Skandapurana 3.1.7

Glorious Sūta said:

Then Mahiṣa, lord of the dānavas, seeing his army

slain by the Goddess, spoke out of great anger to Caṇḍakopa:

Mahiṣa said:

“O Caṇḍakopa of great heroism, fight this wicked-minded woman!”

Saying “So be it,” that powerful Caṇḍakopa

showered the Goddess with rains of arrows at the front of battle.

Playfully and swiftly having severed the masses of arrows

of that Caṇḍakopa, Ambikā struck him with a weapon.

She cut down his horses, his charioteer, his banner, and his bow;

she shattered his chariot and struck him in the chest with arrows.

With his bow broken, deprived of chariot, with his horses killed, and his charioteer killed,

Caṇḍakopa then approached the Goddess bearing a sword and a shield.

With his sword the great asura struck the lion, the mount of the Goddess.

He struck the Goddess too on her left arm with his sword;

the sword shattered into a thousand pieces upon the left arm of the Goddess.

Then with a great spear Ambikā struck Caṇḍakopa

in the chest; and he fell down and died.

When that Caṇḍakopa of great heroism and great strength was slain,

Citrabhānu, mounted on an elephant, rushed toward the Goddess.

He then hurled a divine spear, ringing with the loud sound of bells;

with roaring huṃ-sounds the Goddess turned back the spear without agitation.

Then with her trident the Goddess tore Citrabhānu apart.

When he was dead in the battle, Karāla quickly rushed forward.

He too was felled by the Goddess with a blow of her clenched fist.

Then the Goddess deprived Madonmatta of his life with her mace.

Likewise, Bāṣkala with a flat-bladed spear, and Antika with a discus,

Goddess Durgā dispatched to Yama's world, O best of the twice-born.

In this way, having pierced other ministers of Mahiṣa

possessing huge bodies with her spear, she dispatched them to the abode of Yama.

When his army was thus slain by Durgā, Mahiṣāsura,

assuming the form of a buffalo, devoured the goddess's attendants.

Some he struck down with his snout, and others with blows of his hooves;

and, enraged, he made others fall with blasts of his breath.

Having thus slain the host of spirits of the goddess, Mahiṣāsura,

raged and roared in order to kill the goddess's lion.

Then the lion grew enraged, possessing great prowess and great strength,

shattering the earth's surface and mountains with the striking of his claws.

He tore with his claws Mahiṣāsura as he advanced.

Caṇḍikā too, then enraged, resolved upon his slaying.

Overwhelmed with wrath, Caṇḍikā bound Mahiṣa with nooses.

Then, having freed himself from the nooses and abandoned the buffalo disguise,

the demon assumed the guise of a lion, possessing great strength and valor.

As soon as the goddess set her mind to cutting off his head,

just then he became a man and was seen with a sword in hand.

Then the goddess [struck] that sword-wielding man with heaps of arrows,

she struck with sharp-pointed tips that pierce the most vital parts.

Then, O brahmins, that man became an elephant equipped with trunk and tusks.

And with his trunk he dragged Durgā's vehicle, the lion.

Then the lion cut off his trunk with the tips of his claws.

Again the great demon appeared, resorting to the form of a buffalo.

Then the enraged Bhadrakālī partook of a great drink [of wine].

Then, intoxicated by the drink, her eyes red, she laughed aloud.

That Mahiṣa too, in his pride, with his two horns [flung] masses of mountains

at Caṇḍikā, and she split them with her arrows.

Then the goddess, mother of the universe, spoke to Mahiṣāsura:

The goddess said:

"Boast for a moment, fool, while I drink wine!

When my drinking of wine is done, I will send you to the abode of Yama.

When you, hard to overcome, a thorn in the side of the gods, are slain by me,

let the Siddhas, Sādhyas, and hosts of Maruts return to their respective realms!"

Having spoken thus, she struck Mahiṣāsura with her fist.

Struck then by the goddess, Mahiṣa, exceedingly distraught,

fled in haste to the shore of the southern ocean.

The goddess pursued him, mounting her vehicle, the lion.

Pursued then by the goddess, Mahiṣa, the lord of the Dānavas,

into the water of the Dharmapuṣkariṇī, ten yojanas in extent,

entered and remained hidden, distraught from Durgā's blow.

Then, having reached the bank of the Dharmapuṣkariṇī,

Caṇḍikā did not see the demon Mahiṣa there at that time.

Then a bodiless voice addressed the goddess Durgā:

"O Bhadrakālī! O great goddess! The demon Mahiṣa,

struck with your fist, O auspicious one, [lies] in the water of the Dharmapuṣkariṇī.

He lies hidden in this [water], afflicted with fear; kill him!

By any means whatever, deprive him of life!"

Addressed thus by the bodiless voice at that time, Caṇḍikā,

intent on slaying the lord of demons, spoke to her vehicle, the lion:

"O king of beasts, courageous as a lion, endowed with great strength and valor!

Let the water of the Dharmapuṣkariṇī be drunk completely by you!"

Thus addressed by the goddess, the five-faced one [the lion], O brahmins,

drank up the water of the Dharmapuṣkariṇī completely, so that it turned to dust.

Mahiṣa, miserable, then came out of that body of water.

Assailing the advancing demon on his head with her foot,

the goddess, infuriated, pierced his throat with her sharp trident.

Then, taking up a sword, the goddess severed his great head.

Thus, O brahmins, that Mahiṣa, along with his servants, army, and mounts,

slain by Durgā, fell to the ground and died.

Then the gods, along with the Gandharvas, Siddhas, and supreme seers,

having praised the goddess with hymns of praise, were pleased and rejoiced then.

Permitted by the goddess, the gods then departed as they had come.

Then the goddess, the Mother of the World, after her own name, an excellent city

founded on the northern shore of the southern ocean.

Then, instructed by the goddess, the gods led by Śakra

filled the Dharmapuṣkariṇī with nectars.

Then indeed that excellent sacred ford obtained the name Amṛtatīrtha.

Then, filled with joy, the goddess granted a boon to her city:

“May this city be wholesome for cattle and free from disease!”

And she gave a boon to the sacred ford: “For men who bathe here,

may there be accomplishment according to their desire!” Having spoken thus, she went to heaven.

Śrī Sūta said:

Because the goddess founded this matchless city in her own name,

therefore this excellent city of the goddess is called Devīpattana.

Starting from Devīpattana on an auspicious day at a favorable hour, O brahmins,

having first bowed to Vighneśvara and likewise to the Lord of the Waters,

permitted by Mahādeva, the exceedingly righteous Rāmacandra,

joyfully establishing the nine stones with his own hand,

began the bridge as far as Laṅkā, unwearied, O brahmins.

Ascending the auspicious throne made by Nala, Rāma

caused the bridge to be built in the ocean by the monkeys led by Nala.

Mountains, branching trees, boulders, piles of timber,

and grasses the monkeys fetched from within the forest.

Taking them, Nala built the bridge across the great ocean.

In five days, reaching to the vicinity of Laṅkā,

ten yojanas broad and a hundred yojanas long,

the bridge was built in the ocean by Nala, holy and destroying sin.

Near Devīpura, at the form of the nine stones,

at the base of the bridge a man should bathe for the purification of his sins.

He should likewise bathe at Cakratīrtha and revere Hari, the Lord of the Bridge.

The construction of the bridge that was made beginning from Devīpattana,

that, O chiefs of brahmins, is considered to be truly the base of the bridge.

The western point of the bridge is celebrated as Darbhaśayyā,

and Devīpurī is the eastern point; both are the base of the bridge.

Both are declared meritorious, purifying, and destroying sin.

By whichever path men go to that base of the bridge,

those who have taken each respective path reach that [place] that grants liberation.

Having first bathed at the base of the bridge and likewise at Cakratīrtha,

they should subsequently go to the Setubandha with solemn resolve.

In Devīpura as well as at Darbhaśayyā, O earthly gods,

bathing in the auspicious Cakratīrtha destroys merits and sins.

Just by remembrance of Cakratīrtha in both places, O brahmins,

even sins accumulated over a hundred thousand births turn to ashes.

Birth itself is dissolved, and liberation stands in the palm of the hand.

There is no sacred ford equal to Cakratīrtha, nor will there ever be.

Whatever sacred fords there are on earth, beginning with the Gaṅgā, O best of brahmins,

truly do not equal a sixteenth part of Cakratīrtha.

First, one should bathe in the ocean in the midst of the nine stones;

then one should offer the kṣetrapiṇḍa, and likewise at Cakratīrtha.

One should serve Hari, the Lord of the Bridge, for the purification of one's sins.

Thus should those who have gone by that path do at Darbhaśayyā.

The person who bows to the throne made by Nala,

mounted by Rāmacandra, has no fear of hell.

One should first bow down to the bridge, contemplating Rāma in the heart at that time:

“To the one whose dust is purified by the stepping of the hero of the Raghu race,

to the cause of the severing of the Ten-necked one's heads, to the bridge, homage!

To the banner of Rāmacandra, to the sole cause of the path of liberation,

to the sun for the lotus of Sītā’s mind, to the bridge, homage!”

Having first bowed down with all eight limbs using this mantra, O brahmins,

one should then go to the sacred ford Vetālavarada of great power.

From bathing there, a man attains supreme perfection.

The human being who recites this chapter or hears it endowed with devotion, O chiefs of brahmins,

Heaven and other [realms] are not difficult for him to attain, and even absolute liberation is right in his hand. // 74

Thus ends the seventh chapter, entitled "The Description of the Slaying of Mahiṣāsura," in the narration of the name Devīpura within the praise of the Cakratīrtha, in the Setumāhātmya of the third [section], the Brahmakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses. // 7