Hindu Medicine c7.134

c7.134

Upon reaching the battle-scene the Mother of Serpents revived with a single glance the paralyzed snakes and smote Dhanvantari’s pupils, so that not even the Master of Healing could restore them to consciousness by his magic charm. Then there ensued between the two a fierce duel with magic weapons such as befit divine powers. Manasā attacked the divine physician with missiles flaming with venom. But the charmed fiery lotus which she threw at him, Dhanvantari by his breath reduced to ashes; the mustard-seed, endowed with magic potency, which she hurled against him, he countered with a handful of dust. Her magic iron spear he cut in twain with a spear bestowed upon him by Viṣṇu. Against a magic noose of a hundred thousand serpents, the god-healer invoked, by mental concentration, Garuḍa, who came hurrying and devoured eagerly his favorite prey. From a ladle full of ashes, the gift of Śiva, which the goddess threw, Garuḍa shielded his pupil with his back, scattering the ashes with the wind of his wings. But when the infuriated goddess resorted to her most powerful weapon, a flaming spear given her by Śiva, radiant as a hundred suns and blazing like the conflagration of the universe at its dissolution, Brahmā and Śiva, the highest gods, hastened to the battlefield to intervene, lest Dhanvantari perish and Garuḍa lose his prestige.