Skandapurana 7.9

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469 / Sanatkumāra said: / Then, seeing the lord of the gods approaching in front, Hiraṇyākṣa / said to his charioteer, "Drive me toward Indra!"

Urged by him, driving his horses, / he brought him to the lord of the gods, as fire [brings] an offered oblation.

Standing within the range of an arrow-shot, that bull among the Asuras / spoke to the thousand-eyed god mounted upon the shoulder of his elephant, the lord of the gods:

"O Śakra, display whatever strength you have; do not delay! / For we are the elder gods, and the entire triple world belongs to us,

by succession of seniority and by right, O best of gods. / But you, having abandoned justice, and having slain my brother,

having become deceitful through [our] trust, attained godhood afterwards. / We here are the elder gods, and you are not gods at all!

As you fight today, I shall take the lives of you all! / Having slain you here today along with your followers, and having offered [you] as an oblation,

I shall become free from debt to my brother who was killed by you through deceit!" / Having spoken thus, drawing his strong bow, the valiant one / pierced [Indra] on the forehead with five sharpened arrows, O Vyāsa.

Pierced by him on the forehead with five arrows, the king of the gods / shone like Mount Meru surrounded by the rays of the sun.

Then, as [Hiraṇyākṣa] was moving about, Śakra cut his bow, / and taking his thunderbolt, he struck him again.

From that powerful blow, he saw the directions blazing. / Taking up another bow, he drew it once more.

The king [Indra] cut that as well, and likewise another one again. / Then, seizing a spear, [Hiraṇyākṣa], enraged, hurled it. / As it flew toward him, blazing at its tip, terrible like the sister of Death, / the king cut it down with his thunderbolt; and that was like a wonder.

Raising another splendid mace, Hiraṇyākṣa then / rushed forward with speed, like an enraged lion against an elephant. / As he was charging, the king quickly cut into many pieces his gold-adorned mace, / just as an unbeliever [destroys] righteousness and wealth. / Then Vipracitti, Śini, Bāṣkali, / Maya, Śambara, and the Dānava Asilomā,

Tāra, Kāraka, and Indradamana, / Kālanemi, Ṣaṇḍa, Vipāka, Pāka, / Ilvala, Namuci, Vātāpi, and Kālamuñjika— / all these masters of great sorcery rushed against the lord of the gods.

As they were charging, the Rudras and Ādityas, filled with wrath, / checked them, like powerful lions [checking] elephants in a desolate wilderness. / A most dreadful battle took place between them, / like that of rutting tuskers clashing with one another in a forest.

There, the Āditya named Aṃśa, mounted on a chariot rumbling like a cloud, / drew his bow, O Vyāsa, and rushed toward the Dānavas. / He [struck] Vipracitti with ten [arrows], Śini with five, / Bāṣkali in battle with three, and Maya with five; / Śambara with twenty, and likewise Asilomā, / Tāra, Tāraka, Ilvala, and Namuci...

[Vātāpi], Indradamana, Vipāka, and Pāka, / Kālanemi, Ṣaṇḍa, and likewise Amīsṛmuñjika— / each of these he pierced with ten arrows. / And as they drew [their bows] in battle, the swift-handed deity, the Āditya, / severed their bows all at once and let out a roar. / Then against their steeds, divine charioteers, and flags of victory, / as though laughing, O best of brahmins, he struck many blows with his arrows. / With their horses slain, those great archers, their drivers killed everywhere, / drew their swords and all rushed toward Aṃśa with speed. / As they were [rising] like mountains incarnate and roaring like thunderclouds, / the Āditya, unperturbed, filled them with arrows right up to their knees. / Their ankles and knees pierced with shafts, those Dānavas, / abandoning Aṃśa, then fled in haste toward another direction.

Then the gods raised a great noise of musical instruments, / loud lion-roars, and plenty of arm-slapping sounds. / Lord Aṃśa, having drawn his bow that resembled the rainbow, / wrought a great slaughter among the Dānavas and Daityas.

Aṃśa, the foremost among striking warriors, / felled the heads of the Dānava lords like a wind [shaking down] ripe fruits.

Some, decapitated with arrows by Aṃśa, ran on; / having fled with speed from the battle, they fell lifeless to the ground.

Others of great strength, their arms and thighs cut off, / fell down and groaned terribly like men dwelling in hell.

Their entire limbs covered in arrows, bound in knots of arrows, / they wandered here and there like embodied souls in the cycle of existence (saṃsāra).

[Apparatus readings]

There was no mighty Daitya or Dānava there / whom the fierce shafts of the noble-souled Aṃśa did not pierce. / Just as a forest of bandhujīva trees or of aśoka and kiṃśuka trees appears ablaze in flower, / so shone the Daitya army [covered in red blood]. / 'This is Aṃśa! This is Aṃśa!' 'No, not this one—this one!' / Stricken with fear, the Daityas saw everything as consisting of Aṃśa alone. / He, his bow continuously drawn like the sun enveloped in a halo, / pierced each Daitya with winged arrows wherever he saw him. / Neither taking up [an arrow] nor setting it on the string, / nor drawing the bow was Aṃśa seen to do by the Daityas and Dānavas. / His great bow was seen only as a continuous circle; / he appeared in battle then like the midday sun. / Wielding a divine bow, swift-handed and mighty, his bow ever formed into a great circle, / he burned his enemies in battle like fire stirred by the wind [burns] a vast heap of dry fuel. / Thus ends the eighty-first chapter in the [battle narrative of the] Skandapurāṇa.

Sanatkumāra said: / Seeing those Daitya lords being driven here and there in that manner by Aṃśa, / Bala of great magical power said this to his charioteer: / 'Take me to where this wicked Aṃśa is burning our army, / until with sharp arrows I send him to the abode of Yama.' / Even as he was rushing forward, Aṃśa, the foremost among striking warriors, / severed his flag with an arrow and then his horses one by one.

And with a broad-headed arrow he swiftly brought down the driver's head from his body, / and struck Bala himself on the forehead with five arrows. / Those five arrows shone on the Daitya's forehead / like the rays of the sun emerging from within a dense cloud. / Then the Daitya, an archer, leaped into the sky in anger;

O Vyāsa, that mighty one showered Aṃśa with many arrows. / As a cloud [showers] heavy rain, [and …] lightning, / as the sun [showers] rays, and as the moon [showers] dew, / so that Dānava, Bala, foremost among striking warriors, out of pride / showered Aṃśa with sharp, vital-piercing arrows. / And that lord of the Dānavas repeatedly severed his flag, / made his horses struck down with his speed, and left him without a charioteer, / and shattered his bow with many arrows […].

Just as he did to Aṃśa, he did to other deities as well, / rendering them incapable of effort; that master of great illusion roared aloud. / In some places resembling Bṛhaspati (Gīṣpati), in some places like the sun, / in some places resembling the moon and fire, and in some places equal to planets and stars, / in some places like a mountain, and in some places assuming the form of a vulture, / in some places entering the sky, invisible, he loosed his arrows. / Their limbs crowded with arrows, cut, pierced, and torn open, / the entire army of the gods appeared stunned, as though dumb.

Devoid of the sound of musical instruments, lacking the neighing of horses, / without the trumpeting of elephants, [filled only with] the fierce cries of exhausted warriors, / motionless, that army appeared as if depicted in a painting.

Whichever god in that army looked upward, / the mighty Bala pierced his face with arrows […]. / […] / And they became devoid of motion, like those standing on the path to liberation.

Seeing them all sinking thus in the great ocean of [the demon] Bala, / Vāyu, Jayanta, Pūṣan, and Bhaga, endowed with immense strength,

roaring aloud, warded off those arrows of Bala. / O highly fortunate one, Vāyu [seized] his arrows rising like clouds,

and the mighty one carried them off as he released them, was releasing them, and after they were shot. / Bhaga severed his divine bow as if smiling, / and likewise Pūṣan his armor, and Jayanta his two quivers; / […]

The gods, resplendent as the sun, tormented him with sharp arrows. / Then, being oppressed by the gods, the mighty best of Dānavas,

of fierce prowess, fought with trees born in the forest, O Vyāsa. / Those splendid trees thrown in many ways by Bala then,

the chiefs of the deities sawed through with arrows. Thereupon he approached a mountain, / and seizing a huge peak, filled with deer, wild beasts, and Kinnaras,

he hurled it, raising a tremendous, exceedingly dreadful roar. / As it was thus falling with speed, the powerful Wind forcibly

carried off that peak, and it fell right upon the heads of the Asuras. / Then, one crore of the valiant Dānavas in battle

that mountain peak, released by Bala with a loud roar, crushed. / Seeing those sons of Diti, the Dānavas, slain by that peak,

and seeing those fierce gods, they broke in their thousands— / in chariots, on horses, on elephants, and likewise the foot soldiers. / Others, abandoning their mounts, desiring life at that moment, / uttering loud cries, fled in their thousands. / Approaching them as they fled then, that Dānava Hiraṇyākṣa, / and the Danuja Vipracitti, and the mighty Prahlāda,

Maya, the Daitya Andhaka, and Tāraka, the tormentor of Śakra, / spoke to all the Dānavas and Daityas who were overwhelmed with fear:

"Ho, ho, tigers among Dānavas and Daityas, enemies of the gods! / Why do you flee? Halt! Let there be no fear for you, Dānavas! / Where will you go, Dānavas, and will you find happiness or not? / These gods of great strength, not recognizing their strength formerly, / did not crush those abiding in Pātāla, nor the best of Asuras; / [now] will the lowest of their race destroy you without remainder, even in Pātāla?

Do not go! Turn back! Strive to protect yourselves in every way / by fighting well, Daityas! Have no fear here for your life!

Where has your Danuja-hood gone? Where has your Daitya nature gone? / And where has your enmity with the gods gone? Where has the seizing of the kingdom gone?

That courage, that pride of yours, that lineage and noble birth of yours, / and whatever roaring was yours formerly—the time for that has now arrived!

You said then, 'Daityas, we are not children! / We individually are capable even of destroying the gods!'

The time for that has arrived today here! Why do you flee? / All that former roar of yours, I understand it well from this point on!

Like autumn clouds, Daityas, do not disperse here in vain out of fear! / Turn back, you who know unrighteousness, and fight, having made your resolve! / Behold the great deed of me and my son, you lowest of the race! / I am the illustrious Hiraṇyākṣa, son of Kaśyapa, O Dānavas! / And this Andhaka is my son, auspicious, granted a boon by Brahmā. / Whatever was the prowess of Hiraṇyakaśipu, O best of Asuras, / twice as much belongs to me; behold it without apprehension! / And today, behold all these gods slain by me, O Dānavas, / if all the gods stand before me in battle! / Today, when the enemies of the Asuras are slain, the three worlds untroubled, / free from distress, you will enjoy happiness along with me as Indra, O best of Asuras! / Let there be no fear for you here today; just as righteous men stand firm, / so stand watching me and my son in battle!"

Sanatkumāra said: / Addressed in this manner, O best of brahmins, like elephants prodded by goads, / they all turned back again, heavily covered with shame. / With their lotus faces concealed by umbrellas, their faces pale and filled with shame, / they could not stand before the face of that king, like small, distressed fish in water before a Timi whale. / Thus ends the eighty-second chapter, named 'The Rebuking of the Asuras,' in the battle [section] of the Skandapurāṇa.

Sanatkumāra said:
Then, O Vyāsa, those Dānavas, turning back at the front of battle,
created an irresistible rush, like rivers into the ocean. (1)

Prahrāda and Anuhrāda, Śini and Bāṣkala,
Virocana, Bali, Bāṇa, and another Bali, the tormentor of the gods; (2)

Vipracitti and Ṣaṇḍa, Hrada and Śatodara,
the Asura Yama, Vyaṃsa, Śatāvarta, and Hutodara; (3)

Keśin, Namuci, and the Asura Indradamana,
Maya, Mura, Tārakākṣa, Vidyunmālin, and Prabhākara; (4)

Tāra, Tāraka, Baka, and the renowned Āṭi,
Mūka, Kubha, and Kārtasvana and Mahārava; (5)

Vātāpi and Ilvala, as well as Ilvaka and Balvala,
Ketu and Śataketu, and Rāhu and Svarbhānu; (6)

Śambara and Namuci, and Kālaśambara,
Dundubhi, Mahiṣa, and Śatadundubhi; (7)

Kālanemi, Vipāka, Pāka, and Duryodhana,
Hastin, Sunda and Nisunda, Śarabha, and Kāla; (8)

Vṛṣaparvan, Śatākranda, Śatāvarta, and then Dhenuka,
Pralamba, Baka, Gaja, and Hālāhala; (9)

and the renowned Saiṃhikeyas, the Paulomas, the sons of Kālakā,
the Nivātakavacas, and the hosts of Bāleya; (10)

all the sons of Bāṇa, the renowned Kālakhañjas,
Vṛtra, Vṛtta with his host, and other exceedingly mighty ones. (11)

O best of brahmins, the surge of that roaring army then appeared
like the great surge of the lord of the ocean rushing towards the shore. (12)

Mingled with the sound of musical instruments and abundant lion-roars,
along with the rumbling of chariot rims and horses, and the trumpeting of elephants,
that tumultuous noise, O Vyāsa, filled the three worlds.
Even the gods, fully prepared, stood ready with all their exertion. (13–14)

Their long eyes red with rage, they faced those Daityas.
[— — —] (15)
With falling swords and iron clubs [thrown] on every side,
the sky then became wondrous, as if filled with meteors. (16)
Heads split and severed by arrows and swords indeed fell onto the earth,
like ripe fruits from palm trees, O best of sages. (17)
With crowns, necklaces, armlets, and lustrous girdles,
with gold coins, silken garments, bracelets, rings, and earrings, (18)

with breastplates, combs, and curved swords of the elephants,
with fans, flywhisks, umbrellas, and gems, (19)

and with divine golden diadems, and armours of great splendor,
with heads, feet, hands, and faces of immense radiance, (20)

and with goads, elephant-blankets, and yokes bright with gold—
the battlefield shone in the night like a second sky with its stars. (21)

“Halt, halt! Where will you go from me? Today there is no escape for you.
I stand here; strike! I have no fear; stand before me! (22)
Why do you thunder in vain, like autumn clouds in the sky?
Quickly show [it] by your deeds; today your roaring is fruitless! (23)
One does not strike like this, fool! Do not look away; be firm!
Halt, halt! Where will you go, having slain my beloved son? (24)

Here I stand; today I will send you to Yama's abode!
Today, all of your unbearable […] O lowest of gods! (25)

My arrows will destroy you! Halt, halt before me!
I am a god, O lowest of Dānavas; I am not afraid in battle!” (26)

Speaking thus, thousands of warriors intent on slaying one another
fought there like rutting great elephants. (27)
Addressing one another thus, they dispatched [each other] to Yama's abode.
Siddhas and Cāraṇas, all stationed in the sky, (28)
acclaimed them, made merry, and roared like clouds:
“This Dānava slain in battle has been appointed my husband! (29)
This god is your husband; do not set your mind on another’s!
Why are you filled with greed, examining the best of the best? (30)
There is no self-selection here; read the written decree, do not hurry!
Why is your mind discontented? Be satisfied, O beautiful one! (31)
This share is allotted to you by the gods; take him and go home!”
Thus the apsarases there spoke and laughed, (32)
and they quarrelled when a warrior was slain in battle.
Listening repeatedly to that sweet chatter of theirs,
mingled with the clinking of their girdles and bangles, those warriors fought without fear,
and they made all directions resound with prancing and loud slaps. (33–34)
Resounding with musical instruments, elephant trumpeting, prancing, and furious lion-roars,
that battle shone forth, causing terror between gods and Dānavas and bringing an end to life. (35)
Thus ends the eighty-third chapter, on the battle, in the Skandapurāṇa.

Sanatkumāra said:
That foremost battle-sacrifice then took place for the sake of sovereignty.
There, the illustrious thousand-eyed god himself was the sacrificer. (1)

Along with the gods, the lord of the gods [was the sacrificer]; his arrows were considered the kuśa grass. / The diverse weapons were the sruva-ladles with which the oblation was offered.
The vital breaths were declared to be the oblation; the great-splendored fire was death. / The divine missiles were the mantras, and the heads were the sacrificial cakes.
Soma there was victory, and the Rudras were the adhvaryu priests; / the Ādityas were the ṛgvedic reciters, and the hotṛ-office was performed by the Vasus.

The god Bṛhaspati himself was the brahmā priest there, / and the two Aśvins were the slaughterers of the victim; thus did that sacrifice proceed.

The sacrificial victim there was the daitya Hiraṇyākṣa along with his followers. / Thus then did that sacrifice shine forth, the lord of coolness […] of the daityas.

Hiraṇyākṣa, the leader of the daityas and dānavas, was the sacrificer; / Vipracitti was the hotṛ, and the dānavas were the prasthātṛs.

Prahlāda was the udgātṛ, and the dutiful Śukra was the brahmā; / Indra of a thousand eyes was the victim: thus did that imperishable one sacrifice.
While that great and terrifying sacrifice was taking place, / Indra confronted the mighty daitya Hiraṇyākṣa.

The mighty Vāyu swiftly rushed against Vipracitti; / Aṃśa was engaged with Saṃvara, and Bhaga with Bala;
Pūṣan [fought] with Virocana, and then Mitra engaged with Bali; / Varuṇa [fought] together with Bāṇa, and Yama together with Andhaka;
Ilvala [fought] together with Jayanta, and the Moon together with Maya; / Rāhu [fought] with Ahirbudhnya, and Kāpālī with Śataketu;

Ajaikapāt [fought] Kālanemi, and Jvara [fought] with Kārtasvana; / Aryaman together with Prahlāda, and Dhara indeed with Anuhlāda;

Dhruva was joined in battle with Hrada, and other mighty warriors with others. / Then Hiraṇyākṣa, drawing tight his bow,
that mighty one pierced the elephant with one arrow in the frontal globe; / he struck the king of the gods with five arrows in the collarbone,
pierced the elephant with six in the forehead, and again with seven. / Struck by those arrows and shedding blood, that elephant shone
like the white king of mountains pouring forth streams of red-chalk water.

Then Śakra, enraged at him, dealt a blow / with his hundred-jointed thunderbolt upon his cheek, O Vyāsa, and roared.
Regardlessly counting that thunderbolt-stroke as merely a stroke of flowers, / that mighty lord of daityas oppressed Śakra along with his elephant.

The elephant too, pierced by him, shone as it shed blood; / it flared up in anger like fire fed with clarified butter, and trumpeted.

Summoning immense momentum and urged by the goad, / it swiftly seized Hiraṇyākṣa's chariot by its chariot-pole.

Grasping it and lifting it up, that best of elephants hurled it, / like [a serpent] with white coils lifting a cloud-capped peak of Mount Meru.
Moving swiftly for an instant and falling, that excellent chariot looked / like the sun in his chariot of old when struck by Svarbhānu.
Then, as Hiraṇyākṣa's chariot came to rest properly upon the ground, / the elephant quickly came back, O best of sages, wishing to seize it again.
With outstretched trunk, stiffened gaze, ears, and tail, the tusker / charged with speed like Garuḍa against a serpent.
Seeing him rushing on with speed, that best of asuras / then whirled him around in the air, like Garuḍa [whirling] a serpent.

As he wheeled him in a circle, the elephant likewise / circled around, with stiffened gaze, ears, and tail, and outstretched trunk.

A cry of woe went up, and also cries of 'Bravo! Bravo!' / in both armies of the gods and daityas, and then they fell silent as mutes.

And there were cries from others: 'Well done, Daitya!' and 'Hiraṇyākṣa!' / Riding on the shoulder of the elephant, the whirling lord of the divine host shone,

as if a winged mountain mounted on a fierce buffalo. / And having whirled [the elephant] three times, the great asura, the lord of daityas Hiraṇyākṣa,

set the elephant down swiftly, as it were, and stood in his chariot, full of might. / Fighting on, the lord of daityas drew tight his bow,
and surrounded the king of gods on all sides with sharp arrows. / Then, O Vyāsa, struck by those arrows in vital joints,
[Indra] shattered his armor into a hundred pieces with the thunderbolt, / and severed all the harnesses of his horses.

The reins in the charioteer's hands and the golden whip, / the valiant Śakra cut into many pieces, smiling as it were.

With their harnesses severed, his horses galloped off at will. / Leaping down, Hiraṇyākṣa struck with his mace

the elephant and the lord of gods, and that great asura [struck] with his sword. / Stunned by that blow, that elephant abandoned that excellent chariot,

Discharging dung and urine, O Vyāsa, the mighty [elephant] then dashed away, / trampling and roaring, shaking the best of the gods.

Struck by the sword, the mighty king of the gods / did not feel distress in the battle, nor […]

[Critical apparatus and page break]
Unable to endure that, the mighty [god], having been battered in battle by Hiraṇyākṣa the tormentor, / departed on the elephant that had been struck by the lord of the Dānavas and reeked of flowing rutting-juice.
Thus ends the eighty-fourth chapter on the battle, in the Skandapurāṇa.

Sanatkumāra said: / The Dānavas’ son Vipracitti, of great illusions, showered Vāyu / with many swift arrows, just like a cloud bearing water with rain. / Covering [him] then, O Vyāsa, bending his bow into a circle, / he shot sharp-pointed arrows, as the ocean [sends forth] locusts. / As streams from a cloud, as moonlight from the moon, / as rays from the sun, as snow from the snow-mountain, / so those swarms of arrows shot forth from the circled bow / of Vipracitti […]. / As those arrows flew, covering the sun, the powerful / Lord Wind swiftly hurled them down upon the Asuras. / By those arrows of that Daitya, many Dānavas were slain; / and pierced, they wailed on the earth like men dwelling in hell. / Seeing them thus slain, the great Asura Vipracitti / leaped down from his chariot and fought Vāyu in close combat. / As he was engaged in the fight, Vāyu's strength increased, / and the gods thought that Diti's son was subdued. / Then, leaping up swiftly with his mace, the mighty Hiraṇyākṣa / struck Wind firmly upon the region of the cheek.

[Critical apparatus and page break]
From that powerful blow of Hiraṇyākṣa […] / […] nothing, and from that very spot, the mighty one, / having abandoned the Dānava, quickly went to another place. / Then between Aṃśa and Śaṃbara, O best of sages, / a very great and terrible fight took place, delighting the onlookers. / As Śaṃbara rushed up, the mighty Aṃśa, quickly / displaying full lightness of hand, cut down his golden standard, / and having split his bow into five pieces, sent his horses to the abode of Yama. / Then he brought the head of his charioteer down from the body to the ground; / again he pierced him with sixty-four arrows. / The Dānava, swiftly entering a terrible darkness of illusion, / with stones, with thunderbolts, with maces, and with iron bars, / with armours, with swords, with javelins, and with iron clubs, / struck the god Aṃśa along with his chariot on the battlefield, O Vyāsa. / Seeing that great danger falling upon him from all sides, / Aṃśa, bewildered, abandoned the battle and fled elsewhere out of fear.

Bhaga approached Bala in a chariot rumbling like a cloud; / saying to that Daitya, “Halt, halt!”, he pierced him with a feathered arrow. / Taking up an arrow, the great Asura car-warrior Bala / quickly pierced Bhaga through the palm of the hand and roared. / Then, approaching him as if laughing in illusion, / he struck him on the chest with his foot and returned again to his own chariot. / Seeing that agility, valour, composure, and courage of his, / all the gods and Asuras praised him, crying, “Well done! Well done!”

[Critical apparatus and page break]
Bhaga too, filled with shame at being struck by his foot, / then with a club reduced his horses, chariot, and charioteer / to nothing but a name, and roared like a cloud. / But Bala, having abandoned that crushed chariot together with the horses, / standing on the ground, the powerful one cut through Bhaga’s divine bow. / Then he struck him on the forehead with a reed-arrow, / and again, O Vyāsa, he pierced his hands with seven shafts. / And as he grasped [another] bow, Bala cut it away from his back. / Then Bhaga seized yet another and another; / [then] a club, root of death, destroying everything, blazing like fire. / Saying to him, “You are slain!”, he hurled it to destroy Bala. / As that club flew, Bala, the bull among Dānavas, / stopped it with arrows, as Nandī [subdued] his own death. / Then, seeing the club thwarted, that powerful Asura again / struck Bhaga on the head with the tip of his bow; / and seizing the chariot together with the charioteer by the pole again,

he hurled it to the south, like the wind [hurling] a mountain into the sea. / Enraged in the battle, the god Pūṣan pierced Virocana / with many swift arrows, and he struck back at him / with seven sharp shafts, arrows piercing the vitals. / Enraged, the mighty Pūṣan thus drew his great bow / […]

[and] released [an arrow], terrible, bringing an end to life, radiant as the sun at the end of an era, / aiming at the enemy, and spoke: “You are destroyed!”

[…]
Seeing it rushing forward, roaring manifoldly, illuminating all the directions,
vomiting meteors and sparks, swooping down swiftly upon the enemies,
that great lord of asuras, leaping down upon seeing it shining like the sun
and deeming it unendurable, abandoned his chariot, entered the sky, and stationed himself there.
Having swiftly turned his charioteer, the formidable chariot, and his excellent, all-traversing weapons into ash like fire,
that divine weapon of invisible form departed into the sky.
Thus ends the eighty-fifth chapter in the War in the Skandapurāṇa.