Tārakāmaya Yuddha (Matsya Purāṇa)
The Tārakāmaya Yuddha is the great war between the devas and the army of Tārakāsura. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells its middle and decisive part in Chapters 171 to 177. It opens with the glory of Bhagavān Vishṇu, describes the two armies, the battle with its clash of māyā (magic power), and then the coming of Kālanemi, the asura with a hundred heads. Kālanemi defeats every lokapālaka (guardian of a direction). Bhagavān Vishṇu then slays him with the Sudarśana cakra.
Vishṇu’s glory before the battle (Chapter 171)
Before telling of the battle, the ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya speaks of the glory of Bhagavān Vishṇu, who is to protect the devas when every other help has failed. He explains four names of Bhagavān Vishṇu:
- Vishṇu comes from the root viś (to pervade). He pervades every atom of creation, and his own nature is the ground of all that exists.
- Hari comes from haraṇa (removal). He removes the pāpa (sin), sorrow and bondage of those who come to him.
- Vaikuṇṭha is the one who blocks and cancels the kūṭa-māyā (the deceiving power) of the asuras. No asura’s illusion can touch him.
- Kṛshṇa comes from karshaṇa (drawing). He draws all beings of all worlds toward himself.
His weapons show that he rules over all. They are the Śārṅga bow, the Pāñcajanya conch, the Kaumodakī mace, the Nandaka sword and, above all, the Sudarśana cakra. He bears the Śrīvatsa mark on his chest and the Kaustubha gem at his throat. He wears the Vaijayantī garland of five-coloured flowers.
The two armies (Chapters 172 and 173)
The dānava army (Chapter 172)
Rāhu, also called Svarbhānu, leads the front of the dānava army with thirty crore asuras. The great dānava chiefs take their places: Hiraṇyakaśipu, Hiraṇyāksha, Maya the dānava architect, Vipracitti and other commanders. The asura army is dark and vast. It covers the horizon, and its war-cries fill the three worlds with fear.
The deva army (Chapter 173)
The thirty-three devas gather under Indra’s command. Indra rides the great elephant Airāvata. Bhagavān Vishṇu rides Garuḍa. Garuḍa blazes like the sun. His wings are golden, his wingspan throws its shadow over whole kingdoms, and his cry alone scatters lesser beings. Each lokapālaka takes his battle-station with his own divine forces. The deva army blazes with tejas (radiance) and stands ready with confidence.
The battle and the Aurva fire (Chapter 174)
The armies clash in the full fury of the war. Indra uses his tāmasa-māyā, a darkness that swallows the battlefield and blinds the dānava forces. Maya, the dānava architect, answers with a deeper māyā. He calls up the Aurva-agni, the terrible fire of the ocean that belongs to the ṛshi Aurva.
Aurva was born from the thigh (ūru) of a ṛshi of the Bhārgava line. His kinsmen were being killed, and the unborn child burst out of the thigh with such force and fury that his birth scorched the world. Aurva could not bear the fire that he carried. He placed it in the depths of the western ocean, where it is the undersea fire (vāḍavāgni) that keeps the oceans from overflowing. Maya, through his great knowledge, drew this fire out again and turned its terrible power on the battlefield.
Hiraṇyakaśipu received this weapon directly from Aurva. For that part of the battle it made him unbeatable by the deva forces. Indra’s tāmasa-māyā was cancelled by this ancient fire. Then Varuṇa and Candra used their own counter-māyās: Varuṇa the power of water, and Candra the light of soma. The Aurva fire was held back, and the battlefield was restored.
Kālanemi appears (Chapter 175)
While the battle hung in the balance, the asura Kālanemi appeared on the field. He had unmatched power. He had one hundred heads and one hundred arms. Each head roared war-cries and each arm held weapons. He blazed like a second Nārāyaṇa, and his presence changed the whole course of the war. The ground shook under his steps and the sky grew dark around him. The deva ranks broke before he had struck a single blow.
Kālanemi defeats the lokapālakas (Chapter 176)
Kālanemi moved through the deva army like a fire that consumes all. He challenged the lokapālakas one after another and defeated each:
- Indra, lord of the east and ruler of the devas, was overcome.
- Varuṇa, lord of the waters and the west, was defeated.
- Kubera, lord of the north and of wealth, was overpowered.
- Yama, lord of the south and of dharma, was routed.
- Candra, the deva of the moon, was driven back.
- Sūrya, the deva of the sun, was overwhelmed.
- Agni, the deva of fire, was defeated.
- Vāyu, the deva of the wind, was put to flight.
All eight lokapālakas fell before Kālanemi. The whole deva army, without a leader and broken, ran in every direction. The three worlds now faced total conquest by the dānavas. The devas saw no help left, and they turned to Bhagavān Vishṇu as their only refuge.
Vishṇu slays Kālanemi (Chapter 177)
Bhagavān Vishṇu came down from his divine abode and fought Kālanemi face to face. The battle between the supreme Bhagavān Vishṇu and the hundred-headed asura was fearsome. Kālanemi attacked with all hundred arms and with all the strength that had beaten the lokapālakas. Against Bhagavān Vishṇu every attack failed.
The Sudarśana cakra
At this point the account describes Bhagavān Vishṇu’s supreme weapon, the Sudarśana cakra.
Sudarśana was born from the disc of the sun. It was made from the gathered solar energy that Viśvakarmā cut away when he trimmed the sun’s too-strong blaze to make it bearable for the world. This divine disc was given to Bhagavān Vishṇu as the weapon of his rule over the cosmos. It has twelve edges, matching the twelve months of the solar year. It shines with the light of a thousand suns. It carries out Bhagavān Vishṇu’s will in guarding dharma (the order of the world). Nothing in creation, whether deva, asura or element, can stand against it once it is released.
Garuḍa played an important part in the battle. He attacked Kālanemi’s forces from the sides, and so gave Bhagavān Vishṇu the opening to release the Sudarśana cakra at exactly the right moment.
Bhagavān Vishṇu released the Sudarśana cakra. It crossed the battlefield like a wheel of solar fire and struck Kālanemi. The hundred heads fell and the hundred arms were cut off. Kālanemi collapsed and his life left him. With his death the dānava forces broke and fled.
Brahmā’s praise
After the victory, Brahmā sang the praise of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He called him the highest refuge of all, the one to whom even the mightiest devas must turn when all their own powers are spent. The praise declares that Bhagavān Vishṇu’s weapons are not only physical tools but expressions of cosmic dharma. It says the Sudarśana cakra is the wheel of universal order itself, and that its release against adharma (what is against dharma) puts the cosmic balance right again.
Bhagavān Vishṇu then restored order in the worlds, returned the lokapālakas to their places, and went back to his own abode. The Tārakāmaya war went on, but the danger of complete asura rule had been broken.
Sources
- Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 171–177
- Chapter 171: Vishṇu’s glory and his names
- Chapter 172: the dānava army
- Chapter 173: the deva army
- Chapter 174: the battle and the Aurva fire
- Chapter 175: the appearance of Kālanemi
- Chapter 176: Kālanemi defeats the lokapālakas
- Chapter 177: Vishṇu slays Kālanemi; the Sudarśana cakra; Brahmā’s praise