Tāraka Yuddha: The War Against Tārakāsura

The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa tells of a great war between the devas and the daityas. Tārakāsura had made himself ruler and driven the devas from their places. Nārada tells the war to Arjuna over six chapters (16 to 21). Grashaṇa was Tāraka’s chief general. The devas fought with all their power, and Tāraka beat them. Years later, in Chapters 31 and 32, Kumāra, the son of Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī, leads the devas and kills Tāraka.

Tāraka’s call to war

Tārakāsura had his vara (boon) from Brahmā. He gathered his hosts and spoke to them with scorn for the devas: “Those who waste their lives in pleasure, with women, gambling and wine, lose their manhood even if they are born to power. Whoever does not fulfil his parents’ wishes, remove his kinsmen’s grief and win good name (kīrti) is dead though he lives. So bring my eight-wheeled chariot and the unbeatable daitya army! Today I will undo the very hair-ornaments of the deva-wives. As Markaṭaka once protected his mother, so I will protect mine!”

At Tāraka’s word, his general Grashaṇa quickly sounded the great kettledrum and gathered the daitya forces. A grand chariot was made ready, pulled by a thousand garuḍas, sons of Garuḍa himself, brought from the caves of Meru. It had sixty-four wheels and was four yojanas wide. Inside it were many pleasure-rooms with music and the arts of the gandharvas. (Chapter 16)

The ten daitya commanders and their banners

Ten mighty daitya chiefs rode to war with Grashaṇa. Each was as strong as a mountain and skilled in many weapons and astras.

Jambha: a banner of a lion-shaped, iron-faced piśāca; his chariot was pulled by a hundred lions.
Kujambha: a banner of a piśāca-mouthed donkey; his chariot was pulled by a hundred piśāca-faced donkeys.
Mahisha: a banner of a golden jackal; his chariot was pulled by a hundred camels.
Kuñjara: a banner of a vulture; he rode shadow-horses.
Megha: a rākshasa banner; he rode terrifying elephants.
Kālanemī: Mahākāla as the emblem on his banner; his chariot was pulled by elephants.
Nimi: a banner of a great water creature; he rode as a mahāratha (a great chariot-warrior).
Madhana: a rākshasī banner; his chariot was pulled by great four-tusked elephants, and he held a pāśa (noose).
Jambhaka: a crow banner; he rode a camel hung with small bells.
Śumbha: a banner of a great wolf; he rode on a thick rain-cloud.

Grashaṇa himself rode under his makara-ketu (sea-monster banner), with a chariot pulled by a hundred tigers wearing golden collars, who roared like great storm-clouds. Tāraka was over all of them on his supreme chariot. He was ten-armed like Īśvara, bright with weapons, and sure that nothing could harm him. (Chapter 16)

The deva army gathers

Vāyu told Indra, in the divine assembly, how the daityas were moving. Indra asked Bṛhaspati. Bṛhaspati advised: “The fourfold plan, sāma (talk), dāna (gifts), bheda (splitting) and daṇḍa (force), must be used as the case needs. Against these daityas, who are evil by nature, sāma is useless. They are already rich, so dāna means nothing. Their nature stops bheda. Only daṇḍa is right.” Indra agreed and ordered the deva army to get ready.

The forces that gathered were great.

Yama rode his buffalo (mahisha), with Caṇḍa and Kiṃkiṇī beside him, under a crow banner.
Agni (Fire) rode a goat and held a śakti weapon. He blazed with flames like the end of the world.
Vāyu (Wind) rode a bear and held an aṅkuśa (goad).
Varuṇa rode the king of serpents and held his great pāśa.
Kubera rode a divine chariot pulled by men and held a gadā (mace). His banner was a five-coloured jewelled standard that reached the sky.
Nirṛti rode a chariot pulled by rākshasa-faced horses and held a bow.
Sūrya, Candra, the Aśvinīs, the Vasus, the Sādhyas, the Viśvedevas and the eleven Rudras all stood ready.

Indra himself rode Airāvata, the white elephant of the sky. Airāvata had four ivory tusks, a golden lotus garland and great white elephant-ear fans (cāmaras). Indra wore his arm-ornaments of vajra and his crowning glory. The host of thirty-three koṭi devas gathered. (Chapter 16)

The battle begins

The two armies met like two oceans crashing together at the end of a yuga. The din of conches, kettledrums, tūryas, roaring elephants, neighing horses and grinding chariot-axles filled the cosmos. Chariot fought chariot, elephant fought elephant, foot-soldiers fought foot-soldiers, and horse fought horse. The sky grew dark with the thickness of the arrows, and in the dark both sides struck each other without knowing friend from foe. (Chapter 17)

Grashaṇa and Yama

The first great single combat was between Grashaṇa and Yama. Grashaṇa rained arrows (bāṇas) on Yama. Yama answered and pierced Grashaṇa. The fight grew from arrows to a gadā that Yama threw. Grashaṇa caught it in his left hand and hurled it at Yama’s buffalo, which fell. Yama leaped clear and struck Grashaṇa’s face with his prāsa (spear). Grashaṇa fell unconscious. Jambha then struck Yama with his biṇḍipāla, and Yama fell, blood flowing from his mouth. Kubera attacked Jambha, and the battle became a great tangle of fighters.

Grashaṇa recovered. He seized the yamagaṇas who stood around him and threw them all away. He and Yama went on fighting hand to hand. Yama held Grashaṇa’s head under his arm. Grashaṇa broke free and drove him to the ground with fists and heels. At last Grashaṇa jumped onto Yama’s chariot and fought him in bāhuyuddha (wrestling). Yama seized Grashaṇa’s neck, but the daitya’s greater strength overcame him. Yama fell unconscious. The deva army shook and fled in all directions. (Chapter 17)

Jambha and Kubera

Jambha then turned to face Kubera. A long exchange of astras followed.

Kubera sent his gadā at Jambha. It blazed through the sky with lightning. Jambha met it with many weapons: cakras, kuṇapas, prāsa, śataghnī and paṭṭiśa.
The gadā drove through them all and struck Jambha’s chest. Jambha fell, vomiting blood. Then he got up and hurled a paṭṭiśa (a spear-axe) at Kubera’s chest.
Kubera fell unconscious. Kujambha saw this and turned on Nirṛti. Jambha captured Kubera’s yaksha retinue and took their wealth and vehicles.
Kubera recovered and launched the gāruḍāstra, a divine arrow blazing with fire. Jambha answered with a saṃvartāstra, which put it out.
Kubera then used a great śakti weapon, which pierced Kujambha’s chest. Kujambha answered with a paṭṭiśa that felled Kubera again.
Jambha tied up Kubera’s fallen yakshas with ropes and plundered their divine vehicles and jewels (ratnas). Kubera’s crown fell from the sky like a falling sun.
Kubera’s yakshas fought to guard the crown and were slaughtered. The crown fell to Jambha.

Meanwhile Candra (the Moon) used a snow-storm of illusion (candra-hima-māyā) together with the vāyavyāstra against Mahisha and the other daityas. The cold was so hard that the daityas could not move or hold weapons, and Mahisha’s great head bowed helplessly. Kālanemī then spoke to his frozen comrades and took action. (Chapter 18)

Kālanemī’s illusion of suns

Kālanemī saw his army held still by the cold. He used his mānava-māyā, a magic of great deceit. He grew his body to fill all directions and made countless false suns within his form. In a moment the three worlds blazed with false fire. Candra’s māyā was burned up, and the daitya army recovered. Sūrya watched the devas fail and ordered Aruṇa to drive toward Kālanemī. Sūrya launched a śambara-astra that scrambled how things looked. To the daityas the devas looked like daityas, and to the devas the daityas looked like devas. In the confusion Kālanemī began to kill his own daitya allies, thinking they were devas. Nimi, a daitya, cried out: “Kālanemī! Stop! You are killing our own!” Kālanemī released a brahmāstra, which cancelled the śambara-māyā. (Chapters 18 and 19)

Kālanemī and Vishṇu

The Aśvinīs fought bravely against Kālanemī with their vajrāstra, which broke his chariot, banner, bow and armour. Kālanemī answered with a nārāyaṇāstra and chased them to Indra’s side. Kālanemī then fought Bhagavān Vishṇu face to face. In the fierce fight:

Kālanemī struck Vishṇu with three arrows in the chest. Vishṇu launched his mudgara (club).
Kālanemī caught it and broke it. Vishṇu threw his prāsa, which struck Kālanemī’s heart.
Kālanemī struck Vishṇu’s left shoulder with his śakti.
Vishṇu loosed seventeen arrows: nine at the chest, four at the sūta (charioteer), one at the dhvaja (banner) and two at the bow. Kālanemī shook with his wounds.

Vishṇu then hurled his gadā at Kālanemī’s head. It struck, and Kālanemī fell unconscious. Vishṇu raised his Sudarśana Cakra. The blazing wheel struck Kālanemī’s skull and shattered his crown. Kālanemī fell on his chariot, but he was still alive. Vishṇu laughed and said: “Asura! I let you go now. Live at ease, but I will finish this very soon.” Kālanemī’s charioteer carried him away to safety. (Chapter 19)

Vishṇu and the whole daitya host

After Kālanemī left, all the remaining daityas fell on Vishṇu at once. They surrounded Garuḍa like bees round a flowering tree.

Nimi shot sixty arrows, Madhana eighty, Jambhaka seventy and Śumbha ten. The others shot ten each.
Vishṇu answered with six arrows for each daitya.

When Grashaṇa came back into the fight, Vishṇu launched the Sudarśana Cakra. It cut Grashaṇa’s neck, and Grashaṇa fell dead. With their general killed, the daityas fought on in wild fury.

Vishṇu said to Mahisha: “A woman will kill you. I may not.” Mahisha was allowed to leave. Vishṇu said to Śumbha: “A woman will kill you within days. You may not die here.” Śumbha left. The deva host went on fighting the remaining daityas.

Only Jambha was left, the most fearsome of all. He struck Vishṇu and Garuḍa together and left both unconscious. The daityas celebrated with great joy. Vishṇu got up, but when he saw Jambha’s great power, he chose to draw back from fighting him directly. (Chapter 20)

Indra cheers Vishṇu: the key to Jambha’s death

Indra went to Vishṇu, who had drawn back, and said: “Why struggle with these lowest of beings? Remember, you killed Hiraṇyāksha alone. Who helped you? Hiraṇyakaśipu, mighty and proud, fell before you like grass. Madhu and Kaiṭabha died like moths in a flame. You are the refuge of all who are in danger.” Vishṇu took heart and told him the key fact: “Tāraka can be killed only by a seven-year-old child, and that birth has not yet happened. But Jambha: the ṛshi Durvāsa cursed him that he would be killed by you, Indra, by Indra’s weapon alone. I protected him earlier in the battle because his death is kept for you. Go and kill Jambha.”

Indra then drew up a fresh deva formation. The eleven Rudras led the attack and drove the daityas back. They are Kapālin, Piṅgala, Bhīma, Virūpāksha, Vilohita, Aja, Śāsana, Śāstra, Śumbhu, Candra and Bhava. Then the great duel of Indra and Jambha began. (Chapter 21)

Indra kills Jambha: the Aghoramantra arrow

The duel of Indra and Jambha was the greatest single contest of the war. It was a long exchange of astras that had no equal.

Indra’s half-moon arrow (ardhachandra) cut Jambha’s bowstring and broke his first bow.
Kubera’s gadā felled Jambha. Jambha got up and launched his mausala-astra. Clouds of musalas (pestles) fell from the sky and crushed the deva army, and smashed the gandharva-nagara astras.
Indra’s tvāshṭa-astra sent yantras (machines) that scattered the musalas. Jambha used the śailāstra (the astra that rains mountains) to destroy the yantras. Indra’s vajra shattered the mountains. Jambha launched the eshīkāstra, which consumed the vajra. Indra’s āgneya-astra answered it.
Jambha became a great mountain. Indra’s lightning (aśani) broke the mountain form. Jambha then became a huge serpent and a swallowing void.
The nārāyaṇāstra from Indra finally broke Jambha’s serpent-māyā.
Jambha then swallowed the whole deva army. Three lakh kinnaras and three lakh gandharvas disappeared into his mouth.
The nārāyaṇāstra from Indra, at Vishṇu’s direction, struck Jambha’s chest and split it. Jambha bled heavily, but his māyā had been used up.

Now Jambha was open to attack. His māyā was gone and his body was wounded. Indra took the special weapon that Bhagavān Śiva had given him: a half-moon-shaped arrow (ardhachandra) made holy with the Aghoramantra. He drew it back to his ear. The blazing arrow left the bow like a midday sun. It cut off Jambha’s head, together with his crown and matted locks, and threw it down. Jambha was killed. The devas roared their approval. Even Vishṇu said “Well done!” (Chapter 21)

Gajāsura and the eleven Rudras

One important duel within the war was that of Gajāsura. He took the form of an elephant and, wielding a paraśu (axe), trampled and killed devas by the thousands. He threw them with his trunk, trampled them with his feet and struck them with his paraśu. All the yakshas, gandharvas and kinnaras joined their astras, but Gajāsura swallowed them whole. The eleven Rudras then attacked. Kapālin struck Gajāsura’s skull with his fist. Ten other Rudras pierced him with iron śūlas (tridents). Gajāsura bled and shook. Gajāsura seized Kapālin and Bhava in his tusks, but Kapālin grasped the trunk and spun the asura round. When Gajāsura was worn out, Kapālin peeled the elephant’s skin from the living beast and wore it as his own garment. This is the origin of Kapālin’s elephant-skin garment (gajacarmavāsa). (Chapter 21)

Tāraka enters the battle: the devas are beaten

Jambha was dead, and the remaining daityas fled to Tāraka. Tāraka saw that his four great commanders were slain and told his charioteer to drive toward Indra. He entered the battle shining with supreme power, on his great chariot pulled by a thousand garuḍas. He carried every weapon and knew the astras of all three worlds.

Tāraka beat every deva in turn.

Seventy arrows at Nārāyaṇa, ninety at Agni, ten at Vāyu, ten at Yama, seventy at Kubera, eight at Varuṇa and twenty at Nirṛti.
Eight arrows at Garuḍa and nine at Mahisha, Yama’s buffalo.
Three arrows at Indra’s neck, and one deadly arrow at Indra’s chest.
He destroyed the bow, armour and chariot of every deva.

Vishṇu’s Sudarśana Cakra struck Tāraka and bounced off like a lotus on a stone. Indra’s great vajra, his strongest weapon, fell on Tāraka and broke into a hundred pieces. Every weapon of the devas failed against his body, which was strong as the vajra. Tāraka then came down from his chariot and struck the devas with only his fists and feet. Vāyu was kicked down, Kubera’s head was struck with the end of a bow, and every deva was beaten bodily.

Vishṇu called out: “Devas! Flee!” and himself vanished. Kālanemī and the other daityas dragged the fleeing devas by the hair, beat them with fists and shamed them. The three worlds came under Tāraka’s rule. (Chapter 21)

The account also tells that Vishṇu, in the form of a monkey, gave Tāraka a discourse on kāla (time). It tells that the devas took refuge with Brahmā, and that Brahmā said only Bhagavān Śiva’s son, born to Pārvatī, could kill Tāraka.

Kumāra’s march and the death of Tāraka

Between the war and its end, the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa tells of many events: the birth of Pārvatī, Nārada’s work as matchmaker, the burning of Kāma (Kāma-dahana), Pārvatī’s tapas, the wedding of Bhagavān Śiva and Gaurī (Chapter 26), the birth of Gaṇeśa (Chapter 27), and Pārvatī’s tapas on Himādri (Chapters 28 and 29). In Chapter 31 it returns to the war. Kumāra had been born and had grown to the time of his consecration as Senāpati (army commander). The devas performed his formal abhisheka. Indra and Vishṇu gave him weapons and forces, and the full divine army gathered under his command.

In the last battle (Chapter 32), Tārakāsura faced Kumāra directly. The asura lord saw in the seven-year-old warrior before him the exact condition of his own vara, the one exception to his safety, and knew that his time had come. The śakti weapon of Kumāra, loosed with the whole power of Bhagavān Śiva’s own purpose, struck Tārakāsura and cut off his head in a single blow.

With Tārakāsura killed, the asura army was scattered and destroyed. The devas took back svarga and their duties. Kumāra set up the Stambheśvara Liṅga at the Mahīsāgara Saṃgama, on a great victory pillar. The assembled devas together set up the Siddheśvara Liṅga as a mark of shared thanks. These two, with the Pratijñeśvara, Kapāleśvara and Kumāreśa Liṅgas set up in Chapters 33 to 36, are the five great Liṅgas of Guptakshetra. (Chapters 31 to 36)

Sources

Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 16–21 and 31–36