Śumbha Niśumbha Vadha (Devī Māhātmya)

The slaying of the asura brothers Śumbha and Niśumbha is the third and last episode of the Devī Māhātmya, which is part of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 84–88. This episode brings in the Saptamātṛkās (the Seven Mothers), the asura Raktabīja whose blood made new copies of him, and the appearance of Cāmuṇḍā. It ends with Devī’s declaration “Ekā’haṃ”. The Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells the same episode in its own way, and that version follows the main account below.

Śumbha and Niśumbha conquer the three worlds

The brothers Śumbha and Niśumbha were great asuras of terrible strength. They had done tapas (austerity) and won many vara (boons). With these they conquered svarga (heaven) and brought the three worlds under their rule. The devas lost their high places and their rightful shares in yajña (fire ritual) and in soma. Indra, Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya and Yama were each a lokapāla (guardian of a world), and each was stripped of his post by the two brothers. The brothers shared out the work of the devas among their own allies. Driven out of svarga, the devas wandered over the earth and the mountains.

In their distress the devas went to the Himālaya and prayed to Devī. They called on her as Ambikā and as Kauśikī, the beautiful one, who is born of the sheath of reality. They praised her as the destroyer of Mahishāsura, as Mahāmāyā, and as the refuge of those in distress. They begged her to appear once more and free the three worlds.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 84–85.

Devī appears and Śumbha makes his offer

Devī appeared among the snowy peaks of the Himālaya, shining and more beautiful than anyone. Śumbha’s messenger Sugrīva came before her. He brought his king’s offer: that Devī should accept Śumbha as her lord, because Śumbha ruled all three worlds and deserved the finest jewel in creation.

Devī heard the offer and answered calmly and with dignity. She remembered a vow she had made long ago: “In my childhood I declared that only the one who beats me in battle and breaks my pride may take me as a companion. I will not break my vow. If Śumbha is as mighty as Sugrīva says, let him come and meet me in battle. Let him earn me.”

Sugrīva went back and gave this answer, and the brothers burned with rage.

The fall of Dhūmrāksha, Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa

Śumbha sent his general Dhūmrāksha with a huge army. Devī’s lion leapt among them in great fury. Devī herself killed Dhūmrāksha with her śakti (power), and his armies were wiped out.

Then Śumbha sent his two great generals Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa with countless troops. When they came before Devī, they tried to seize her and drag her away by force. As they did this, the look on Devī’s face changed. A dark fury passed over her face, and her brow drew together deeply.

From that frowning brow, in a moment, a terrifying being burst out. She was dark as the deepest night. Her body was thin like a skeleton, her eyes were hollow and blazing, and her tongue hung out of a wide-open mouth. A garland of skulls hung at her neck. She held a khaḍga (sword) in one hand and a skull-cup in the other. This being was Kālikā. She came out with a thundering laugh that shook the worlds.

She fell on the armies of Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa with endless fury. She devoured elephants, warriors and horses, and swept through the forces like fire through dry grass. She seized Caṇḍa by the hair and cut off his head. She seized Muṇḍa by the hair and cut off his head. She brought both heads to Devī.

Devī looked at her with satisfaction and said: “You have brought me the heads of Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa as your gift. So from now on you will be known in the three worlds as Cāmuṇḍā.”

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 84–85.

The Saptamātṛkās

The great battle with Śumbha’s armies went on. Each of the assembled devas sent out his own śakti, the female power of his divine being, to join Devī’s war-host. These seven śaktis each have the exact form, vehicle and weapons of the male deva they belong to. They are the Saptamātṛkās:

• Brahmāṇī, the śakti of Brahmā, riding a haṃsa (swan) and carrying a kamaṇḍalu (water pot) and a lotus
• Māheśvarī, the śakti of Bhagavān Śiva as Maheśvara, riding a vṛshabha (bull) and carrying a triśūla and a ḍamaru (small drum)
• Kaumārī, the śakti of Skanda, riding a mayūra (peacock) and carrying a spear called śakti
• Vaishṇavī, the śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu, riding Garuḍa and carrying a cakra and a śaṅkha (conch)
• Vārāhī, the śakti of Varāha, carrying a daṇḍa (staff) and a khaḍga
• Nārasiṃhī, the śakti of Narasiṃha, in the form of a lion and terrible with her claws
• Aindrī, the śakti of Indra, riding Airāvata and carrying the vajra (thunderbolt)

These seven divine mothers joined the battle with great power. They roared in the eight directions, fierce and full of joy.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 84–86.

Raktabīja

The asura commander Raktabīja came to the battlefield with a terrible vara. Every drop of his blood that fell on the earth would at once give birth to a new asura just like him. In the battle, Devī’s weapons struck him and his blood flowed. The earth was flooded with new Raktabījas, hundreds and then thousands, until the whole battlefield was full of identical asuras. The more he was wounded, the more the enemy grew. No weapon could win against him, because every stroke only spread the danger.

Devī understood the whole matter. She called Cāmuṇḍā and ordered her: “Open your mouth wide and let it spread across this battlefield. As I strike Raktabīja and his blood flows, you must drink every drop before it reaches the earth.”

Cāmuṇḍā spread her huge mouth across the field like a dark canopy. Devī kept striking Raktabīja with weapons from all sides. Each wound poured out blood, and Cāmuṇḍā drank all of it, every drop, before it could touch the ground and make new bodies. Raktabīja was struck again and again and lost blood without pause, until he was completely drained. He fell, empty of the very force that had made him unbeatable, and he was slain.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 84–86.

The death of Niśumbha

Niśumbha, the younger brother, fought Devī face to face in a great and terrible duel. He had enormous power and struck at her with huge weapons. But Devī’s śakti could not be used up. She struck him down. She pierced him, wounded him beyond recovery, and killed him on the battlefield.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 87–88.

Śumbha’s last challenge and the Ekā’haṃ teaching

Śumbha saw his brother slain. In grief and rage he came down onto the battlefield himself. He and Devī fought a great and terrible duel. He was the only asura lord left, and she was Parāśakti. In the middle of the fight Śumbha stopped and called out his last taunt and challenge.

“Devī, you are proud, but your pride is false! You do not fight alone. You lean on the strength of others, the Mātṛkās, Kālī and the śaktis of the devas, and you pretend to a power that is not your own. This is no true courage!”

Devī heard this and answered with words that are among the deepest teachings in all the Purāṇas:

Ekā’haṃ jagati

“I alone am in all the world. Who else is here?”

Then, before Śumbha’s astonished eyes, she drew back into herself all the Saptamātṛkā śaktis: Brahmāṇī, Māheśvarī, Kaumārī, Vaishṇavī, Vārāhī, Nārasiṃhī and Aindrī. She drew back all the other divine powers that had appeared to fight beside her. Every one of those forms melted back into her. She stood alone, one and whole.

She said: “Look. All of those were my vibhūtis, my own forms. I sent them out from myself, and I have drawn them back into myself. There is no other. I fight alone. I have always been alone. Now know me as I am.”

Then she slew Śumbha in single combat. With his death the third and greatest battle of the Devī Māhātmya came to an end.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 87–88.

The Umā Saṃhitā version

The Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa tells this episode in Chapters 47–48. Here Mēdhasa tells it to Sūratha and Samādhi, as part of the Devī-cycle. This version has these particular features.

The prayer of the devas at Himavat

The devas’ prayer at Himavat calls on Devī with a litany that names the forms of the Daśa Mahāvidyā: Kālikā, Tārā, Chinnamastā, Śrī-Vidyā, Bhuvaneśvarī, Bhairavī, Bagalā, Dhūmāvatī, Tripurasundarī (Mahāvidyā-svarūpā) and Mātaṅgī. This litany of the ten Mahāvidyās, as a prayer to Devī before the Śumbha Niśumbha episode, belongs to this version.

The figure who comes from Gaurī

The figure who comes out of Gaurī’s body to fight Śumbha and Niśumbha is called Kauśikī here. She came from Gaurī’s kośa (sheath). She is also named Mātaṅgī, because she came from the mother’s body, and she has the names Ugratārikā and Mahogratārikā. The text says plainly that she herself slew Śumbha.

The slaying of Dhūmrāksha

Devī burned Dhūmrāksha to ash with a single utterance of Oṃkāra. No weapon was needed. The text says that from that day she took the name Dhūmāvatī (she who has smoke) for this act. This link between Dhūmāvatī and the burning of Dhūmrāksha by Oṃkāra belongs to the Umā Saṃhitā.

The description of Devī by Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa

Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa give Śumbha a long and poetic description of Devī, listing her beauty and ornaments. They describe her as a being of matchless loveliness on a peak of the Himālaya, surrounded by attendants. This description is a mark of this version.

The declaration of non-duality

The Umā Saṃhitā does not give Devī’s Ekā’haṃ declaration separately. Her declaration of non-duality comes in the next chapter, Chapter 49, the Umā Pradurbhāva. There she appears as tejas (radiance) and says “aham brahmāsmi” (“I am Brahman”) to the assembled devas.

Sources

• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Devī Māhātmya), Chapters 84–85
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Devī Māhātmya), Chapters 84–86
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Devī Māhātmya), Chapters 87–88
• Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, Chapters 47–48
• Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, Chapter 49 (Umā Pradurbhāva)