Vidala and Utpala Vadha

Vidala and Utpala were two asuras. They received from Bhagavān Brahmā a vara (a boon) that no man could kill them. The Śiva Purāṇa tells how they came to Kailāsa for Devī Pārvatī, and how she killed them both with the ball she was playing with. The ball became the Kandukeśvara liṅga in Kāśī.

This account is Chapter 59 of the Yuddha Khaṇḍa, in the Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa. It is the last chapter of the Yuddha Khaṇḍa and the last chapter of the whole Rudra Saṃhitā.

The vara of Vidala and Utpala

Vidala and Utpala did tapas (austerity). Bhagavān Brahmā was pleased and gave them a vara: no man (purusha) could kill them.

Nārada and the wish for Pārvatī

Nārada went to Vidala and Utpala. He praised the beauty of Devī Pārvatī to them in great words. He did this at the direction of Bhagavān Śiva himself. Nārada’s words filled both asuras with desire, and they made up their minds to take Pārvatī for themselves.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59.

The ball game

One day Pārvatī was playing kandukakrīḍā (a ball game) near Kailāsa with her companions and attendants. Vidala and Utpala came down from the sky. They had taken the form of Bhagavān Śiva’s own gaṇas (attendants), so that they could come near without being doubted.

Bhagavān Śiva was there and saw them. He knew the two asuras beneath their disguise. The Purāṇa gives the sign by which he knew them: the great lust in their eyes.

Bhagavān Śiva gave Pārvatī a nayanasaṃjñā. This is a sign made with the eyes alone, a look that carried his meaning without a word.

Pārvatī understood the sign. She took up the ball she was playing with and killed Vidala and Utpala together with it. Devī Pārvatī did this in her form as Durgā, in one moment.

The Śiva Purāṇa gives this in Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59.

The Kandukeśvara liṅga

The ball with which Pārvatī killed the two asuras became a sacred liṅga at that very place. It is the Kandukeśvara liṅga. The name comes from kanduka (ball) and īśvara (master). It was set up near the Jyeshṭheśvara liṅga in Kāśī.

With this episode the Yuddha Khaṇḍa ends, and with it the whole Rudra Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Rudra Saṃhitā, Yuddha Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59