Raktabīja

Raktabīja means “blood-seed”. He was an asura who fought for Śumbha and Niśumbha in their war against Devī Caṇḍikā. His power was this: every drop of his blood that fell on the earth at once made a new asura like him in form, strength and fierceness. If a weapon wounded him, his blood made more of him, so he was almost impossible to kill.

Cāmuṇḍā, the Kālikā who came forth from Devī Caṇḍikā’s brow, ended him. She drank every drop of his blood before it could touch the ground. The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa also tells where he came from: he was born from the same fire as Mahishāsura, the fire of the cremation of the daitya Rambha.

Origin

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (Skanda 5, Chapter 2) gives Raktabīja an origin that is not found in the other texts named here. The daitya Rambha had a union with a she-buffalo (mahishī). After Rambha was killed, the mahishī gave herself to the fire on his funeral pyre. From this fire two beings were born together: Mahishāsura, the buffalo-asura, and Raktabīja. So the two were brothers. Their paths then divided. Mahishāsura became the chief figure of the first great battle, and Raktabīja came as a fierce warrior in the later war of Śumbha and Niśumbha.

The boon of blood-seed

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapters 84–86) says Raktabīja was one of the great commanders in the armies of Śumbha and Niśumbha. He had won a fearsome vara (a boon): every drop of his blood that fell on the earth would at once make, at the place it touched, a new asura equal to him in size, strength and form. This made him unbeatable in battle. When weapons cut him, blood from each wound touched the earth and gave birth to a new Raktabīja. The field filled with an ever-growing host, and each wound made the trouble worse.

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (Skanda 5, Chapter 29) says that the vara came from Mahādeva Śiva. Whenever a drop of Raktabīja’s blood fell to the earth, from each drop a being like him would rise at once. It had the same huge body, the same weapons, the same fierceness and the same skill in fighting. In battle, when weapons struck him and his blood spattered across the field, hundreds and then thousands of Raktabījas would spring up at once, each ready to go on fighting. So he could not be killed in ordinary combat, because wounding him only made more enemies.

The battle

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapters 84–86) says that the Saptamātṛkās (the seven divine mothers) and the other forces of Devī Caṇḍikā struck Raktabīja with every kind of weapon. Each blow drew blood, and each drop of blood made a new Raktabīja. First there were hundreds of Raktabījas, then thousands, each as strong as the first. They charged, fought and were struck, and each wound made more. The whole ground was covered with the same asuras and ran with blood that kept adding to the enemy. No ordinary plan of battle could win.

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (Skanda 5, Chapter 29) says that Śumbha sent Raktabīja against Devī Caṇḍikā and the Saptamātṛkās. At first the fight went in an alarming way. Each time one of the devīs struck him, his blood fell and made more Raktabījas. Vaishṇavī struck with her cakra, Indrāṇī with her vajra, Brāhmaṇī with her brahma-daṇḍa, Nārasiṃhī with her claws, and Vārāhī with her mace. Within moments the field was full of dozens, then hundreds, of the same warrior-asuras, all armed and angry. The devas watching from the sky grew anxious. The Saptamātṛkās themselves were troubled, because things were growing worse with every blow.

Cāmuṇḍā ends Raktabīja

In the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapters 84–86), Devī Caṇḍikā understood the boon exactly. The answer was not to strike less, but to see that no blood reached the earth at all. She called Cāmuṇḍā, the terrible one who had come from her own brow, and told her: “Spread your mouth wide across this battlefield. As I strike Raktabīja, you must drink each drop of blood as it flows, before a single drop touches the ground.”

Cāmuṇḍā opened her huge mouth and spread it over the field like a dark canopy. Devī Caṇḍikā then struck Raktabīja with her weapons from every side, without holding back. As each wound poured out blood, Cāmuṇḍā was there to drink it. Every drop was swallowed in the air before it reached the earth. No new copies rose. Raktabīja was struck again and again and lost blood with every blow, and nothing came back to him. He was drained, his life-force was used up, and he fell dead.

In the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa (Skanda 5, Chapter 29), Devī Caṇḍikā, also called Ambikā, found the answer. She called out to Cāmuṇḍā, the Kālikā who had come from the Devī’s forehead: “I will strike and wound Raktabīja again and again with weapons, cutting his limbs and body. You must open your mouth wide and drink every single drop of his blood before it reaches the ground. Do not let a single drop fall.” This was the only way to stop more Raktabījas from rising.

Cāmuṇḍā had an enormous mouth and no limit to what she could take, and she did as she was told. The Devī struck Raktabīja with sword, mace and spear, cutting him piece by piece. At each cut blood gushed out, and Cāmuṇḍā drank all of it, so that not one drop reached the earth. The blood-born copies that were already fighting were also slain by the Devī, and as they fell, Cāmuṇḍā swallowed them as well. Raktabīja, losing blood and cut apart bit by bit, at last fell and died.

The Vāmana Purāṇa account

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 20) first brings in Raktabīja as an amātya (minister) of Mahishāsura. He is named at Mahishāsura’s court before the battle with Kātyāyanī, with a short remark on his power to make copies from his blood, as a lead-in to his later part.

In Chapter 30, his fight with Caṇḍikā-Kauśikī follows the same main course as in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. The drops of his blood make copies. Caṇḍikā orders Caṇḍī to drink the blood. Raktabīja is at last drained and killed. In the Vāmana Purāṇa, Raktabīja stands in the Mahishāsura episode, which joins him to both the Mahishāsura story and the Śumbha–Niśumbha story.

Sources

• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 84–86
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 87–88
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 20, 30
• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 5, Chapters 2, 27–29