Sindhu Vadha
Sindhu was an asura king who held the devas in prison. Māyūreśvara, who is Parabrahman born as the son of Śiva and Pārvatī, fought him in a great war. The last phase of that war is told here, in Chapters 115 to 124 of the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Part 2. The earlier parts of the war are the background and are not told here.
Māyūreśvara’s first Viśvarūpa and the cutting of Sindhu’s ears
Sindhu himself came onto the battlefield and challenged Māyūreśvara directly, passing over his own commanders. Māyūreśvara then showed part of his cosmic form. It had a thousand arms and filled the sky, and it made Sindhu draw back for a moment. In the same fight, Māyūreśvara’s śūla (lance) struck Sindhu’s ears and cut them off. Sindhu was wounded and had seen the terrible sight, but he recovered and went back to the fight. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 115)
Pārvatī’s grief and Śiva’s words
After this part of the battle, Pārvatī wept to see so many fallen divine warriors on both sides. Śiva comforted her with a deep truth. The one called Māyūreśvara, born as their son, is not only a powerful being. He is Parabrahman itself, the source from which Śiva himself comes. The fallen warriors were brought back to life by Māyūreśvara’s kind touch and breath. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 116)
Durgā, Sindhu’s wife, asks for peace
In Sindhu’s own city, his wife Durgā, the daughter of Ugra, came to him with kind advice. She said that the devas were in prison without cause, that Māyūreśvara could not be defeated, and that Sindhu should free the devas and make peace before worse trouble fell on the family. Sindhu heard her but refused. His nature as an asura held him to the path of war, and he went back to the battlefield. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 117)
The deaths of Kala, Vikala, Dharma and Adharma
Sindhu’s brothers-in-law Kala and Vikala entered the war. Kārttikeya killed Kala and Vīrabhadra killed Vikala. Then Sindhu’s own sons, named Dharma and Adharma, came to the battlefield to avenge the losses of the family. Kārttikeya seized both of them by their śikhās (topknots), struck them together and killed them. Both sons attained moksha through death at the hands of the forces of Gaṇeśa, though their names stand for opposite things. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 118–119)
Cakrapāṇi’s advice
Cakrapāṇi, Sindhu’s old father, had gone to live in the forest earlier. He came forward to advise his son. He urged Sindhu to free the devas and to stop fighting the one who is plainly Parabrahman. Sindhu was proud of his vara (boon) and of his nature as an asura. He did not respect his father’s advice and sent him away. Cakrapāṇi left in grief. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 120)
The final battle
In the last fight, Sindhu sent out an agni-astra (a fire weapon). It took the form of a living being of fire, an agni-purusha, with huge power to destroy. Māyūreśvara let loose his paraśu (axe) as a counter-weapon, and the paraśu swallowed the fire completely.
Then Māyūreśvara showed his full sāhasraśirā Viśvarūpa, the cosmic form with a thousand heads and a thousand arms that fills all space. This was the highest showing of his true nature as Parabrahman. Even against this form, Sindhu went on fighting.
The paraśu was then sent straight to Sindhu’s nābhi (navel). There, inside his body, was the amṛtapātra, the vessel of the nectar of immortality. The paraśu pierced the nābhi, and the amṛta (nectar) escaped from the vessel. With the amṛta gone from him, Sindhu could die.
Sindhu fell and died. Because he died at the hands of Parabrahman, he attained moksha. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 123)
Durgā’s satī
After Sindhu’s death, his wife Durgā performed satī. She gave up her life on her husband’s funeral pyre. All through the war she had advised dharma, kindness and peace, and she died as a devoted wife, a pativratā. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 124)
Cakrapāṇi’s darśana
Cakrapāṇi heard of his son’s death and of his daughter-in-law’s satī. He came to Māyūreśvara, not in grief but with reverence. He received darśana (the blessed sight) of the victorious avatāra himself. He was comforted by knowing that his son had attained moksha. (Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 124)
Sources
- Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Part 2, Chapters 115–124