Skandapurana 2.4.20
English (machine translation) 2.4.20
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Nārada said:
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Seeing Vīrabhadra fallen, Rudra's hosts, out of fear,
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abandoned the battle and went away, crying out to Maheśvara.
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Then, hearing the tumult of the Gaṇas, the moon-crested lord,
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mounted on the bull, went forth toward the battle as if laughing.
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Beholding Rudra arriving, the Gaṇas, with lion-roars,
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turned back in battle and struck down the Daityas with showers of arrows.
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And the Daityas, seeing the terrible one, all fled away,
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out of fear of him, just as sins flee upon seeing one observing the vow of Kārttika.
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Then Jalandhara, seeing those Daityas turned back in battle,
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rushed in wrath toward the Lord of Caṇḍī, discharging arrows by the thousands.
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Śumbha, Niśumbha, Aśvamukha, Kālanemi, Balāhaka,
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Khaḍgaroman, Pracaṇḍa, Ghasmara, and others went toward Śiva.
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Seeing the army of his Gaṇas covered by the darkness of arrows, Śiva,
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having cut through the net of arrows, veiled the sky with his own arrows.
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He then afflicted the Daityas with storms of arrows,
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and felled them to the surface of the earth with floods of fierce nets of arrows.
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He then severed Khaḍgaroman's head from his body with his axe,
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and split Balāhaka's head in two with his club topped with a skull;
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and binding the Daitya Ghasmara with a noose, he dashed him to the earth.
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Some were killed by the bull, some brought down by arrows;
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the Asuras were unable to stand, like elephants tormented by a lion.
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Then, his mind consumed with anger, Jalandhara swiftly
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challenged Rudra in battle, with a voice resembling a sharp thunderbolt.
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Jalandhara said:
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"Fight with me! What is gained by your slaying of these [troops]?
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Whatever strength you have, show that, O bearer of matted hair!"
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Having said this, he struck the one whose banner bears a bull with seventy arrows.
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As they approached, [Śiva], as if laughing, cut them with sharp arrows;
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then with spears he severed his horses, banner, umbrella, and bow.
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With his bow cut and chariot lost, the swift one, raising a mace,
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rushed forward; meanwhile, Śiva split the mace in two with his arrows.
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Even so, raising his fist, he went toward Rudra with the desire to kill him;
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meanwhile, he was driven a full krośa away by Śiva with streams of arrows.
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Then the Daitya Jalandhara, recognizing Rudra to be superior in strength,
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discharged an illusion of the Gandharvas, wondrous and bewitching to Rudra.
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Then troops of Gandharvas and apsarases sang and danced.
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while others played cymbals, flutes, mṛdaṅga drums, and other instruments. // 18
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Seeing that great wonder, Rudra was enchanted by the sound;
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he did not even notice the weapons falling from his hands. // 19
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Seeing Rudra wholly absorbed, the Daitya Jalandhara,
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tormented by desire, quickly went to where Gaurī was staying. // 2.4.20.20
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Having stationed the two named Śumbha and Niśumbha in the battle, that mighty one,
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with ten arm-trunks, five faces, three eyes, and matted hair, // 21
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mounted upon a great bull, Jalandhara became [like Rudra].
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Then, seeing Rudra approaching, the beloved of Bhava // 22
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came forward from among her female companions and came into his line of sight.
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As soon as the lord of the Danujas beheld lovely-limbed Pārvatī, // 23
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so soon his semen was discharged, and his limbs then became paralyzed.
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Then Gaurī, recognizing him at that moment to be a Dānava, was distraught with fear; // 24
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she vanished swiftly to the Northern Mānasa [lake].
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No longer seeing her, who was like a streak of lightning, in a moment, // 25
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the Daitya speedily returned to the battle where the bull-bannered god was.
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Pārvatī also, out of fear, then remembered Viṣṇu in her mind; // 26
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immediately she beheld that god comfortably seated and standing near.
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Pārvatī said:
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O Viṣṇu, the Daitya Jalandhara has performed a most shocking act. // 27
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Is the conduct of that evil-minded one not known to you?
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Viṣṇu said:
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The path has been shown by him alone; we too shall follow it. // 28
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He cannot be slain otherwise, protected [as he is] by his wife’s fidelity.
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Nārada said:
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Having spoken thus, Viṣṇu went back to the city of Jālandhara. // 29
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Now Rudra, followed by the Gandharvas, stood on the battlefield.
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Seeing that the illusion had vanished, he then woke up [to reality]. // 2.4.20.30
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Then Bhava, his mind filled with astonishment, went once more in anger to fight Jalandhara;
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and that Daitya too, seeing Śiva returned, covered him with volleys of arrows in the battle. // 31
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Thus ends the twentieth chapter, named "Description of the Battle between Śiva and Jalandhara," in the Story of Jalandhara, in the Glorification of the Month of Kārtika, in the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand [verses]. // 20
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- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit