Devāntaka

Devāntaka is an asura, the younger son of the asura king Raudraketu and his wife Śāradā. His name means “the destroyer of the devas”. He is the main asura enemy in the later part of the Kṛta-yuga avatāra of Gaṇeśa called Mahōtkaṭa, as told in the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa.

Birth and tapas

Devāntaka was born to Raudraketu and Śāradā. His name tells what he did: “the destroyer of the devas”. With his elder brother Narāntaka (“destroyer of men”), he did tapas (austerity) for 10,000 years. This hard tapas drew the notice of Śiva. Śiva appeared and gave them the vara (boon) they asked for: no deva, human, nāga, rākṣasa or any other kind of being could kill them. This is told in the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1 and 2.

The conquest of the upper worlds

With the vara of Śiva, Devāntaka set out to win the upper worlds:

• Svargaloka: Indra and the devas were driven out.
• Satyaloka: Brahmā had to withdraw.
• Vaikuṇṭha: Bhagavān Viṣṇu was pushed out.

The whole upper world came under the rule of Devāntaka. This is told in Chapter 3 of the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa.

The first campaign against Kāśī

Narāntaka was killed by Mahōtkaṭa. Devāntaka vowed to take revenge for his brother himself and to destroy Kāśī. He set out with a huge army. Mahōtkaṭa told Siddhi to make the Aṣṭasiddhi army, eight warrior forms of the eight siddhis (powers), to face Devāntaka.

The battle was fierce. Śukrācārya kept bringing the fallen asuras back to life, until the śakti Īśitā made a kṛtyā (a force made by ritual) that swallowed him and took him off the field. Devāntaka beat the Aṣṭasiddhis himself. Buddhi trapped his army in her womb with a weapon of śakti. Devāntaka slipped free and withdrew in shame. This is told in the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 63 to 65.

The tāntric revival

Devāntaka told his father Raudraketu that he had been beaten. Raudraketu gave him the Aghora mahāmantra. Then he did a supreme tāntric ritual. He sat on an āsana of five pretas, offered his own flesh, and ended by cutting off the head of his own son as the pūrṇāhuti (the final offering). Śiva was pleased and brought Devāntaka back to life with new power. A divine black horse came out of the fire. This is told in the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 66.

The second campaign

Devāntaka came back with greater power and with weapons of another kind:

• Nidrāstra: the weapon of sleep, which put all the army of Mahōtkaṭa to sleep.
• Gāndharvāstra: a weapon of mass illusion.
• Abhicāra: a māraka prayoga (a ritual of death magic) with offerings of human flesh, which called up a terrible śakti from the fire.

Raudraketu also made a māyā-Aditi, a magic copy of the mother of Mahōtkaṭa, to shake the mind of Mahōtkaṭa. An ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky) showed this trick. The same voice showed the one weakness of Devāntaka: he could be killed only at uṣākāla (the time before dawn). This is told in the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 67 and 68.

The tusk and the death of Devāntaka

At uṣākāla, Mahōtkaṭa faced Devāntaka in the last fight. In the heat of battle, Devāntaka broke off one of the tusks of Mahōtkaṭa, a feat of great strength.

Mahōtkaṭa at once reached down, picked up his own broken tusk and used it as a weapon. With his own broken tusk he killed Devāntaka. This is told in the Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 69 and 70.

The broken tusk of Gaṇeśa

The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa uses this event to explain the single broken tusk of Gaṇeśa (ekadanta in some forms). The Krīḍā Khaṇḍa roots this feature in the battle of Kṛta-yuga. The tusk was not lost by accident or at birth. It was broken by Devāntaka and became the weapon of his death.

Sources

• Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Krīḍā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1 to 4 and 62 to 70