Mahishāsura (Mahābhārata)

Mahishāsura is a dānava (a kind of asura) who appears in the Mahābhārata, in the Vana Parva, Chapter 231. He led an attack on the assembled devas during Kārttikeya’s first battle as their senāpati (commander). He could lift mountains and hurl them at the armies of the devas, and his attack killed ten thousand devas before Skanda entered the field. Kārttikeya slew Mahishāsura with a single śakti (spear).

The Devī Māhātmya and the Devī Bhāgavatam give a different account, in which the Devī, in the form of Durgā or Mahishāsura-mardinī, slays Mahishāsura. Those accounts are given below.

Who he was and how strong he was

Mahishāsura was a dānava of great power. His name joins mahisha (a buffalo, or a powerful bull-like being) with asura.

The Mahābhārata shows his strength by one deed. He lifted a great mountain and hurled it at the massed army of the devas. It killed ten thousand devas at once.

The battle with Kārttikeya

The devas had been routed, and Indra had bowed to Skanda in the earlier events of the account of Skanda’s birth. Then a great army of dānavas appeared, led by Mahishāsura.

Kārttikeya entered the battle. He hurled the śakti, his divine spear and his main emblem in all the traditions, straight at Mahishāsura. It struck with deadly aim, and one blow slew Mahishāsura. The dānavas who were left fled the field. Indra came forward and offered a great stotra (hymn of praise) to Skanda for his first victory as Senāpati.

Other accounts of Mahishāsura’s death

The Devī Māhātmya (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa), the Devī Bhāgavatam and the Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa each give a long account of Mahishāsura. In them he is a great danger to all the worlds. He drove the devas out of svarga (heaven). No male being could defeat him. In the end the Devī slew him. She was formed from the combined tejas (radiance) of the weapons of all the devas.

The Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa also gives an account in which Mahishāsura, after an earlier defeat, fled to the Krauñca mountain and hid inside it from Kārttikeya. Kārttikeya pierced the mountain with his śakti. In that account he did not slay Mahishāsura in direct combat.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 231
• Devī Māhātmya (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa)
• Devī Bhāgavatam
• Vāmana Mahā Purāṇa