Mudgalapurana 5.21: mūṣakagāvatāracaritaṃ nāma ekaviṃśatitamo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to glorious Gaṇeśa.

Mudgala said: / Beholding the asura Māyākara, the leader of the Gaṇas was pleased. / Having mounted the mouse, he went to the arena of battle.

Seeing Vighneśvara endowed with four weapons, the wicked one / commanded the Daityas to slay the gods.

Then all the hosts of Daityas, filled with wrath and possessed of great strength, / exceedingly intoxicated with pride, rained showers of weapons like clouds.

Seeing them arrived, the enraged hosts of gods fought back. / Thus a very dreadful battle took place between both armies.

Desiring victory, advancing face to face, they perished mutually; / there terrifying rivers arose from torrents of blood.

Sometimes the Daityas were victorious in battle, sometimes the gods; / filled with wrath, they took no rest even at night.

Thus, skilled in weapons, they fought for seven days; / broken, the gods fled, crying out loud wails of woe.

Seeing that, enraged Śaṅkara arrived on the battlefield; / then the gods, led by Viṣṇu, fought filled with wrath.

By the blow of their weapons, Daityas died in countless numbers; / O Prajāpati, terrified by fear, they fled into the ten directions.

Those Daitya kings were all rendered unconscious, taking to the ground; / seeing this, having roared a lion's roar, Māyākara arrived.

Filled with wrath, the great Daitya unleashed a rain of weapons; / wounded by it, O Prajāpati, all the gods fell to the earth.

With a fiery missile, the great Daitya struck down Śaṅkara; / all the others, engulfed in flames, fled in the ten directions.

Thus, seeing his strength, the one who rides the mouse was indeed pleased; / possessed of great strength, he came personally to the battlefield out of joy.

Seeing him seated on the mouse, the leader of the Daityas, / filled with wrath, first laughed aloud and spoke like a drunkard:

Māyākarāsura said: / 'Have you come with me for battle, O Vighneśa? / Slaying you with a single arrow, I will slay the gods and the sages.

The entire universe operates in the form of four categories; / therefore, I have no death. What will you do, O lord of gods?

Being a child, O Gajānana, you wish to fight with him / by whom the universe was conquered—undoubtedly out of childishness!

Bowing to me, go to your own home; I certainly will not slay you / who are filled with ignorance. I shall slay those who instigated you.

Your name is "Rider of the Mouse," and I consider you equal to a mouse; / like a fool, you do not know me, who brings fear to all.'

Seeing Māyākara speaking of his own valor in this manner, / the one who rides the mouse spoke to him these beneficial words:

The rider of the mouse said: / 'Why do you speak [thus] to me, O lord of Daityas? I am not a child, O lowest of asuras! / I am the supreme dwelling in Svānanda, possessing form to slay you.

I will slay you, there is no doubt, deprived now of the four [categories]; / O foolish leader of Daityas, behold my prowess as a child!'

Having spoken thus, filled with wrath, he who rides the lord of mice discharged / the lotus that was in his hand, a light consisting of the point-Brahman.

Seeing the great lotus arrived, consisting of light, / Māyākarāsura, proud of his strength, seized it.

It was seized by the Daitya king, yet it was in his hand and not in his hand; / it fell upon the region of his neck, and the leader of the Daityas died.

Instantly the lotus returned into the hand of the king of the Gaṇas, / (

Section 5, Chapter 21, Page 46) and the lords of the asuras became astonished:

'Oh, how did King Māyākara, full of pride, perish? / Just as his body was, so it is seen now.

A splendor indeed arrived here, and by it his splendor was stolen away in battle; / without being struck by weapons, this leader of the Daityas died.'

Then all the hosts of Daityas, terrified by fear on every side, / entered Pātāla, O Dakṣa, and the gods became joyful.

Having bowed to the rider of the mouse, together with the sages skilled in the truth, / all the lords of the gods worshipped him and praised him with folded hands.

The divine sages said: / 'Homage, homage to the enjoyer of all pleasures, who rides the mouse! / Homage, homage to Gaṇeśa, the supreme deity of all deities!

To Lambodara, the leader of obstacles, the supreme self, / the remover of obstacles for devotees, the bringer of obstacles to the wicked;

Homage to you, Heramba, who are affectionate to devotees, / who dwell in Svānanda, and homage, homage to the supreme lord!

To Mahodara, worthy of worship by all, having the form of all, / who is to be worshipped first before all, homage to you, Vakratuṇḍa!

To the three-eyed one, the holder of the lotus in four hands, / who sits atop the mouse, homage to you, Jyeṣṭharāja!

To the immeasurable Gaṇādhyakṣa, the bearer of winnowing-basket ears, / homage to you, the lord of all, Brahman, having the nature of Brahman!

To the beginningless one, the bearer of manifold forms in the middle, / and having such a form at the end, homage to you who possess three forms!

To the son of Śeṣa, Śaiva, son of Parāśara, homage to you; / to the father and the mother of all, homage to you, O lord of Brahman!

Homage, homage to Gaṇeśa, the creator, protector, and destroyer! / Homage, homage to the embodiment of peace, born of peace, the giver of peace!'

O bearer of boundless qualities, seated in the hearts of yogins! / How then can we praise you? Be gracious to us, O Gaṇādhīśa! Reverence, reverence to you!

Having thus praised the Lord Gaṇeśa, the gods and sages bowed down. / Gracious in spirit and greatly delighted, the mouse-mounted lord spoke to them:

The mouse-mounted lord said: / The praise made of me by all of you will grant everything. / Whatever you desire, I will indeed grant it, bound as I am by devotion.

And I become ever subject to those who recite or listen to it; / it bestows enjoyment and liberation, is complete, and increases sons, grandsons, and the like.

Choose a boon, O lords of gods, gods joined with sages! / Pleased with the hymn of praise, I shall grant what is desired; there is no doubt of this.

The divine sages said: / The great destruction of the asura Māyākara was indeed accomplished by you; / pleased by that, O Gaṇādhīśa, what higher boon could we mention?

Grant firm devotion to you, O Lord, which bestows peace; / through that, O Lord Gaṇeśa, we shall have accomplished our purpose, without a doubt.

Saying “So be it” to them, Gaṇeśa then disappeared of his own accord. / All the gods, freed from distress, went to their respective realms without affliction.

The sages went to their hermitage filled with great joy. / All living beings returned to performing their activities as before.

Śeṣa, utterly fainted there, fell onto the surface of the earth; / and in his heart the Lord Gaṇeśa became manifest at that very moment.

He said to that great serpent: “Set up an image of me; / devoted to worship there, pass your time, O king of serpents!

In a chasm of Pātāla there will be a sacred site that bestows supreme perfection; / there, people will worship me, and to them I will give everything.”

Having spoken thus, Gaṇeśa, the leader of Brahman, disappeared; / Śeṣa, having gone to his own abode, did so with devotion.

The sacred site of Gaṇapati is taught to extend for a hundred yojanas; / in Pātāla it bestows all perfections, and is called another Svānanda.

Merely by worshipping there, a man attains his desire; / and through the performance of ritual observances, he likewise attains identity with Brahman.

This deed of the mouse-mounted lord has been narrated to you, O Dakṣa; / from hearing or reciting it, it grants people enjoyment and complete liberation.

Stationed within the worlds and within the Brahmans like a thief, / the leader of the gaṇas enjoys all enjoyable things; therefore he is mouse-bannered.

By the remembrance of devotees, taking away the impurity / arising from merit and sin, the mouse-bannered lord makes them identical with Brahman.

A great festival is celebrated on the fourth day of the bright fortnight of Jyeṣṭha; / Gaṇeśa's birth-tithi is [celebrated] on Tuesday when the sun is at the meridian.

He is called the carrier of the king of various stolen goods; / therefore Lambodara is called mouse-mounted, O Prajāpati.

Oṃ tat sat. Thus ends the twenty-first chapter, named “The Narrative of the Incarnation of the Mouse-Mounted Lord,” in the narrative of Lambodara, in the fifth section of the glorious last Purāṇopaniṣad, the glorious Mudgalapurāṇa.