Skandapurana 5.118

The seers said: / That which was told by you, O son of Sūta, that the goddess Kātyāyanī / became the slayer of Mahiṣa—proclaim to me how that was. / What kind of foremost Dānava was he who assumed the form of a buffalo? / Why was he slain by the goddess? Tell me that in detail.

Sūta said: / In this regard I shall proclaim to you the supreme māhātmya of the goddess, / merely by the hearing of which the destruction of enemies occurs for mortals.

Formerly, the son of Hiraṇyākṣa was a Dānava named Mahiṣa; / he was in the form of a buffalo, by whom the three worlds were enjoyed.

The seers said: / Was he born with the natural form of a buffalo, O delight of Sūta, / or was he born [such] through the fault of someone's curse? Tell us.

Sūta said: / He was indeed born endowed with handsome form, with a face like a lotus, / long-armed, broad-necked, marked with all auspicious marks, / declared to be Citrasama by name, endowed with fiery splendor and vigor.

From childhood onwards, he mostly trained buffaloes, / abandoning all other mounts such as horses.

Once, mounted on a buffalo, that son of Danu set forth; / having reached the bank of the Jāhnavī, he was striking water birds.

Now Durvāsas, the best of sages, was situated in deep meditation, / having assumed a supreme lotus posture high upon the bank of the Gaṅgā.

With his mind intent on the birds and distracted, that lord of sages / was not seen [by him]; the brahmin was trampled by the buffalo with its hooves due to its speed.

Then, his limbs smeared with blood, seeing the Dānava before him, / and seeing that he was devoid of obeisance, he was overcome with anger. / Then, enraged, taking water in his hand, he said to him: / 'Since, O sinful one, my body was trampled by the hooves of a buffalo,

and the breaking of my meditation was caused, therefore become a buffalo / as long as you live, O evil-minded one, endowed with full consciousness!'

Then he became a great buffalo, bearing a black body / and exceedingly long horns, like a second mountain of collyrium.

Then, endowed with humility, he propitiated that sage: / 'Bring an end to my curse, O brahmin; I did not know because of my childish state.'

Then that sage said to him: 'My word cannot be in vain; / therefore, as long as your life-breaths remain, it shall be so,

in the form of a contemptible buffalo, O exceedingly evil-minded one!' / Having thus abandoned him on the bank of the Gaṅgā, the lord of sages / went elsewhere. He also, having gone quickly, spoke to Śukra:

'I was cursed by Durvāsas for a certain reason, / and brought to the state of a buffalo; therefore become my refuge.

So that my previous body may return and my animal state may be destroyed / by your favor, O chief of brahmins, let an expedient be prescribed.'

Śukra said: / 'It is not possible in any way to alter his curse / by anyone, with the exception of the one god, Maheśvara.

Therefore, having gone quickly, worship the unsurpassed liṅga / in the sacred field arisen from Hāṭakeśvara, which grants all perfections.

Perfection arises there quickly, O best of Dānavas, / even when the sinful age has arrived, how much more so in the first age?'

Thus addressed by Śukra, the Dānava swiftly went / to the sacred field arisen from Hāṭakeśvara; thereafter he performed austerity.

Having installed a great liṅga of the trident-bearing god with devotion, / he then built a temple resembling a peak of Kailāsa.

As that great-souled one remained engaged in austerity in this manner, / a very long time passed while he persisted in severe austerity.

Then Mahādeva, pleased, came into the range of his vision / and said: “I am well pleased; choose a boon, O Dānava.”

Mahiṣa said: / “I was cursed by Durvāsas and forced into the state of a buffalo; / therefore, by your grace, let my animal nature come to an end.”

The Blessed Lord said: / “His word cannot be undone in any way; / therefore, I shall create a means of happiness for you. Hear it:

Whatever human pleasures there are, as well as divine and demonic ones, / all of them will find a dwelling here in your body.

Since a mortal body is desired by gods and demons for the sake of enjoyment, / you will attain them all; therefore, your body [will be endowed with all pleasures].”

Mahiṣa said: / “If indeed, O Lord of the gods of gods, I am to attain enjoyments, / then let this body of mine be completely invulnerable to death, O Lord,

from the ten classes of divine beings, and especially from humans, / animals, snakes, and birds, O best of gods!”

The Blessed Lord said: / “No embodied being on the surface of the earth is entirely invulnerable to death, O Dānava. / Therefore, leave out one and ask regarding the rest, O lord of Daityas.”

Then, having reflected for a long time, he said to the one whose emblem is a bull: / “Except for a single woman, let there be no death for me from any others.

Likewise, whatever person, undisturbed, takes a bath with faith / here in my sacred ford and then looks upon you,

let there be for him, by your grace, the fulfillment of all desires, / the destruction of all afflictions, and an increase of fiery energy, O Śaṃkara.”

The Blessed Lord said: / “Whoever bathes here in your sacred ford on the fourteenth day of the bright fortnight of Mārgaśīrṣa / and then gazes with love upon my liṅga,

his afflictions arising from bhūtas, pretas, piśācas, and the like will instantly / come to an end, as well as diseases such as fevers.”

Having spoken thus, the Lord of gods then vanished from sight. / Mahiṣa too then went to his own abode.

Having gone there and summoned all the Dānavas, / he, filled with rage, said in the midst of the assembly:

“My father, my uncle, and whatever other ancestors of mine [there were]— / those Dānavas were slain by the gods headed by Vāsudeva.

Therefore, I shall destroy those gods too in a great battle; / and after that I will seize the sovereignty over the three worlds.”

Then those Dānavas said: “This is fitting and most excellent; / this kingdom that Śakra exercises in heaven belongs to us.

Therefore, having gone swiftly this very day and slain Indra at the forefront of the battle, / we will dwell happily in heaven, enjoying celestial pleasures.”

Thus, all those Dānavas, having made their counsel and decision, / went then to the peak of Meru, accompanied by servants, troops, and mounts.

Then Śakra and the other gods, seeing that army arising from the Dānavas / which had arrived all of a sudden, equipped with weapons and missiles, / went out immediately thereafter to the gate of their own city to fight:

the Ādityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Nāsatyas—the best of physicians— / the Viśvedevas, and likewise the Sādhyas, the Siddhas, and whatever Vidyādharas [there were].

Then a battle took place between the gods and the Dānavas, / who threatened each other and made death their only retreat.

Thus the battle went on in heaven for as long as three years; / very vast rivers of blood flowed exceedingly there.

On another day, seeing Śakra mounted upon Airāvaṇa, / with a white umbrella being held over his head, / and surrounded by gods with divine weapons in their hands,

Mahiṣa, the ruler of the Dānavas, his mind overcome with anger, / gathered great speed and charged directly facing him.

And with his two very sharp horns he then pierced the elephant Airāvaṇa / in the chest; and the elephant let out a dreadful cry.

Then, turning away and intent on flight, / he ran swiftly toward where the city of Amarāvatī lay.

And though his frontal globes were wounded repeatedly by blows from the elephant-goad, / and though held back by the mahout, he would not stop in any way.

Then the thousand-eyed [Indra], seeing Mahiṣa proud / and the Daityas roaring with war-cries, clappings of arms, and the like, said:

“Do not think, O Daitya, that the lord of the thirty [gods] has fled; / this elephant, beyond my control, leaves the battle and goes away by force.

Therefore, wait a moment while, having mounted a fine chariot, / I destroy your pride by slaying [you] with sharp arrows.”

In the meantime, Mātali, Śakra’s charioteer, arrived / with a [chariot] yoked to ten thousand horses swift as the wind.

Those horses, struck by Mātali with the whip, / ran swiftly as if flying up into the sky.

Then Pākaśāsana, quickly stringing his bow, / covered the Dānava with arrows resembling venomous serpents.

Then he, gathering speed and once again fainting with rage, / rushed with velocity to where the lord of the thirty [gods] was.

Then, having gathered speed, enraged, whirling repeatedly, / he tore his fine horses with his two horns.

Then those frightened horses, their chests wounded / and their whole bodies bathed in blood, took the path of Airāvaṇa.

Then the best of gods, seeing Śakra’s chariot turned away, / all fled in terror, following his path.

Then all the Dānavas, seeing the gods broken in battle, / rained down a shower of weapons, roaring like clouds.

In the meantime, night shrouded in darkness arrived; / nothing there came into the range of anyone’s sight.

Then all the Dānavas, completely ceasing from the battle, / took shelter on the peak of Meru and made a delightful encampment.

Endowed with victory and attaining the highest satisfaction, / they talked of the battle, of how his battle had unfolded.

And the gods too, their spirit broken, wounded and bruised by blows, / assembled together and deliberated, led by Bṛhaspati:

"Now our army has been turned back by the Dānavas, / shattered, utterly dispirited, and unable to fight.

Therefore, abandoning even the city of Amarāvatī, we will enter / the abode of Brahmā, where there will be no fear born of the Dānavas."

Having thus resolved, all the gods along with Indra / left the city of Śakra empty and then went to the world of Brahmā.

Then, rising at dawn, those Dānavas were exceedingly rejoiced; / seeing the city of Śakra empty, they entered it immediately thereafter.

Then, having established the Daitya Mahiṣa upon the seat of Indra, / they bowed down filled with satisfaction and celebrated a great festival.

And they seized the sacrificial shares of all the dwellers in heaven, / and whatever deities were revered in all the divine abodes.

Thus ends the one hundred and nineteenth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Defeat of the Divine Army,' in the glorification of the sacred field of Śrī Hāṭakeśvara in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, the sixth [section], in the eighty-one-thousand-verse collection of the glorious Skandapurāṇa.