Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c22.40

c22.40

His original position comes out clearly from stories of the war between the devas (gods) and asuras.¹¹ He was on the asuras’ side and restored the slain asuras to life by means of a potent spell called mṛta-sañjīvanī,¹² which he had obtained from Śiva¹³ and which the devas did not know.¹⁴ The devas’ priest Bṛhaspati could not restore the slain devas to life, until (according to one version ¹) his son Kaca succeeded by stratagem in learning the spell from Śukra. Then the devas got it and vanquished Śukra and the asuras.²