, before they reached him, [sliced] the arrows shot by Śakra's arms,

he cut them into a hundred pieces in the sky with arrows resembling tongues of fire. / And then, with a net of arrows, the lord of gods [assailed] the lord of Dānavas—

covered [him] with effort, just as clouds cover the sky in the rainy season. / The Daitya, too, pierced [him] with a net of sharp arrows,

just as the wind [scatters] a mass of clouds that is irresistible in the face of the quarters. / Then, when Śakra, furious with rage, could gain no advantage

over the lord of the Dānavas, he discharged the most wondrous Gandharva missile. / Then, pervaded by its brilliance, the domain of the sky became filled

with cities of the Gandharvas, possessing various ramparts and archways, / discharging a rain of weapons of wondrous form on all sides.

Smitten by that rain of weapons, the great army of the Daityas / went to Jambha for refuge, crying, “Save us! Save us!”, O Bhārata.

Then the mighty Jambha, roaring and laughing again and again, / remembering the conduct of the virtuous, granted fearlessness to the Daityas.

Then he discharged a terrible missile named the Mauśala. / Thereupon, the entire universe was filled with ferocious clubs.

By them, all the Gandharva cities were shattered, / and with a single fierce strike, chariot, horse, elephant, and god

were crushed swiftly by the hundreds and the thousands. / Then Śakra, lord of the gods, discharged the Tvāṣṭra missile.

As the missile was being aimed, flames of fire burst forth; / then magical devices made of mechanical contraptions appeared by the thousands.

With those devices a battle took place in the intermediate space that eclipsed the stars; / by those devices the Mauśala [missile] was shattered, and the Asuras were struck down.

Jambha discharged the mountain-missile that crushes hosts of mechanical devices. / Then a rain of boulders measuring a fathom began to fall.

Those machines that had been fashioned by the Tvāṣṭra [missile], O Bhārata, / were ground into sesame seeds by that shower of falling stones.

Then boulders fell with tremendous speed upon the heads of the gods, / splitting the earth and that fourfold army.

Then Purandara, the thousand-eyed, employed the Vajra missile; / [by it] the great rain of stones was shattered on every side.

When the mountain-missiles were pacified, Jambha, resembling a mountain, / whose prowess was crushing to others, discharged the Aiṣīka missile.

By the Aiṣīka missile, the Vajra missile that splits mountains was destroyed; / and as that supreme and most terrible Aiṣīka missile expanded,

the armies of the gods, along with their chariots and elephants, burst into flames. / As the battalions were burning all around with the brilliance of the missile,

the slayer of Bala, the chastiser of Pāka, employed the Āgneya missile; / and by that missile, the Aiṣīka missile met its destruction.

When that missile was countered, the fire-missile flared up; / the army of Jambha, along with his chariot and charioteer, burst into flame.

His missile thwarted, that resourceful lord of the Daityas / then released the Vāruṇa missile, which extinguishes flames of fire.

Then the sky was filled with clouds thick with flashing streaks of lightning, / and the earth was flooded with deep downpours.

The world was inundated with torrents like the trunks of lordly elephants. / Seeing the fire-missile extinguished, Indra unleashed

the matchless Vāyavya missile, by which the clouds were destroyed. / When the circle of clouds was dispersed by the power of the Vāyavya missile,

the sky became clear, shining with the luster of a blue lotus petal. / Trembling on account of the violent wind, the Dānavas

could not stand their ground there, even those who were mighty in battle. / Then Jambha became a mountain ten yojanas wide,

in order to resist the wind, as the commander of the Dānavas' forces, / filled with diverse wonders and covered with diverse trees and creepers.

When the wind was pacified by the lord of the Daityas in the form of a mountain, / Śatakratu swiftly hurled a great thunderbolt made of adamantine vajra.

As that thunderbolt fell upon the Daitya in the form of a mountain, / its caves and mountain torrents were shattered on every side.

Then that mountain-illusion of the lord of the Dānavas ceased. / His mountain-illusion vanished, the lord of the Dānavas, furious with intoxication,

became a terrifying elephant with the form of a great mountain. / He trampled the ranks of the gods and struck the gods with his tusks.

Dragging some by his trunk, the Dānava broke their backs. / Then, as he was destroying the divine armies, the slayer of Vṛtra

released the Nārasiṃha missile, invincible in the three worlds. / Then thousands of lions sprang forth by the power of the mantra,

with bared fangs, booming roars, and claws like saws. / His body torn open by them, he abandoned the elephant-illusion.

Then he became a terrible venomous serpent, covered with hoods, / burning the great charioteers of the divine army with the venom of his breath.

Then Śakra, striking in battle, employed the Gāruḍa weapon; / thereupon thousands of eagles came forth from it.

Approaching Jambha who had assumed the form of a serpent, those eagles / tore that Daitya to pieces; that illusion of his vanished.

And when his illusion was destroyed, then the great Asura Jambha / assumed an incomparable form that reached the sphere of the moon and the sun.

With rolling eyes he sought to swallow the foremost gods; / then the divine army, with its great chariots and elephants,

entered his dreadful mouth, whose palate was as vast as Pātāla. / As the armies were being swallowed by the mighty Dānava,

Śakra fell into dejection, his vehicles and mounts exhausted; / not knowing what should be done, he spoke these words to Janārdana:

“What in particular is to be done next by us? / Direct us in that; let us join battle against this Dānava who is eager to fight.”

Then Hari of noble intellect said this to the wielder of the thunderbolt weapon: / “It is not fitting now to abandon the battle, terrifying [even] to cowardly foes.

Do not succumb to delusion, do not succumb! Quickly recall a weapon, O lord!” / Hearing this, he restrained himself and released the Nārāyaṇa weapon.

In the meantime, the Daitya opened his mouth wide and in an instant swallowed / three times a hundred thousand Kinnaras, Uragas, and Rākṣasas.

Then the Nārāyaṇa weapon fell upon his chest; / with his heart split open by that great weapon, he poured forth blood.

Then, by its own brilliance, that form of the Daitya was destroyed; / and then the Daitya vanished, uttering a loud, fierce laugh.

Standing in the sky, that king of Daityas, imperceptible to the senses, / loosed a lightning-bolt of weapons that wrought the supreme destruction of the divine armies.

Axes, discuses, thunderbolts, arrows, clubs, / spears, swords, throwing rods, and iron-headed balls—

these the Dānava wrathfully rained down, deadly and inexhaustible. / By those dreadful weapons loosed by the Dānava against the divine forces,

the earth became filled with arms and heads adorned with earrings, / with thighs resembling elephants' trunks, and with lordly elephants like mountains.

Together with chariots whose shafts, yokes, wheels, and axles were broken, / the earth, a mire of flesh and blood, became impassable.

With swirling eddies of flood-like pools of blood, with piles of rocks that were the bodies of elephants, / crowded with the dancing of headless trunks, a great river [flowed through] the gods' [army],

causing supreme delight to jackals, vultures, and crows, / teeming with varieties of Piśācas who had drunk meat and blood,

boisterous and dancing together with their untroubled wives. / A certain wife, infuriated with pearls from the temples of elephants,

where a Piśāca had gathered horses' hooves in one place, / delighted in ear-ornaments, while other [females] looked on with anger.

Skilled in the aims of large ear-ornaments, they pacified them in many ways. / Some said: “O gods! O Daityas! We pray:

Thus should you fight until the end of the kalpa for the sake of our satisfaction!” / Some said: “This Daitya, this god is very fleshy;

if he dies in battle, the reward promised to the Creator will be paid.” / As the heroes fought, some licked the corners of their mouths,

saying: “By this water we know [them], just as a bad man [knows] a good man.” / On the banks of the rivers of blood, some with pious faith

gratified the ancestors and the gods with blood and auspicious flesh. / Standing on a heap of flesh, some, seeing the flesh in another’s hand,

cried out, “Give! Give!” like miserable paupers before a rich man. / Others, having sated themselves, on seeing others eating,

twisted their lips angrily and glared with extreme jealousy. / Others, enraged, rebuked their own bellies and struck them,

wishing to consume everything, like sated men [coveting] another’s wealth. / Others said: “Only today is the creation of the Ordainer praiseworthy;

auspicious was the dawn, auspicious the lunar mansion—all that came before was in vain!” / While the flesh-eaters were engaged in such diverse talk on every side,

Jambha, invisible in battle, pulverized the gods with his weapons. / Then Śakra, the Lord of Wealth, Varuṇa, Pavana, Anala,

Yama, and also Nirṛti—mighty beings, all aiming at the Dānava— / released divine weapons into the sky.

The weapons of the gods became futile against the Dānava, / just as even hundreds of services by those of extremely cruel heart [are futile] toward a noble person.

Exhausted, the gods and [even] the Daityas could find no refuge; / their whole bodies pierced by the Daitya’s weapons, like cows afflicted by cold,

they clung to one another, lamenting, “Alas, alas, what will happen?” / Seeing that plight of the gods, Hari said to Śakra:

“Remember the Aghora mantra, O King of Gods, for it is the weapon having the power of the Pāśupata, / bestowed upon you by Rudra when he was pleased—irresistible, slayer of foremost heroes.”

Thus awakened by Hari, Śakra bowed to the lord god whose banner bears a bull; / he took up the crescent-shaped arrow that destroys enemies, revered in divine warfare.

Fitting it to his invincible bow, the wise one charged it with the Aghora mantra.

Then, drawing it to the edge of his ear, he loosed that arrow of unblunted radiance for his swift destruction. / Thereupon the Asura, seeing the great weapon falling upon him, instantly abandoned his illusion and stood firm.

With trembling mouth and steady body, confused with perturbation, / then, energized by that supreme weapon, the crescent arrow in that great battle,

shot from the bow of Puraṃdara, imitating with its form the orb of the midday sun,

struck down Jambha’s head adorned with earrings—thick with the flashing brilliance of a crest of diadems, perfumed with various fragrant flowers, / with hair resembling scattered smoke and fire.

When Jambha was slain by Indra, the gods praised him greatly; / and the blessed Vāsudeva also said, “Well done! Well done!”

Then, seeing Jambha slain, the chiefs of the Dānavas turned their backs; / with their resolves shattered, they all fled toward Tāraka.

Seeing them terrified and hearing that the four had been killed, / he urged his charioteer: 'Drive quickly toward Indra in battle!'

Saying 'So be it,' he drove forth as Tāraka mounted his chariot— / full of haughtiness, wrath, pride, and prowess,

manifesting [his power] and shouting defiance, the lord of the Dānavas advanced. / He mounted a chariot yoked with a thousand eagles,

equipped with every weapon, protected by every missile, / filled with the prosperity of the three worlds, resounding like the Destroyer at the end of an eon.

Accompanied by a great army, making the cardinal and intermediate directions resound, / the thousand-eyed [Indra], seeing him, abandoned his elephant mount,

and [boarded] the chariot driven by Mātali, adorned with refined gold, / four yojanas in breadth, surrounded by hosts of Siddhas,

celebrated in song by Gandharvas and Kinnaras, crowded with the dancing of apsarases,

greatly formidable with all kinds of weapons, and encrusted with magnificent jewels. / Having surrounded that chariot on all sides, they stood,

the guardians of the quarters, clad in mail, standing with the eagle-bannered [Viṣṇu]. / Then the earth trembled, and a harsh wind blew through the troops of Maruts;

the seven oceans stirred, and the radiance of the sun perished; / then the missiles blazed, and then the mounts trembled.

Then everything was agitated, and then Tāraka was seen: / on one side stood the Daitya Tāraka, and on the other, the hosts of gods;

on one side was the ruin of the world, on the other the world's deliverance; / and all moving and unmoving creatures were filled with fear and wonder.

O Pārtha, the gods shouted praise in that encounter:

'Missiles, splendors, riches, warriors, renown, strength, and heroic valor, / were the courage and vigor of these gods and Asuras; but our [strength] comes entirely from austerity!'

Then, as he approached, the gods with straight-flying shafts / tipped with fire-like points shot against Tāraka.

Taking no heed of those gods' arrows striking his chest, that lord of Daityas, / the Dānava filled the sky, the quarters, and the earth with his arrows.

He pierced Nārāyaṇa with seventy, the Fire-god with ninety, / the Wind on the head with ten, and Yama with ten as well;

and the Giver of Wealth with seventy, and likewise Varuṇa with eight, / the Daitya struck Nirṛti with twenty, and again with eight;

again he pierced each one with ten arrows that penetrate vital spots; / and likewise the Daitya pierced Mātali with three swift shafts,

and Garuḍa with ten, and the buffalo [of Yama] with nine. / Then the Daitya, with straight-jointed arrows, reduced to sesame-sized pieces

the gods' coats of mail and severed their bows. / Then the gods, deprived of armor and bows, severely afflicted,

seized other bows, but as they were releasing their arrows, / he aimed an arrow blazing like the fire of cosmic dissolution,

and struck Śakra in the chest; he too fainted. / Then, looking up into the sky and seeing those two who resembled a hundred suns,

he struck Tārkṣya and Viṣṇu with two arrows so that both swooned. / With sharp arrows, he confounded the lord of spirits, Agni, and Varuṇa,

and rendered Nirṛti utterly helpless, making them tremble in terror; / trapping the Wind with his arrows, he left him breathless.

Then Hari, regaining consciousness and rallying the lords of the quarters, / severed with an arrow the head of [Tāraka's] charioteer, earring and all, from his body.

Enraged, he cut down the flaming comet-banner [of the chariot]; / then Vāsava sheared off the crown of the Daitya king;

and the lord of wealth, angered, shattered his bow in many pieces with arrows; / Vāyu reduced the chariot and its axle to sesame-sized fragments;

then in the battle, Nirṛti sliced his armor into sesame-sized pieces with arrows. / Having performed this peerless deed, they cried, 'Halt! Halt!'

Licking the corners of their mouths, the gods headed by Vāsudeva stood firm. / Seeing that deed of the gods, Tāraka of matchless prowess

hurled a dread club at the thousand-eyed [Indra] in the battle. / Seeing the irresistible club coming across the battlefield,

the subduer of Pāka leaped from the chariot and went to the ground; / the club fell upon the chariot-seat with a harsh roar.

It pulverized the chariot, but Mātali did not die. / Grasping a spear, the Daitya struck Keśava on the chest;

he sank down unconscious on the shoulder of Garutmat. / Piercing the king of the Rākṣasas with a sword, he felled him to the earth,

and the Daitya felled Yama to the earth, having struck him in the face; / and striking Agni with a sling-missile, he rendered him senseless.

Then, kicking Vāyu with his foot, he threw him down to the ground; / enraged, he beat the lord of wealth with the tip of his bow.

Then, in merely a moment, he struck down each of the hosts of gods / with their very own weapons, like a teacher striking boys.

Then Viṣṇu, having regained his senses, seized his irresistible discus / stained with the fat, marrow, and blood of lordly Dānavas.

Keśava hurled it hard against the chest of the lord of Dānavas; / the discus, radiant as the sun, struck the Daitya,

and shattered against his body like a blue lotus against a stone. / Then Mahendra too hurled his thunderbolt, long worshiped,

in which rested Śakra's hope of victory against the Dānava king in battle; / but striking the body of the valiant Tāraka,

it shattered, its flames scattered, broken into a hundred pieces. / Then the dauntless Vāyu, roaring with great speed,

hurled an elephant-goad resembling blazing fire; / seeing that it too was shattered on his body, Vāyu, in great wrath,

then uprooted a lordly mountain, rich in blossoming trees and caves, / ten yojanas wide, and hurled it at the Dānava king.

As that mountain was hurtling toward him, the best of Daityas, smiling,
caught it with his left hand, like a boy playfully catching a ball.