Tārakāsura Vadha (Skanda Purāṇa)

Tāraka was a mighty asura who ruled the three worlds. The Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa tells how he gained his vara (boon), how he conquered the worlds, and how the devas, led by Kārttikeya as their commander, fought him. In the end Kārttikeya struck off his head with the Śakti, a divine spear.

Tāraka’s vara

Tāraka had done very hard tapas (austerity) to win a vara that made him almost impossible to defeat. Brahmā gave him the vara that only a son of Bhagavān Śiva could slay him. At that time Bhagavān Śiva was in deep renunciation after the death of Satī, and there was no sign of any union. So Tāraka thought himself as good as deathless. This made him very dangerous, because his power rested on a promise from the creator himself.

With this protection Tāraka gathered all the asura forces and set out to conquer the three worlds. He drove the devas out of svarga (heaven). He took the treasury of the devas. He made the gandharvas and apsarases serve him. He forced the great rivers to serve him, and he made even the sacrificial fires give their power to his rule. The devas were scattered and shamed, and had to wander over the earth in human disguise.

The gathering for war

Kārttikeya was born, installed as Senāpati (commander of the devas’ army), and given the divine weapons. Then the devas gathered their forces.

  • Indra led the host, riding Airāvata.
  • Bhagavān Vishṇu came with his Sudarśana Cakra.
  • Varuṇa brought the forces of the ocean.
  • Agni, Vāyu, Yama and Kubera, all the lokapālas (guardians of the directions), came together.
  • The vānara forces, who had been given various divine tasks, took part too.

Tāraka in the same way gathered his huge asura army. It had generals of great power and commanders who had lived through all the earlier wars between devas and asuras. The two armies met on the great battlefield. The war that followed was the most violent since the churning of the ocean.

Mucukunda in battle

Mucukunda fought on the side of the devas. He was a great king who had been given the vara of divine sleep for helping the devas in an earlier fight. In this war, before his long sleep, he fought with great courage against Tāraka’s forces. He was one of the few warriors who could stand against the strongest asura generals. His part kept the devas from being broken in the first stages of the battle.

Vīrabhadra and Tāraka, and Nārada’s warning

As the battle raged, Vīrabhadra met Tāraka face to face. Vīrabhadra is the most terrible commander of Bhagavān Śiva. He was born from Bhagavān Śiva’s matted hair (jaṭā) at the time of Daksha’s yajña. The fight between the two was so fierce that it shook all creation. Vīrabhadra was close to overcoming Tāraka when Nārada came and held him back.

Nārada spoke urgently. Tāraka’s death was meant to come at Kārttikeya’s hands. This was the shape of the vara, and it was the very purpose of Kārttikeya’s birth. If Vīrabhadra slew Tāraka, the plan would be broken. Kārttikeya would not do the work for which he was made Senāpati, and the tapas of Pārvatī that had brought about this arrangement would be wasted. Vīrabhadra understood the greater need and drew back from the fight with Tāraka.

Kārttikeya slays Tāraka

Kārttikeya came forward to face Tāraka. The divine child and the unbeaten asura circled each other on the great field. Kārttikeya had his divine weapons and his six-headed radiance. All the power that Bhagavān Śiva, Pārvatī, the devas and the ṛshis had placed in his mission came together at this moment.

Kārttikeya raised the Śakti, the divine spear that had been made especially for this victory, and hurled it at Tāraka. It struck true and cut off Tāraka’s head. The unbeaten asura fell. With his death the whole asura army was broken and scattered.

The devas are restored

All three worlds celebrated Kārttikeya’s victory. The devas went back to svarga. Indra took back his throne. The rivers, the sacred fires and the whole order of the worlds went back to their proper work. At Kailāsa all the great ṛshis and all the devas gathered, and Yama himself came to pay respects to Bhagavān Śiva.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 20, 28
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 29–30