Dvivida
Dvivida
Dvivida was a vānara, a friend of Narakāsura and an enemy of the devas. When Śrī Kṛshṇa slew Naraka, Dvivida swore revenge on the devas and laid waste the worlds: he destroyed yajñas, burned lands and towns, hurled mountains on villages and churned the ocean until it flooded the shore. At last he came upon Balarāma in the garden of Raivata, mocked him and broke his pots of madya, and Balarāma struck him down with blows to the chest and the head. The devas showered flowers on Balarāma and praised the deed. The Brahma Purāṇa also names Dvivida among those slain by Bhagavān Vishṇu in his avatāra of the Māthura kalpa.
His ravaging of the worlds
Vyāsa tells the munis this as one more līlā of Balarāma. Dvivida, bearing enmity, resolved: “I will take revenge on the devatās on account of Kṛshṇa, who killed Naraka.” Then, one after another:
- He destroyed yajñas and harmed the world of mortals.
- He broke the bounds (maryādā) of the sādhus.
- He killed living beings.
- He burned lands, cities and villages.
- He lifted mountains and threw them down, crushing villages.
- He uprooted hills and pushed them into the ocean.
- He stood in the ocean and churned it, so that the sea swelled over its shore and flooded the towns and villages in its path.
- Taking any form he wished (kāmarūpa), leaping and bounding, he crushed the crops everywhere.
Harmed by him, the whole world was left without svādhyāya (recitation of the Veda) and vashaṭkāra (the call of the yajña), and grieved.
His end at the hand of Balarāma
Once Halāyudha, Balarāma, was drinking madya in the garden of Raivata. His wife Revatī and other women were with him, singing of his fame, and he sported among them like Kubera. Dvivida came, seized his pestle (musala) and plough, and stood before him mimicking him. He grinned at the young women, overturned the full pots of madya and trod on them till they broke. Balarāma warned him, and still the vānara mocked him with a “kilakila” chatter.
Then Hali rose and took up his pestle. The vānara lifted a fearsome rock and hurled it, and Hali shattered it with the pestle into a thousand pieces. The vānara leapt upon him. Balarāma bent him down, struck him on the chest and smote him on the crown of the head. Dvivida vomited blood, his life left him and he fell dead. As he fell, a mountain peak, struck by his body, broke and fell as if struck by the vajra of Indra.
The devatās showered flowers on Balarāma and praised him: “Well done, well done! You have done a great deed. This wicked monkey, helping the daityas, tormented the world. By good fortune he has been destroyed by you.” So, Vyāsa says, the līlās of Baladeva, who is Ananta-mūrti and the bearer of the earth, are endless.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 209
Among those slain by the avatāra of the Māthura kalpa
Telling the munis of the avatāras of Vishṇu, Vyāsa speaks of the avatāra that came in the Māthura kalpa for the good of all the worlds. In it, coming in human form, Bhagavān Vishṇu slew Śālva, Caidya, Kaṃsa, Dvivida, Vṛshabha, Keśī, Pūtanā, Arishṭa and others, and Kuvalayāpīḍa, Cāṇūra, Mushṭika and others.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 213
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 209, 213