Skandapurana 7.16.11
English (machine translation) 7.16.11
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7.16.11.1
Sanatkumāra said: / When that army was being slain by the gods together with the lords of the Pramathas, / the twenty-four terrible and proud dānavas became enraged: / Prahrāda, Anuhrāda, Saṃhrāda, Śini, Bāṣkala, / Jambha, Virocana, Vṛtra, Bali, Bāṇa, Aviniñjaya, / likewise Tuhuṇḍa, Huṇḍa, Śambhu, Kārtasvana, Kubha, / Śambara, Vipracitti, Ilvaka, Pilvaka, / Maya, Tāra, Tārakākṣa, Vidyunmālī, and Pramohana. / These twenty-four dānavas, overcome with fury, / rushed toward the armed divine Nandī who stood ready. / They, resembling mountains of collyrium, struck Nandī, who resembled a mountain of gold, / with tridents, spears, pikes, and paṭṭiśas. / Thus struck and hemmed in by those enemies with weapons, / Nandī was not shaken then, nor did he experience pain or suffering. / Then the lord, drawing his large drawn bow, / quickly pierced all the foremost dānavas with three arrows each. / Flowing with blood from the wounds made by arrows, those dānavas / shone like lordly mountains pouring forth streams of melted gold. / Then Nandī, puffed up with rage, with terrible arrows dispatched Kārttasvana, / who had been revived by Śukra, to the abode of Yama. / Reaching the end of his life, that great mountain of a dānava / fell down swiftly like a mountain struck by a thunderbolt, its stones shattered. / As he fell to the earth, killed, struck by Nandī's arrows, / Bali, having torn up a mountain peak, hurled it aiming at Nandī.
7.16.11.2
That slope of the mountain, complete with minerals, deer, predatory beasts, bears, and trees, / and filled with whirled-about stones and trees, rushed toward the lord of the gaṇas. / The beasts of prey and others swiftly departed from that peak thrown by Bali, / like relatives departing from a man overcome by misfortune. / That falling mountain peak the valiant Nandī / split with an arrow and roared, like a great wind scattering clouds. / Having split that mountain peak, the dweller on the mountain peak, / powerful, pierced Bali with an arrow as if [piercing] an arising obstacle. / Struck by the lord of the gaṇas, that son of Prahlāda, helpless, / fell suddenly to the earth like a tree struck down by the wind. / Then, when Bali fell, struck by Nandī's excellent arrow, / the dānavas, tormented by arrows, abandoned the battle from afar. / Then Andhaka, whose form resembled a rain-cloud, descended from the sky to the earth / toward those [demons] who resembled dispersed clouds, and spoke these words to the dānavas: / 'O sons of Diti, listen today to my words, / and carry out what is beneficial as spoken by me, if you approve. / You were born in noble families, heroic, and determined in the use of all weapons; / why do you flee, agitated by sharp iron arrows? / Where is that boasting of yours and what was spoken in the assembly? / Where is that excessive enmity of yours against the deities now? / Defeated by Nandī alone by hundreds and thousands, / how does shame not arise in you who boast in your domestic courtyards? / Turn back, you who know not unrighteousness! Fight! What is the use of fleeing? / There is no place where death does not come to us.'
7.16.11.3
"Stand aside as arbiters, free from enmity and jealousy,
and witness now this single combat with Nandī!"
Hearing these words of Andhaka, all those Dānavas in battle
turned back once more to fight, seizing their excellent weapons.
Then mounting another chariot, a full nalva in size and adorned with banners,
Andhaka advanced against Nandī along with the foremost Dānavas.
Fierce, tipped with sharp gold, broad and fair to behold,
great arrows shot from Andhaka’s bow flew forth,
like locusts over fields, like bees upon trees,
like clouds around mountain lords, or like monsters in the ocean.
By the great arrows released, equal in splendor to serpents and the sun,
the gods were made by Andhaka like broken […]
Just as winds cannot be hindered, as death and old age cannot be stayed,
and as the blessings of brahmins, rightly uttered, are ever irresistible,
so those sharp, terrible great arrows of Andhaka,
like raised staffs of Brahmā, were unstoppable and unfailing.
Wherever all the Asuras and Andhaka, their foe in battle, moved,
from there the Pramathas fled in pieces along with the gods.
With his bow constantly drawn, like the sun encircled with a halo,
he poured forth multitudes of arrows as the sun pours down rays.
7.16.11.4
Stricken by the pain of his arrows, like trees upon a riverbank,
all the leaders of the Gaṇas sank down, and so did the gods along with Indra.
Piercing Viṣṇu with a single arrow, Ananta with two, and Indra with three,
and tearing Yama, Soma, the lord of waters, and the Vasus, he roared terribly.
Having pierced the two Aśvins with two arrows, as well as Bhaga, Aṃśa, Aryaman, Candra, and Pūṣan,
then the doer of terrible deeds also mangled Nandīśvara and the Gaṇa leaders with his arrows.
Thus the violent Andhaka burned them, just as the blessed fire burns moths;
checked and torn by arrows then by Andhaka, those foremost warriors of the immortals
could neither move nor look upon Andhaka in battle, like men looking at the sun in the sky.
Then, abandoning their blazing glory, the gods, together with Nārāyaṇa and the guardians of the deities,
afflicted by arrows and exhausted from being pierced by the Dānava, fled before the wildfire of Andhaka.
Viṣṇu, the Grandfather [Brahmā], Ananta, and then Indra
were broken in battle by Andhaka with arrows resembling tongues of fire.
The Ādityas, Vasus, Sādhyas, and the two Aśvins, best of gods,
were broken in battle by Andhaka like birds by thunderbolts.
The Tuṣitas, the Viśvedevas, and the gods who partake of the ancestral offering
were broken by Andhaka with arrows, like trees by the wind.
The blessed Moon, Fire, the lord of wealth [Kubera], and the Rākṣasa [Nirṛti]
were broken in battle by Andhaka with arrows like venomous serpents.
Gandharvas, Guhyakas, serpents, Garuḍas, and great Nāgas
were broken in battle by Andhaka, pierced with arrows resembling fire.
7.16.11.5
Viṭpati, Śaṅkukarṇa, Somanandī, Prabhāmaya,
Piṅgala, Nandiṣeṇa, Ghaṇṭākarṇa, Mahodara,
Vidyutkeśa, Sukeśa, and the god Vināyaka,
and other heroic Pramathas, headed by Vīrabhadra,
were broken in battle by Andhaka by the hundreds and thousands.
The entire threefold world, together with all moving and unmoving things, aroused to war
with Nārāyaṇa and the lord of gods, was routed in battle by Andhaka.
In that army of the gods, leaving aside the one god, the lord of the Gaṇas [Nandī],
whose crown bore a great crest-jewel, not a single one stood his ground.
Then in the Asura army arose a terrible, mighty lion-roar
raised by every creature, wondrous with the sound of musical instruments.
Thus ends the one hundred and fifty-fourth chapter in the Skandapurāṇa, on the victory of Andhaka.
Sanatkumāra said:
Meanwhile all the gods, headed by Indra,
accompanied by Brahmā, went to the trident-bearing refuge [Śiva].
Bowing down to Mahādeva, afflicted with fear, they said:
"We have all been utterly conquered! Why do you overlook Andhaka?"
The God of gods then replied to the gods headed by Brahmā:
"Because a boon was granted by me, therefore you were conquered.
And solely for sport was he ignored by me in the battle.
Now, for your sake, I shall destroy Andhaka."
Then the god, smiling, looked upon the trident standing by his side.
Knowing the true intention of the god, the trident blazed up in that very instant;
and advancing swiftly upon Andhaka, who vaunted his victory,
moving with power in battle, it suddenly pierced him through the chest.
7.16.11.6
Then, having pierced that mighty Andhaka, that trident / brought the huge-bodied lord of the Dānavas near to Śaṅkara. // 7
The drops of blood that flowed from him as he was pierced by the trident, / having fallen, became men who also fought, unbearable [in battle]. // 8
Possessing forms equal to his, and prowess equal to his, / wielding various weapons and strikes, they too fought against the lords of the gaṇas. // 9
[…] with raised hands, / some struck down the very gaṇas as they fled, those [demons] of mighty strength. // 10
None among the lords of the gaṇas stood firm as they fought; / out of fear of the lords of the Dānavas, all fled in battle. // 11
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit