Skandapurana 1.4.17

English (machine translation) 1.4.17

Language: English

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Nārada said: / Overcome with rage, Kālanemi did not perceive their true appearance. / Then, believing Nimi, the king of the Daityas, to be a god, the immensely swift one

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seized that warrior by the hair, dragged him, and roared. / Thereupon Nimi spoke these words to the exceedingly mighty Kālanemi:

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"I am Nimi, O Kālanemi; knowing me to be your son, do not strike me! / Deluded in battle, taking your own Asuras for gods,

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you have slain ten crores [of them], who were exceedingly difficult for the gods to vanquish—know this! / Swiftly release the Brahmā weapon, which wards off all weapons."

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Awakened by him, the Daitya released him, bewildered with agitation, / and in great haste discharged an arrow empowered by the Brahmā weapon.

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That Brahmā weapon then blazed up in the sky, exceedingly wondrous; / and the entire army of the gods became confounded with fear.

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Then the weapon of Śambara, neutralized by the Brahmā weapon, was pacified. / Indeed, when that weapon was countered, the lord Bhāskara (the Sun),

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resorting to the great illusion of Indra, assumed a terrifying form; / having pervaded the three worlds with a dense mass of flashing rays,

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he scorched the Dānava host so that their marrow, legs, and blood melted away. / That lord blinded the eyes of the kings of the Dānavas.

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The fat of the elephants melted, and chariots collapsed upon the ground; / horses panted, and charioteers were tormented by the heat.

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Afflicted with thirst, seeking water here and there, / [they sought] mountain gorges, the foothills of mountains, and thickets.

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As they sought [water] quickly, dispersing among one another, / an intense forest fire blazed up, dreadful, burning the trees with a roar.

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Craving water, seeing water before them wreathed in waves, / though it stood right before them, they were unable to reach it or approach it.

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Failing to obtain water on the earth in their vicinity, / those lords of the Daityas were seen dying swiftly here and there upon the ground.

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Chariots and elephants fell, and horses, overcome with exhaustion, / stood vomiting, running about, their melted fat and blood pouring forth.

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Crores upon crores of Dānavas were then seen lying dead. / While this great destruction of the Dānavas was thus taking place,

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Kālanemi, his eyes copper-red with intense wrath and afflicted with fury, / came to resemble a dark death-cloud, his flashing hair like a hundred lightning bolts.

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Making the heart of the world tremble with the roar of his deep clapping, / he covered the sky and destroyed all the light of the sun.

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He rained down cold water upon the army of the lords of the Dānavas; / having received that rain, the Daityas gradually regained their strength,

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like withered seed-sprouts upon the earth receiving rain. / Then, in the form of a cloud, that invincible great Asura Kālanemi

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rained down a fierce shower of weapons upon the armies of the gods. / Tormented by that shower and by the other Daityas, the gods

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saw no way out, like cattle afflicted with cold; / they crowded together among the elephants, horses, / and chariots, and hid themselves here and there, terrified with fear.

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As they thus hid, the gods, slain by Kālanemi, / were seen falling, the joints of their limbs shattered by weapons,

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severed, their heads cleft, and their thighs and knees broken, / overturned by chariot-wheels, and struck down by standards and javelins.

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With thousands of horses and tens of thousands of elephants, / the earth became impassable on account of their dreadful blood.

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Thus in battle, the great Daitya, the great Asura Kālanemi, / slew a hundred thousand Gandharvas in merely a muhūrta.

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Fearless, he slew five hundred thousand Yakṣas, as many Kinnaras, / and seven hundred thousand chiefs of Piśācas.

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There was no counting the other groups of the classes of deities; / enraged and puffed up with arrogance, Kālanemi slew them by the crores.

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While such a terrifying, dreadful, great destruction of the immortals was taking place, / the heroic Aśvins, furious, radiant with wondrous weapons and armor,

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both struck that Daitya in battle, each with sixty arrows. / Piercing the great Daitya, [the arrows], feathers and all, entered the earth.

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Somewhat recovering his consciousness from the blows of the arrows shot by the two, / he seized in battle an exceptional discus of a hundred thousand spokes, cleaned with oil.

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With that discus, he severed the yoke-pole of the chariot of the two Aśvins. / Then the Daitya seized a bow and arrows resembling venomous serpents;

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shrouding the sky, he rained them down upon the heads of the two physicians. / They too, by means of recalled weapons, cut down all the Daitya's arrows.

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Seeing that feat of the two, he was filled with wonder and gave way to rage; / he seized a fierce club, terrifying as the rod of death.

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Swirling it with great force, he hurled it toward their chariot. / Seeing that club coming through the sky,

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both Aśvins abandoned their chariots and leaped away with speed. / Crushing those two chariots, that club, which resembled a mountain

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and was adorned with a golden network, tore open the earth. / Seeing that deed of his, the two physicians, wondrous fighters,

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Employing the thunderbolt missile, the two fought the lord of Dānavas. / Pierced by the strikes of that terrible thunderbolt, the Dānava,

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his chariot, flag, bow, umbrella, and armor / were in an instant shattered into a hundred pieces before the eyes of the entire army.

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Seeing that difficult deed done by the two Aśvins, he of terrible prowess, / mighty [Kālanemi], discharged the Nārāyaṇa missile at the vanguard of battle.

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Then the thunderbolt missile was quelled; thereupon Kālanemi, in anger, / set out to capture the two Aśvins alive.

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Perceiving his intention, abandoning the battlefield, / the two fled on foot, limbs trembling, to where Indra was.

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The Daitya Kālanemi pursued the two, roaring again and again; / the cruel one, followed by the Daitya army, reached Indra's force.

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When he rushed against Indra like Death at the end of an eon, / all beings, beholding him, became agitated and bewildered.

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Crying aloud in distress, the gods then considered / the defeat of Mahendra, which would bring ruin to all worlds, [inevitable].

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Foremost mountain peaks shook; meteors fell from the vault of heaven; / clouds thundered in all directions, and a tremendous uproar arose.

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Seeing that unnatural portent of beings, the terrified gods, together with Indra, / sought refuge in their minds with Vāsudeva, Lord of the universe:

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“Salutations to the deity devoted to brahmins, to the benefactor of cows and brahmins, / to Kṛṣṇa, the benefactor of the universe; salutations, salutations to Govinda!

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May that Govinda protect us!” Thus the gods, tormented by fear, chanted. / Knowing the thoughts of the gods, the blessed Lord who bears Garuḍa on his banner,

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awoke from his couch, relinquishing his yogic sleep— / he whose lotus-feet are caressed by the lotus-pair of Lakṣmī's hands,

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the Lord whose body radiates the luster of a blue lotus under an autumn sky, / whose chest is illumined by the Kaustubha gem, blazing with beautiful armlets—

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reflecting upon the agitation of the gods, he summoned the son of Vinatā. / When Garuḍa was summoned and arrived, greatly sorrowed,

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the Lord, blazing with sharp rays of diverse divine weapons, mounted him and went to the battle of the gods. / There he saw the King of gods, terrified and pursued

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by Dānava chiefs resembling fresh rain-clouds, arrogant in every way, / just as a man is pursued by terrible misfortunes seeking his wealth.

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To protect him, Viṣṇu advanced, praised repeatedly by the gods, / just as pure good merit arrives to rescue [a man] from misfortunes.

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Then the Daitya chief saw an orb of light in the sky / flashing swiftly from the mountain of sunrise, lovely as a hundred suns.

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Wishing to know the source of that fiery energy, the Dānavas then / saw Garuḍa, fearsome as the fire at the end of an eon,

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and mounted upon him the four-armed Hari of matchless splendor. / Seeing him, the chiefs of Asuras, their minds filled with joy, [cried]:

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“This is that god, the refuge of all, Keśava, the slayer of foes! / Once he is conquered, all the deities are conquered—there is no doubt of this!

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Relying on him, the lords of the worlds, the immortals, enjoy their shares of sacrifice!” / Saying this, gathering together from all sides,

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they struck him with various weapons, surrounding him on every side— / Kālanemi and the other ten great Daitya car-warriors.

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Kālanemi pierced Janārdana with sixty arrows, / Nimi with a hundred arrows, Mathana with eighty shafts,

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Jambhaka with seventy, and Śumbha with ten. / The remaining Daitya lords all struck Viṣṇu individually with arrows—

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with ten darts each they struck him together with Garuḍa in battle. / Viṣṇu, slayer of Dānavas, could not tolerate that deed of theirs;

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he struck each Dānava with six straight-flying arrows. / Again, with three arrows drawn to his ear, Kālanemi

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pierced Viṣṇu in the chest, his eyes red with rage. / Those arrows of molten gold shone on his chest

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like blazing rays flashing from the Kaustubha gem. / Somewhat distressed by those arrows, Hari seized a club.

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Lifting it with force, he hurled it at the Dānava. / Before it reached him, the Dānava chief, while it was still in the air, with hundreds of arrows

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furiously sliced it into sesame-sized pieces, displaying the lightness of his hand. / Then Viṣṇu, enraged, seized a fearsome spear;

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with it, he violently struck the Daitya's chest. / Regaining consciousness in a moment, the great Asura Kālanemi

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grasped a sharp-pointed spear ringing with golden bells. / With it, that son of Diti pierced the left arm of Viṣṇu.

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Pierced by the spear, his arm dripping blood shone / like lightning repeatedly flashing in a dark cloud.

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Then Viṣṇu, enraged, took up his mighty bow / and seventeen sharp-pointed iron arrows capable of piercing vital spots.

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With six, and then three arrows, he pierced the Daitya's chest, / with four his charioteer, and with one feathered shaft his banner;

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with two his bow and bowstring, and with one feathered shaft his arm. / Deeply pierced in the chest, like a man bewildered by vices,

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the tall [demon], crimson with flowing blood, his mind shaken with pain, / trembled like a kiṃśuka tree stirred by the wind.

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Then, seeing him trembling, Keśava seized his mace, / and hurled it with force to slay Kālanemi.

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That fierce [mace] fell swiftly upon Kālanemi's head; / with his head crushed and his crown smashed to pieces, the Asura,

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his cavities gushing streams of blood like a mountain discharging mineral ores, / fell broken in his chariot, unconscious, with only a remnant of life.

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To the Dānava fallen on the floor of the chariot, the Lord Acyuta, slayer of foes, / armed with the discus, spoke these words with a smile:

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“Go, Asura, you are released; live at ease for now. / Then, after a short time, I myself shall be your ender.”

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Hearing these words of Viṣṇu, the Lord of All, Kālanemi’s charioteer, terrified of the Lord of the World, instantly drove the chariot far away.

Thus ends the nineteenth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Battle of Kālanemi with Viṣṇu, in the Tumult of the Battle between Gods and Asuras," in the Kaumārikākhaṇḍa of the first section, the Māheśvarakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit