Āyaśśaṅku Vadha

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa tells, in Chapters 66 to 71 of the Poorvārdha, how Bhagavān Śiva sent Paraśurāma to pātāla (the netherworld) to destroy the daityas who lived there. Paraśurāma took the Vaishṇava bow, went to Varuṇa’s crystal city Aśmanagara, and killed the daitya chief Āyaśśaṅku in battle. Then he praised Varuṇa in a stotra (hymn of praise), and Varuṇa spoke of the places where he lives.

Śiva’s command and the Vaishṇava bow

The Śaṅkara Gītā had ended. Indra then came to Kailāsa and told Bhagavān Śiva about the daityas. No deva could defeat them, and Brahmā had so made them that only a human could kill them. They now lived in pātāla and were causing great suffering.

Śiva told Indra that he would arrange for their destruction. Then he spoke to Paraśurāma:

“O Bhārgava, go to pātāla and destroy the enemy daityas there. The Vaishṇava bow has been placed in safekeeping (nyāsa) in the hands of your father Jamadagni. Take it and go. Take also this akshaya-tūṇīra, the quiver that never empties. Kill the wicked and proud daityas with it. When your task is done, give this bow and the quiver to Agastya. Agastya will give them to Rāma, the son of Daśaratha. After you have had Rāma’s darśana (sight), you yourself should lay down your weapons. At that meeting your Vaishṇava tejas will enter Daśarathi Rāma, and that tejas will finish the work that remains for the devas. As long as the Vaishṇava tejas is in you, no enemy army can stand before you. The daitya armies will not be able to bear the blows of your weapons.”

This is Chapter 66.

The origin of the Vaishṇava bow

Paraśurāma asked Śiva why the Vaishṇava bow had been left in his father’s care. Śiva told him where it came from.

Long ago, before this age, the devas and ṛshis could not decide who was supreme, Vāsudeva (Vishṇu) or Mahādeva (Śiva). They went to Brahmā with this question. Brahmā had a hidden purpose. He told them: “Make them quarrel with each other. When they fight, you will see the difference between them.” The devas and ṛshis were taken in by the māyā of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and they wanted to see the result. So they set the two against each other. Brahmā said: “Whichever of the two puts down his bow first is the lesser.”

A great battle broke out between Bhagavān Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva. During it, Vishṇu took Śiva’s bow in his hand, the hand that holds the cakra. But almost at once his delusion was gone. He said, “Now I know who my Īśvara is,” and he put down the bow.

Then Vishṇu praised Śiva with deep devotion:

“You are called Parameśvara. You are the one they call Prapitāmaha. You alone take three forms and do the three works of the cosmos. The ugra (fierce) form of yours that blazes at the time of saṃhāra (dissolution) is my own form. You are Bhava, the one from whom all the worlds arise. You are Sarvātman. Those who bow to you with bhakti and who worship your kshetra (sacred place) reach my abode easily. Now accept this bow, the jewel among bows.”

Śiva took the praise and the bow. In turn he declared the supremacy of Vishṇu. Then he said: “Give this Vaishṇava bow to the Bhārgava-nandana, the grandson of Ṛcīka and son of Jamadagni. With it Paraśurāma will destroy the enemies and lighten the burden of the earth. When his work is done, this Rāma will pass the bow to Varuṇa. From Varuṇa it will come to Phālguṇa (Arjuna), who will use it only for the cause of the devas.”

Śiva also gave his own bow, the Śiva-dhanus, to Janaka: “Give mine to the king called Nimī, who is known as Janaka. His son will do an astonishing deed with it.”

So the two divine bows went to two royal lines. The Vaishṇava bow went to the Bhārgava line through Jamadagni. The Śiva-dhanus, which is the Pināka, went to Janaka.

Śiva ended: “That is why the Vaishṇava bow is now in your father’s hands. Take it and go.”

This is Chapter 67.

Paraśurāma’s departure and Aśmanagara

Paraśurāma took leave of Śiva and Pārvatī, embraced the Pramathagas, and went quickly back to his father’s āśrama. There he found Jamadagni shining with brahma-tejas and seated in deep tapas. Paraśurāma bowed at the feet of his parents and greeted his brothers. He reported all that had happened, Śiva’s command to go to pātāla and the account of the Vaishṇava bow.

Jamadagni heard his son. He saw the bow of the devas blazing like fire before him, and he gave Paraśurāma the Vaishṇava bow. He told him: “Go west along the route of the western ocean and reach Varuṇa-loka. Worship Varuṇa, learn what pleases him, and with this bow destroy the wicked and proud daityas in his realm. When the work is done, come back to me in good time.”

Sent by his father, Paraśurāma set out for Varuṇa’s home, burning like Vaiśvānara (fire). He crossed the ocean and went down into pātāla. In its depths he saw Aśmanagara, the city of crystal stone. Ordinary beings cannot see it. It can be reached only through the grace and divine power of Mahādeva. The city was built wholly of crystal stone. Great elephants stood in it, nāgas crowded it, and it was full of daitya and dānava kings and every kind of divine splendour.

This is Chapter 68.

Varuṇa’s crystal court

Paraśurāma went into Aśmanagara and came to Varuṇa’s court, a hall of jewelled pillars and pavilions set with gems. There sat Varuṇa on a throne of gems. His ear ornaments blazed. His body had the calm glow of smooth vaidūrya stone. He wore white silk, necklaces of gems fell from his shoulders, and he wore divine armlets. He was grave and majestic in his crown, and nāgas stood around him. He was the ruler of all waters and of all beings that live in them. He was an aṃśa-mūrti (partial form) of Vishṇu, with wide lotus eyes and arms without measure.

In his court the great rivers appeared in divine forms. They were Gaṅgā, Sarasvatī, Vitastā, Irāvatī, Candrabhāgā, Śarmatā, Mahānadī, Payoshṭī, Brāhmaṇī, Gaurī, Vipāśā, Devikā, Śatadru, Kampana and Sindhu. They stood on either side and waved cāmara fans. Lakes, wells, tanks, oceans and all other bodies of water also took bodily forms and served the lord of the west. The foremost nāgas served in the assembly: Vāsuki, Śaṅkha, Kuru, Padma, Mahāpadma, Karkoṭaka and Dhanañjaya, with Airāvata and Takshaka and many more. Fierce daityas and dānavas filled the outer courts with their tongue-tips flicking. They were Sunda, Upasunda, Śakoka, Śambara, Hayagrīva, Mahāgrīva, Daśagrīva, Devāntaka, Bhīma, Bhīmāksha, Naraka, Vikaṭotkaṭa, Māraṇa, Aticāya, Mahācāya and Bhīmakāya.

Paraśurāma bowed to Varuṇa in respect. Varuṇa welcomed him with pādya, arghya, ācamanīya and all the other upacāras (acts of honour to a guest). Paraśurāma sat down and told Varuṇa why he had come. Parameśvara himself had sent him, and the daityas of this realm were to be destroyed. Varuṇa heard this and agreed. He then had his heralds cry out through the city that Paraśurāma had come and wanted battle with the daityas.

This is Chapter 69.

The battle and the death of Āyaśśaṅku

The daitya armies heard the call. They put on their full armour and marched out of the city in the four divisions of an army, with banners high and war-drums thundering. Paraśurāma strung the Vaishṇava bow and let loose a torrent of arrows. The sky grew dark with arrows, as when clouds fill all four directions around a mountain. Paraśurāma blazed in the middle of that bow, as the sun blazes in an eclipse. The daityas were blinded by the darkness of Rāma’s arrows, as owls are blinded by the light of the sun, and they could not even see him clearly.

Then the enemy called up fire-magic and burned his cloud of arrows. The daityas came out of the darkness and rushed in from every side with every weapon they had. They threw ardhanārāca arrows, curved vaṃśadanta shafts, arrows with varāhakarṇa heads, bhalla spears, balla, kshurapra blades, tomara maces, laguḍa clubs, bhinḍipāla slings, khaḍga swords, kampana javelins, caṭakāsana missiles, pāshāṇa boulders, prāsa lances, cakras, gadā-musala-kampanas, parigha clubs, iron śūlas, triśūlas and śaktis. All the great daitya lords struck Paraśurāma with these weapons. Still the mighty Paraśurāma blazed like a fire into which thousands of offerings are poured, and he grew taller and fiercer with each attack.

The daityas could not kill the dvija (twice-born) with their weapons, so they used a deadly weapon, the māraṇāstra. The daitya chief Āyaśśaṅku came forward with blazing divine astras and wrapped Paraśurāma in them on every side. Paraśurāma met those astras with astras of his own. Then he cut down Āyaśśaṅku’s golden flagpole and banner. Next he sent an arrow that struck the charioteer’s head together with its helmet. Then he took his sharp paraśu (axe) in his right hand and leapt with great speed. He set his foot on the yoke-pole of the chariot and with the force of that foot killed the great horses of the chariot at once. Then, with one blow of the paraśu, he cut off the head of the dānava lord, who was still seated in the chariot. The head came off together with its helmet and its blazing earrings.

When Āyaśśaṅku fell dead, the remaining daityas, among them Muyuḍu and Tāruḍu, were terrified and ran. They took shelter inside the city. Paraśurāma did not chase them. Only a small part of the daitya force was left. He turned back and entered Aśmanagara in victory.

A great celebration was prepared in Varuṇa’s city. The roads were sprinkled with sandalwood water and hung with garlands of flowers, and incense drifted into every quarter. Varuṇa himself came out with his sons and grandsons to welcome Paraśurāma. He set him on his own chariot and led him into the city, with divine music playing on every side. The apsarasas rained flowers, the gandharvas sang, and the sūtas and māgadhas (bards) sang his praise. Varuṇa took Paraśurāma into his palace, received him with full worship, and honoured him together with his sons. Paraśurāma rested there and learned dharmas from Varuṇa, the lord of the ocean.

This is Chapter 70.

Varuṇa Stotra: Paraśurāma’s praise

During his stay, Paraśurāma one day praised Varuṇa:

“O you who are worshipped by both the sura and the asura gaṇas! O you who care for the welfare of cows and brāhmaṇas! O Yādogaṇanātha, lord of the beings of the water! Vishṇu is called Nārāyaṇa because nārāḥ are the waters, and the waters are his ayana (resting place) in pralaya (the dissolution). You are the lord of all waters, so you are Nārāyaṇa’s destination, his gomyasthāna. The whole world of the moving and the unmoving is you. The Trimūrtis live in your body. You are Indra and all the dikpālas. You are Sarvādhāra, Acyuta, Devādhīśa. You are Indra, lord of the nāgas. You are the lord of all purification and of all waters. The eye of Vishṇu is the moon. His bimba is the circle of the sun. All the tārakās are your forms. You are the lord of rivers and the king of the creatures of the water. The rudhira (life-blood) in living beings is you. You are sarvadevamaya (made of all the devas), the lord of all the worlds of living beings.

Your terrible pāśas (nooses) have bound the dānavas. You stand without fear at the gate of pātāla. You are sarvaratna-nidhi, the treasury of all gems. You hold all the vidyās (kinds of knowledge). On Meru stands your second city, built by the devas. Your third home is on the peak of Mānasottara. By your prākāmya siddhi (the power of free will, one of the aṇimādi powers) you live in all three cities at the same time. All the devas everywhere worship you. You are the ground of all tapas, of all purity and good conduct, and of the world. The three worlds are wholly your prakṛti (nature) and its changes. Please take away the doubts in my mind.”

Varuṇa answered with affection: “O bearer of weapons! Whatever doubts you have, I will clear them. Do not hold back. For me, Tripurāntaka (Śiva) is what Vishṇu is for you.”

This is Chapter 71.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapters 66 to 71
• Chapter 66: Śiva’s command and the Vaishṇava bow
• Chapter 67: the origin of the Vaishṇava bow
• Chapter 68: Paraśurāma’s departure and Aśmanagara
• Chapter 69: Varuṇa’s court
• Chapter 70: the battle and the death of Āyaśśaṅku
• Chapter 71: the Varuṇa Stotra