Skandapurana 3.1.6
English (machine translation) 3.1.6
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The seers said:
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O disciple of Dvaipāyana, O Sūta, best among purāṇa reciters!
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"The unexcelled Cakratīrtha extends as far as Devīpattana,"
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so you told us formerly. Therefore, we ask something:
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Where indeed is that Devīpura, which forms the boundary of Cakratīrtha?
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How did its name come to be 'Devīpattana'?
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And for those who have bathed at the base of the glorious bridge of Rāma, even sinners,
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what sort of religious merit arises, and likewise at Cakratīrtha?
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Tell this and the other special features, O best of Purāṇa narrators.
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Śrī Sūta said:
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I shall explain all of this, listen, O foremost sages.
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For those who read and listen to this narrative, it destroys sins.
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Where, having placed the nine stones, the descendant of Raghu,
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the husband of Maithilī, first built the bridge across the ocean,
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right there is Devīpura, terminating at the Cakratīrtha.
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How the name 'Devīpattana' came to belong to it,
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that I will relate, O best of sages; listen with faith.
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Long ago, in the war between the gods and asuras, her sons having been destroyed by the gods,
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Diti, overcome with grief, spoke to her daughter:
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Diti said:
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"Go, my daughter, to perform austerity in the most excellent grove of austerities.
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For the sake of a son, O fair-hipped one, restrained and with controlled senses,
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so that, by that son, Indra and the other gods will not be left remaining."
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Thus addressed by her mother, the daughter bowed down to her,
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and assuming the form of a buffalo, standing amid five fires in the forest,
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she performed terrible austerity, on account of which the worlds trembled.
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While she was performing that austerity, the three worlds were distressed with fear.
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Indra and the hosts of gods fell into delusion, O best of brahmins.
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Agitated by her austerity, the sage Supārśva spoke to her:
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Supārśva said:
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"I am well pleased, O fair-hipped one; you will have a son.
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His face having the form of a buffalo, but his body having the form of a man,
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your son will be named Mahiṣa, exceedingly powerful,
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who will torment heaven and Indra, the lord of gods, along with his army."
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Having spoken thus to her and caused her to desist from her austerity,
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Supārśva, having consoled the ascetic woman, went to his own world.
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Then that Mahiṣa was born, just as had been spoken before by the brāhmaṇa.
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Endowed with great power, he grew like the great ocean on the full-moon day.
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Then the son of Vipracitti, Vidyunmālin, leader of the asuras,
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and other foremost asuras who were on the earth, O brahmins,
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all of them, hearing with joy of the boon granted to this Mahiṣa,
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gathered together, O best of sages, and spoke to Mahiṣāsura:
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"Sovereignty over heaven was ours formerly, O intelligent one.
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Taking refuge in Viṣṇu, the gods forcibly snatched away our kingdom.
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Therefore bring that kingdom back to us by force, O Mahiṣāsura!
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Display today your valor and your majesty!
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You possess unequalled strength and valor, haughty with the boon granted by the brāhmaṇa.
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Slay in battle the husband of Pulomā's daughter, along with the hosts of gods!"
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Thus addressed by the Danujas, desiring to fight with the immortals,
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the exceedingly powerful Mahiṣa then marched to Amarāvatī.
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Between the gods and the asuras a battle lasting one hundred years,
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tumultuous and hair-raising, took place in the past, O foremost brahmins.
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Then, out of fear, placing Indra at their head, the company of the gods
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fled in all directions, O brahmins, and went to Brahmā.
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Taking all those immortals with him, Brahmā went further
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to where Nārāyaṇa and Śiva, the protectors of the universe, were staying.
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Having gone there, bowed down, and praised them with many hymns,
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Brahmā reported the deeds of Mahiṣāsura
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and the tormenting of the gods by the asuras to the two lords, Śambhu and Kṛṣṇa:
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"Having expelled Indra, Agni, Yama, Sūrya, Candra, Kubera, Varuṇa, and the others,
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he himself occupies their offices.
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He also occupies the offices of the other groups of deities.
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Cast out of heaven down onto the earth,
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that assembly of gods wanders like mortals, afflicted by Mahiṣāsura.
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I have come to inform the two of you of this, O gods,
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together with the hosts of gods here. Protect those who have assembled!"
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Hearing Brahmā's speech, the lord of Ramā and the great lord
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became terrifying of countenance from wrath, and dreadful to behold.
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Then, O twice-born, from the face of Viṣṇu, ablaze with extreme wrath,
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a great splendor issued forth, and likewise from that of Śambhu and the Creator [Brahmā].
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And from the bodies of the other gods, and from the body of Indra,
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a fierce splendor arose; and that [splendor] became one.
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Moreover, that mass of splendors, resembling a blazing mountain,
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pervading the quarters of the sky with flames, was beheld by those hosts of gods.
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Then that aggregate of splendors became a certain woman.
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Śiva's splendor became her face, and Viṣṇu's splendor her two arms, O twice-born;
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Brahmā's splendor was her two feet, her waist came from the splendor of Indra,
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her hair from Yama's splendor, and her two breasts from the splendor of the Moon;
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her shanks and thighs were fashioned, O brahmins, from the splendor of Varuṇa,
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her buttocks from the splendor of the Earth, her toes from the Sun's splendor;
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and the fingers of her hands were fashioned likewise from the splendor of the Vasus;
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her nose was fashioned, O brahmins, from the splendor of Kubera;
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her rows of teeth came from the splendor of the nine Prajāpatis;
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her pair of eyes was produced from the splendor of the Oblation-Bearer [Agni];
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the two twilights became her eyebrows, her two ears came from the splendor of Vāyu;
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and by the most terrible splendors of the other gods
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the other limbs were made: the woman Durgā, supremely radiant,
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became utterly unconquerable by all gods and asuras alike.
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Born from the mass of splendor of the hosts of all the gods,
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the gods, tormented by Mahiṣa, felt joy upon seeing her.
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Then the gods, Rudra and the rest, drawing forth weapons from their own [bodies],
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gave her weapons such as the trident and others, O best of the twice-born.
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They gave her ornaments, garments, garlands, and sandalwood paste;
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and then she, the Goddess, adorned with garments, ornaments, sandalwood and the like,
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with flowers, weapons, and necklaces by her attendants,
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releasing loud, mocking laughter, the terrifying one (Bhairavī) of terrible roar,
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attended by the gods, roared as though shaking heaven and earth;
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by the terrible roar of the Goddess, the entire world trembled.
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Then the immortals, sages, siddhas, and gandharvas praised that Goddess,
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mounted upon a lion as her mount, with cries of 'Victory!'
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Seeing the three worlds agitated by the Goddess's exceedingly terrifying roar,
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the daityas, enemies of the gods, rose up with uplifted weapons.
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Mahiṣa too, out of great anger, lifting up a mighty weapon,
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directed himself toward that sound and set out, surrounded by asuras.
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Then he beheld the Goddess pervading the three worlds with her splendor,
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endowed with endless armed hands, shaking the surface of the earth with her roar,
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agitating the entire succession of great serpents beginning with Śeṣa.
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Seeing the Goddess, the asuras armed themselves with weapons raised.
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Then a battle of the asuras took place with that Goddess,
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with missiles, weapons, arrows, discus-weapons, maces, and clubs.
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With countless elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers, of mighty power,
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Mahiṣa, the tamer of his foes, fought there together with the Goddess.
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There were thousands of hundreds of thousands and tens of millions of principal asura troop-commanders;
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indeed, there was no counting the army of each one of them.
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They all simultaneously enveloped the Goddess with weapons by their might.
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She too, the terrible Goddess, then effortlessly shattered with arrows
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discharged from her own bow the multitude of missiles released by the daityas;
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she discharged numerous volleys of arrows into the bodies of the daityas.
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The gods, made fearless by the power of resorting to the Goddess,
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fought in the battle against the daitya troop-commanders with weapons, missiles, and other arms.
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Then the gods, intoxicated with power and reinforced by the Goddess's energy,
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completely uprooted all the asuras with their weapons.
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When his own army was destroyed, Mahiṣāsura, deeply agitated,
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swiftly took up his bow, drew it with a loud twang,
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fitted his arrows, and discharged them against the army of the gods, O earth-gods:
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ten thousand against Indra, five thousand against Yama,
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eight thousand against Varuṇa, six thousand against Kubera,
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[and thousands] against the Sun, the Moon, Fire, Wind, the Vasus, and the two Aśvins.
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And against the other gods, Mahiṣa, lord of the dānavas,
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that foremost of the strong, discharged ten thousand arrows each.
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Then the gods fled, crushed by the asura Mahiṣa;
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they went for refuge to the Goddess, crying, “Save us! Save us!”
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Then the Goddess commanded her own gaṇas, bhūtas, vetālas, and the rest:
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“Destroy swiftly the army of the asuras!
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I, however, shall fight Mahiṣa in battle, who is arrogant with strength.”
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Then by the Goddess’s gaṇas all the asura [host] was indeed swiftly destroyed.
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When his army was brought to destruction by the gaṇas impelled by the Goddess,
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that Mahiṣa, desiring to fight, stood against the gaṇas.
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Meanwhile Mahānāda, Sucakṣus, Mahāhanu,
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Mahācaṇḍa, Mahābhakṣa, Mahodara, Mahotkaṭa,
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Pañcāsya, Pādacūḍa, Bahunetra, Prabāhuka,
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Ekākṣa, Ekapāda, Bahupāda, and Apādaka—
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these and many other ministers of the asura Mahiṣa,
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desiring to fight, stood before the Goddess in battle.
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Then the Goddess mounted her lion mount, swift as thought,
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and took up her terrible bow that roared like the clouds of dissolution.
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Drawing it, she shot arrows in battle possessing the speed of a thunderbolt.
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Accompanied by ten hundred thousand elephants, one hundred hundred thousand horses,
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one hundred hundred thousand chariots, and a hundred million foot-soldiers,
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the daitya Mahāhanu was struck down in battle by the Goddess.
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And in his army, O best of the twice-born, were killed by the Goddess's arrows
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thousands of billions of chief asura leaders.
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Indeed, there were belonging to Mahiṣa those of great strength and prowess;
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and each chief commander possessed a fourfold army.
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Just as Mahāhanu had, O brahmins, so too was that great army.
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All that was slain by the Goddess with gold-feathered arrows.
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Within merely a single watch [of the day], O best of brahmins, it happened like a wonder.
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Thus ends the sixth chapter, named “Description of the Battle between the Goddess and the Asura Mahiṣa,” in the Narration of the Name of Devīpura, in the Praise of Cakratīrtha, in the Setumāhātmya, in the third Brahmakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit