Daitya-senā

Daitya-senā is the sister of Devasenā. She appears in the Skanda Utpatti account in the Vana Parva of the Mahābhārata. The rākṣasa Keśī carried her off. This led to Indra’s fight with Keśī, and that began the chain of events that ended in the birth of Kārttikeya. Devasenā was later given in marriage to Skanda.

Her name means “the army of the daityas”.

The carrying off by Keśī

The Skanda Utpatti account (Vana Parva, Chapters 223 to 229) tells of the events that led to the birth of Kārttikeya. Keśī was a rākṣasa of great power who had gained fearsome strength. He carried off Daitya-senā. Her sister Devasenā, the daughter of Prajāpati, cried out in distress.

Indra heard Devasenā’s cry and went into battle with Keśī. The fight was fierce. Indra struck Keśī with the vajra (his thunderbolt) and drove him off, and so rescued the captive. Keśī himself escaped, but Daitya-senā was set free.

Her part in the account

Her carrying off was the crisis that set Skanda’s birth in motion. Indra, having rescued Devasenā, brought her before Brahmā. Brahmā told him that a great warrior was to be born and would take Devasenā as his wife. Daitya-senā’s carrying off thus led, in an indirect way, to the events of Skanda’s birth.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 223 to 229 (the Skanda Utpatti account)