Vṛtra Vadha (Mahābhārata)
The Mahābhārata tells of the slaying of the asura Vṛtra in two places. The Vana Parva account (Chapter 101) is told by Lomaśa to Yudhishṭhira during the pilgrimage to the tīrthas (holy places). It tells how Tvashṭā made Vṛtra by a great yajña (fire ritual), how Vṛtra took the three worlds, how Bhagavān Vishṇu entered the Vajra, and how Indra bore the pāpa (sin) of brahmahatyā. The Mokshadharma Parva account (Śānti Parva, Chapter 281) is told by Bhīshma. It tells how Indra, after hearing Vṛtrāsura’s song of detachment and bhakti, was still bound by dharma to kill him. In that account Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Vasishṭha and Bṛhaspati all help.
Vana Parva: Tvashṭā’s yajña and the birth of Vṛtra
Indra had slain Viśvarūpa, the son of Tvashṭā and the purohita (household priest) of the devas. Tvashṭā was full of grief and righteous anger. He performed a great yajña to make a destroyer of Indra. With exact ritual he poured offerings into the fire and cried out the words of consecration. From the sacred flames rose the fearsome asura Vṛtra. His body was huge, like a mountain. His form was like a column of churning smoke that filled the sky. His roar rang through the three worlds and made the earth tremble.
Tvashṭā fed Vṛtra further with offerings, and Vṛtra grew stronger every moment. He was made to be beyond the weapons of the devas. His body turned aside their astras (divine weapons). He defeated the armies of the devas again and again and took the rule of the three worlds, driving Indra from his lordship of svarga. The devas fled, and the worlds fell into darkness and fear.
Vana Parva: the devas ask for help
The scattered devas gathered and went to Brahmā for guidance. Brahmā sent them to Bhagavān Vishṇu. They went to him in great humility and told him how helpless they were. Even the Vajra that Tvashṭā had made from the bones of Dadhīca had not been enough against Vṛtra’s armour. The Vajra was not weak, but Vṛtra’s protection, through Tvashṭā’s counter-mantra, stopped any weapon made by a craftsman alone. What was needed was the indwelling of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself in the Vajra.
Vana Parva: Bhagavān Vishṇu enters the Vajra
Bhagavān Vishṇu agreed. By his divine power and sovereign will he entered the Vajra. His own presence filled the weapon and made it a living instrument of the Supreme, no longer only a made weapon of divine ore. With Bhagavān Vishṇu in the Vajra, no made defence could stand against it. Tvashṭā had guarded Vṛtra against any weapon from outside the divine order, but Bhagavān Vishṇu is not outside anything.
Vana Parva: the battle and the fall of Vṛtra
Armed in this way, Indra faced Vṛtra. The battle was tremendous and shook all the worlds to their roots. Vṛtra fought with great fury, hurling mountains and raising storms. But the Vajra, with Bhagavān Vishṇu in it, struck him with a force beyond measure. The great asura’s body was split, and Vṛtra fell. His death freed the three worlds from his rule. The devas rejoiced, svarga was set right again, and the rivers that Vṛtra’s presence had blocked flowed freely once more.
Vana Parva: Indra’s brahmahatyā
Even in this great victory Indra did not escape a result. Vṛtra was an asura by nature, but he had been born from Tvashṭā’s yajña, fed by sacred offerings, and was the son of Tvashṭā, who is a Prajāpati. For these reasons he shared in the nature of a brāhmaṇa. So the slaying of Vṛtra brought on Indra the terrible pāpa of brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa). The pāpa showed itself on Indra, and he suffered under its weight until proper prāyaścitta (atonement) was done.
Mokshadharma Parva: the armies and the sight of Vṛtrāsura
In the Śānti Parva account (Chapter 281), Indra set out in his chariot with the full host of the deva gaṇas (troops). Before him stood Vṛtrāsura, five hundred yojanas high and three hundred yojanas wide, like a column of darkness filling the sky. His roar rang through the three worlds. The armies of the devas saw his form and were seized with terror. Even Indra’s thighs stiffened with fear. Vṛtrāsura, by contrast, watched Indra come with no agitation, no fear and no impatience. It was the same calm that the Vṛtra Gītā describes, now seen on the battlefield.
Mokshadharma Parva: the opening of the battle
The battle was on a cosmic scale. Both the deva and asura armies used divine weapons: khaḍgas (swords), paṭṭisas, śūlas (spears), śaktis, tomaras, mudgaras and many kinds of divyāstras (divine weapons). Clouds of stone-rain, missiles of fire and divine arrows filled the sky. Ten thousand deva dundubhis (drums) and thousands of śaṅkhas (conches) sounded during the fight. Brahmā, the saptarshis (seven ṛshis), Sanatkumāra and the gandharvas came in their vimānas (flying chariots) to watch.
Mokshadharma Parva: Vṛtrāsura’s māyā
Brahmā had given Vṛtrāsura the vara (boon) of great māyā (power of illusion) for sixty thousand years of tapas. With it he wrapped Indra in a māyā-yuddha, a battle of illusion. Indra lost his bearings and could not tell what was real from what was shown. His courage and his weapons were thrown into confusion, and he faltered.
Mokshadharma Parva: Vasishṭha sings the Rathantara
At this hard moment the mahātmā Vasishṭha came to Indra’s chariot and sang the Rathantara sāman. This is one of the most powerful chants of the Sāmaveda, linked with the spirit of battle and the ending of fear. As Vasishṭha sang, Indra’s confusion cleared. His strength came back and his resolve grew firm.
Mokshadharma Parva: the help of Bhagavān Śiva and Bhagavān Vishṇu
Bṛhaspati and the assembled ṛshis went to Bhagavān Śiva. They told him of Vṛtrāsura’s power and asked for his help to protect the three worlds. Bhagavān Śiva agreed. His divine teja (radiance) left his body, took the form of the Rudra-jvara (the fever of Rudra) and entered Vṛtrāsura’s body. The signs showed at once. Vṛtrāsura’s mouth began to blaze. The colour drained from his face (vaivarṇya). His body shook and his breathing quickened. The hair of his skin stood on end. Fearful sounds came from his mouth, and a great yawn seized him. The mighty asura was being undone from within.
At the same time Bhagavān Vishṇu, always devoted to loka-saṃrakshaṇa (the protection of all the worlds), entered Indra’s thunderbolt, the vajrāyudha, with his own divine power. The weapon became a vessel of the tejas of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
Mokshadharma Parva: the fatal blow
Vṛtrāsura yawned, helpless, the vast asura body opened wide by the Rudra-jvara. Indra seized the moment and let fly the vajrāyudha. It carried the joined teja of Bhagavān Śiva, through the jvara that had weakened Vṛtra, and of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who had entered the Vajra itself. The weapon struck Vṛtrāsura and brought the huge form down in an instant.
The armies of the devas broke into cheers. Bṛhaspati, Vasishṭha and all the ṛshis praised Indra. Indra carried the joined blessings of Bhagavān Śiva, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Vasishṭha’s sāmagāna (singing of the Sāman) and the witness of Brahmā, and so did what no one divine power could have done alone.
Mokshadharma Parva: after the fall
Vṛtrāsura’s jīva left in the moment of death. As the Vṛtra Gītā had already told, this was not a time of grief. Vṛtra came to his death remembering Parabrahman and wholly free of attachment, and his liberation came with the falling of his body. Indra returned to svarga, but not without a result. Vṛtrāsura had been brought forth by Tvashṭā’s yajña, as the Vana Parva account tells, and his slaying brought brahmahatyā on Indra. Indra then had to share out that pāpa across the world. This is told in the next chapter, Chapter 282.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 101
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 281
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 282 (the sharing out of Indra’s pāpa, mentioned as the next chapter)