Battle of Bhallāṭanagara in the Kalki Purāṇa

After Kalki defeated Kali and the dānava brothers Koka and Vikoka, he marched with his army to Bhallāṭanagara. Its king was Śaśidhvaja, a great warrior who was also a deep devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Kalki Purāṇa tells what happened there in the Tritīyāmśa, Chapters 8 to 13.

Śaśidhvaja knew at once that Kalki was the Vishṇu avatāra (descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu). He chose to fight him as a duty of the kshatriya (warrior) and as an act of bhakti (devotion).

Arrival at Bhallāṭanagara

Kalki advanced with his full force. Banners were raised, war music sounded, and the army shone in armour and ornaments. King Śaśidhvaja, the lord of Bhallāṭa, was a man of rare character. He was a powerful and brilliant warrior and also a bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu of great depth.

When the news came that Kalki was near, Śaśidhvaja put on his armour and drew up his forces. He did not do this like an enemy who prepares to resist. He had recognised Kalki as the Vishṇu avatāra, and he acted as a devotee who knew exactly what he was doing.

His wife Suśānta came to him as he made ready. She was a woman of equal spiritual strength. She was given to Vishṇu-sevā (service of Bhagavān Vishṇu), her face shone with bhakti, and the Vishṇu-vrata (vow to Bhagavān Vishṇu) was always on her lips. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 8)

Suśānta’s question and Śaśidhvaja’s answer

Suśānta put her question to him plainly: “O nātha (my lord)! The lord of the universe, the all-pervading Vishṇu himself, has come down as Kalki. How can you fight him?”

Śaśidhvaja gave an answer that became one of the great statements of kshatriya-bhakti in the Kalki Purāṇa. He said: “O Suśānta! On the battlefield all are equal: the guru, the student, even Hari. This is the highest dharma laid down by Prajāpati. A warrior may come back alive from battle and enjoy its fruits, or he may fall and reach svarga. For a kshatriya, victory and death in battle are equally joyful. Those who follow the path of serving Vishṇu’s feet care nothing for these worldly gains. But we follow the path of Manu and the great ṛshis, and we are bound by the Vedic path of karma. On this path one must fight even the teacher, even Hari, when the dharma of the moment asks for it. The yajña of war is itself service of Vishṇu. I go to fulfil my dharma.”

Suśānta heard him and answered with equal depth: “O svāmi (my master)! You have served Vishṇu through battle and so you have reached union with Vishṇu. Because of this I count myself kṛtārtha (one whose purpose is fulfilled).”

Śaśidhvaja embraced her, chanted the name of Hari, and set out with his army. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 8)

The battle: many duels

The fight at Bhallāṭanagara was set out as follows.

Sūryaketu, Śaśidhvaja’s elder son, fought Maru. Sūryaketu struck Maru so hard that Maru fell unconscious. His charioteer took him from the field on another chariot.
Bṛhatketu, Śaśidhvaja’s younger son, was sixteen years old, had a sweet voice, and was skilled in gadā-yuddha (fighting with the mace). He fought Devāpi. Devāpi’s arrows broke his bow. The young prince then fought with his bare hands, and Devāpi seized him by the chest with crushing force and left him senseless.
Śaśidhvaja himself fought Viśākhayūpa with elephants, astras (divine missiles) and śastras (hand weapons).
Kalki faced Śaśidhvaja on the main field.

Dust rose in clouds, chariot wheels roared, and a river of blood filled the plain. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 8)

Kalki and Śaśidhvaja in single combat

Śaśidhvaja saw Kalki seated on his divine horse with a sword in his hand. His dark form shone with ornaments, his eyes were like lotuses, he wore a yellow cloth (pītāmbara), and his arms reached his knees. Love and joy rose in Śaśidhvaja together. He asked Kalki to strike at his heart. He said:

“O Paramātmā! Come, enter my heart, which trembles in fear that your arrows may touch it. You are without guṇas (qualities), and yet you know all guṇas. You are advaita (without a second), and yet you come armed with astras. To fight you, the Paramātmā, while all the worlds look on, is my highest sādhana (practice).”

Kalki pretended anger, for there was no anger in him, and attacked with full force. The two exchanged astras:

Brahmāstra against Brahmāstra.
Vāyvāstra against Parvatāstra.
Āgneyāstra against Parjanyāstra.
Nāgāstra against Garuḍāstra.

The worlds shook. The devas fled the sky in fear of the fire of the weapons. Then both warriors put their astras aside and fought with their bodies, with kicks, head-blows and fist-blows, with the joy and seriousness of two great practitioners testing each other.

In this fight with bare hands, Śaśidhvaja struck Kalki with fist-blows as hard as the vajra (thunderbolt), and Kalki fell to the ground unconscious. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 9)

Kalki is carried to the palace

At that moment Dharma and Kṛtayuga appeared to carry away the fallen Kalki. Śaśidhvaja saw them and embraced all three. He took the unconscious Kalki under one arm, and Dharma and Kṛtayuga under the other, and carried them to his own palace. He called all his sons back from the field, and the battle stopped.

As he walked through his gates with Bhagavān Kalki unconscious in his arms, he found Suśānta in the Hari-gṛha (the house of Bhagavān Hari). She was singing the praises of Hari with other Vishṇu-bhaktas, and her face shone with devotion. He said to her:

“O Suśānta! He who was born in Śambhala at the prayer of the devas, who destroyed the mlecchas and pākhaṇḍas, who learned all the śāstras and received Paraśurāma as his guru, Bhagavān Kalki, has come here himself. He seems unconscious. This is māyā, and it is done to see your bhakti. The two at my sides are Kṛtayuga and Dharma. Receive them and honour them.”

Suśānta was overcome with joy. She bowed to all three, danced without restraint before the image of Hari, and began to sing. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 9)

Suśānta’s stotra

Suśānta sang a beautiful stotra (hymn of praise) to Kalki as he lay there. It praised his form, his mission and his bond with the powers of the world. She praised Bhagavān Kalki in these ways:

His body holds all that is beautiful in the world.
His glance drives away the darkness in the hearts of sādhus.
His smile is like the moon.
His riding through the world in his chariot destroys fear.
His arrows slay those who follow adharma.
His coming as an avatāra lifts up the sādhus and destroys the line of Kali.
His yajñas give the devas back their place.
His presence begins the Kṛtayuga.

She said: “Without the pūjā of your lotus feet, what is a palace full of elephants, horses and jewels? If your moon-like face does not bless us with grace, then death itself is our shelter.”

Moved by her devotion, Kalki rose from his posture, like a warrior rising from a bed of arrows. He looked at Suśānta before him, at Dharma on his right, at Kṛtayuga on his left, and at Śaśidhvaja behind him. He bowed his head a little, like a guest who finds himself in another man’s house, and said: “Who are you? Why have you gathered to serve me? How did I come to be here? Why did the noble Śaśidhvaja not kill me when I lay unconscious, after he had defeated me?” (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 10)

The recognition

Suśānta answered gently: “O Kalki! In all three worlds, whether in pātāla, in svarga or on earth, among humans, nāgas or devas, who does not serve Nārāyaṇa? All the worlds are his servants and friends. How can anyone be an enemy of him whose very sight ends enmity? My husband is your dāsa (servant). I am your dāsī (servant). You did not come here as a prisoner. You came to give us your grace.”

Dharma said: “O Kalki, destroyer of Kali! I hear your names praised here with bhakti, and I am fully content.”

Kṛtayuga said: “I see your servant Śaśidhvaja, and now I am fulfilled.”

Śaśidhvaja bowed and said: “I am guilty. I fought you with desire and anger (kāma-krodha) driving me onto the battlefield, and I have done wrong to you. Punish me as you wish.”

Kalki smiled and said, more than once: “You have won me. It is I who have been defeated by you.” (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 10)

The marriage of Ramā

Śaśidhvaja called his sons back from the battlefield. With Suśānta’s blessing, and before all the kings and brāhmaṇas who had gathered, he gave his daughter Ramā to Kalki in marriage. Ramā was the avatāra of Satyabhāmā, the beloved wife of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa.

The wedding was held with great joy. There were conches, bherīs (drums) and mṛdaṅgas (drums), song and dance, and the blessing songs of the women of the city. As her dowry Śaśidhvaja gave ten thousand elephants, a lakh (one hundred thousand) horses, six thousand chariots and six hundred women servants. Kalki sat in the great assembly with Ramā, shining like a full moon among the stars. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 10)

Śaśidhvaja’s past life as a vulture

The kings were amazed at the depth of the bhakti of Śaśidhvaja and Suśānta, and they asked him how it began. Śaśidhvaja told of his earlier life:

“In an earlier age, at the end of a thousand yugas, I was a vulture. I lived on rotting flesh with my beloved Suśānta, who was a female vulture. We were caught in a fowler’s trap and brought to the bank of the river Gaṇḍakī. There our heads were struck against a Śālagrāma śilā, the sacred stone of Bhagavān Vishṇu, marked with the discus. That death on the Śālagrāma stone was the great turning point.

“As soon as we died, we took shining four-armed forms, entered a divine vimāna (heavenly chariot), and rose to Vaikuṇṭha. We stayed there for one hundred yugas. Then we passed to Brahmaloka for five hundred yugas, and to Svargaloka for four hundred yugas. After that we were born on the earth as humans, carrying within us the memory of the touch of the Śālagrāma and the grace of Hari. This is why our bhakti is what it is. If a death by mere touch of the Śālagrāma gives such a fruit, what must be the fruit of a whole life of serving Vāsudeva?”

The assembly was struck with wonder. All who were present knew Śaśidhvaja as a pūrṇapurusha (a complete person). (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 11)

The teaching on bhakti

In the assembly the kings asked Śaśidhvaja: “What is the nature of bhakti? How does a bhakta live, eat, speak and dwell?” Śaśidhvaja answered by speaking from the dialogue of Sanaka with Nārada in Brahmaloka. He taught:

The five sense organs and the mind must all be held back and offered at the guru’s feet.
The highest mantra is: Oṃ namaḥ svāhā. It calls on the fire-quality of Vishṇu.
One should honour Vāsudeva with pādya (water for the feet), arghya (water offering), ācamana (sipping water), snāna (bathing), vastra (cloth) and alaṃkāra (ornaments).
The devotee must meditate on Nārāyaṇa in the heart with his whole being: word, mind, intellect and senses.
“Kṛshṇa is the one who is served, and I am the servant. All beings are forms of the ātmā of Kṛshṇa.”
The bhakta dances, weeps, laughs and wanders in divine madness, seeing no difference anywhere.
Bhakti is eternal. It is brahma-sampada (the wealth of Brahman) itself. Sāttvika devotees worship from forests, rājasika devotees from villages, and tāmasika people from gambling halls.

Śaśidhvaja also told of the exchange between Dharma and Kṛtayuga about the war of the kshatriya. It gives the Vedic view that killing what ought to be killed is not violence, and that failing to kill what ought to be killed is itself pāpa (sin). (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapters 11 and 12)

Śaśidhvaja’s past life as Satrājit

After all this teaching, Śaśidhvaja spoke to Kalki alone. He asked leave to go to the forest at Haridvāra to perform tapas, and he placed his sons and their descendants under Kalki’s protection. Then he told a deeper account of his past life:

“In the Kṛshṇa avatāra I was Satrājit, the Yādava king who owned the Syamantaka jewel. My brother Prasenājit was killed by a lion while he wore the jewel. The lion was killed by Jāmbavān. I wrongly blamed Kṛshṇa for the loss of the jewel. Kṛshṇa went into Jāmbavān’s cave, fought him for twenty-one days, and brought back the jewel together with Jāmbavān’s daughter Jāmbavatī. When Kṛshṇa gave the jewel back to me in a full assembly, I was ashamed. I gave him both the jewel and my daughter Satyabhāmā as an offering of repentance. Out of grace, Kṛshṇa accepted both.

“Because of that false accusation, the stain (kalaṅka) I put on Kṛshṇa, I did not receive full moksha in that birth. In this birth I am Śaśidhvaja, and my daughter Ramā is Satyabhāmā born again. By giving Ramā to Kalki, who is Kṛshṇa himself, I finish what began then. By fighting Kalki and falling at his feet, I am cleansed of the stain.”

The assembly was astonished, and all who were present were filled with joy. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 13)

Śaśidhvaja’s departure

Śaśidhvaja had given Ramā to Kalki, given all his teaching, and told of his past lives. He then asked Kalki’s blessing and left for the forest with Suśānta. At Kōkāmukha tīrtha (a sacred place) he recited the Māyāstava. There he reached moksha through the Sudarśana Cakra and attained the highest abode. (Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapters 13 to 15)

Sources

Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 8: arrival, Suśānta’s question, the duels
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 9: single combat, Kalki carried to the palace
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 10: Suśānta’s stotra, the recognition, the marriage of Ramā
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 11: Śaśidhvaja’s life as a vulture, the teaching on bhakti
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapters 11 and 12: the exchange between Dharma and Kṛtayuga
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapter 13: the life as Satrājit
Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāmśa, Chapters 13 to 15: Śaśidhvaja’s departure