Pāka
Pāka
Pāka was a great asura of the daitya host of Andhaka. The Vāmana Purāṇa names him among the daityas who marched with Andhaka to Mandara to fight Bhagavān Śiva. After that war he was among the defeated rākshasas who settled on the Malaya mountain and turned against the devas, and there Indra slew him with arrows fletched with vulture feathers. Because Indra chastised (śāsana) Pāka, he has borne the name Pākaśāsana from that day. The daityas later recalled his death when they urged Bali to make war on the devas.
In Andhaka’s host
When Andhaka beat the war-drum and set out to fight Bhagavān Śiva at Mandara, a great host of daityas went with him to the battlefield, bearing many kinds of weapons: Jambha, Kujambha, Huṇḍa and Tuhuṇḍa, Śambara, Bāṇa and Kārtasvara, Hasti, Sūryaśatru, Mahodara, Ayaśśaṅku, Śibi, the Śālvas, Vṛshaparvan and Virocana, Hayagrīva, Kālanemi, Saṃhlāda and Kālanāśana, Śarabha, Śalabha, Vipracitti, Duryodhana, Pāka, Vipāka, Kāla and many more.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 40
His death on the Malaya mountain
When Andhaka‘s war was over, Bhagavān Śiva sent Indra to the Malaya mountain to carry out his task there before going to svarga. Nārada asked Pulastya Maharshi how Indra carried out that task, and Pulastya told him.
The rākshasas who had followed Andhaka, headed by Maya and Tāra, were defeated in the battle and were going down to Pātāla. On the way they saw the Malaya mountain, with its caves where siddhas dwell, its masses of creepers, its sandal trees coiled with great serpents and the fragrance of mādhavī flowers, where ṛshis were worshipping Bhagavān Śiva. Tired from battle, they sat in the shade of the trees in the gentle southern wind, and, charmed by that comfort, they stayed there for good and began to hate the devas, whom the worlds worship.
Knowing this, Bhagavān Śiva sent Indra and the devas there. On the way Indra saw Kāmadhenu and went round that Mother Cow in pradakshiṇa (circling with reverence). Then he came to the Malaya mountain and called the rākshasas to battle. They rushed at him, raining arrows, and Indra, seated in his chariot, covered them with his arrows as clouds cover mountains. Having overwhelmed Maya and the other rākshasas, he slew the great asura Pāka with sharp-pointed arrows fletched with vulture feathers. Because he chastised the dānava Pāka, from that day Indra got the name Pākaśāsana.
Then he tore apart with a stream of arrows Pura, the son of Bāṇāsura, and so won the name Purandara. When these two had fallen, the remaining rākshasas were defeated and went off to Pātāla. “It was to do this,” said Pulastya, “that the three-eyed Bhagavān Śiva sent Indra to the Malaya mountain.”
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 45
Recalled before Bali
When Bali was crowned king of the daityas, the daityas came to him and recounted how their line had been destroyed. Hiraṇyakaśipu had been slain by Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of a lion, Andhaka by Bhagavān Śiva, Jambha by Indra and Kujambha by Vishṇu; and Mahendra had killed the daityas Śambhu and Pāka, and Bali’s own father Virocana. Hearing this, Bali rose up with all the rākshasas to make war on the devas.
Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 47
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 40, 45, 47