82 - The Devi -mahatmya. 

Slaughter of the army of the Asura Mahisha.

The gods were defeated m a great battle formerly by the Asuras and driven from heaven, and the Asura Mahisha became supreme. —All the gods gave forth their special energies, which combined and formed the goddess Ch’andika.—They gave her their weapons, and she fought with and destroyed the Asuras. 

The rishi spoke:

Of yore there was a fight for a full hundred years between the gods * and Asuras, when Mahisha was lord of the Asnra

*For Davasuram read Devasuram.

2 and Indra lord of the gods; in it the army of the gods was vanquished by the Asuras who excelled in valour, and the Asura Mahisha after conquering all the gods became the

3 Indra. Then the vanquished gods, placing the Praja-pati Brahma at their head, went where abode Shiva and Vishnu.

4 The thirty gods described to them accurately what had happened, the full story of the gods’ discomfiture which 

5 had been wrought by the Asura Mahisha, — “He, Mahisha, in his own person domineers over the jurisdictions of the Sun, Indra, Agni, Vayu and the Moon, of Yama and Varuna 

6 and of the other gods. Cast out by that evil-souled Mahisha from Svarga all the hosts of tlie gods wander on the earth

 7 like mortals. It has now been related to you both, all that has been wrought by the foe of the Immortals, and we have sought you both as a refuge; let his destruction be devised!”

8 Having thus heard the words of the gods, Vishnu was wroth and Sh’iva also; both their faces became furrowed with

9 frowns. Then issued forth great energy † from the mouth of Vishnu who was full of intense anger, and from the

†Tejas.

10 mouths of Brahma and Sh’iva; and from the bodies of Indra  and the other gods went forth a very great enefgy; and it

11 all amalgamated. The gods belield the mass of intense energy there like a burning mountain, pervading the other

12 regions of the sky -with its blaze; and that unparalleled energy bom of the bodies of all the gods, which pervaded the three worlds with its light, gathering into one became

13 a female. By what was Sh’iva’s energy her face was developed, and by Yama’s energy grew her hair, and her arras

14 by Vishnu’s energy, by the Moon’s her twin breasts; and her waist came into being by Indra’s energy, and by Varuna’s

15 her legs and thighs, by the Earth’s energy her hips, by Brahma’s energy her feet, her toes by the Sun’s energy, and by the Vasus’ energy her hands and fingers, and by Kuvera’s

16 her nose; and her teeth grew by the Praja-pati’s energy,

17 and three eyes were developed by Agni’s energy; and her eyebrows were the energy of the two twilights, and her ears Vayu’s energy; and the coming into being of the energies of the other gods hecame the auspicious goddess. 

18 Then gazing at her, who had sprung from the combined energies of all the gods, the Immortals who were afflicted by

19 Mahisha felt a keen joy.* The bearer of’ the how Pinaka drawing a trident forth from his own trident gave it to her; and Krishna gave a discus pulling it out of his own discus;

*The Bombay edition inserts a verse here. “Then the gods gave her also their own several weapons; wishing for victory they shouted aloud to the viotorions goddess ‘Conquer! conquer!’” 

20 and Varuna gave her a conch, Agni a spear, Maruta gave a

21 bow and a quiver filled with arrows.† Indra lord of the Immortals gave a thunder-bolt pulling it out of his own thunder-bolt; the Thousand-eyed gave her a bell from his

† For vana-purne read vana-’purna? 

 22 elephant Airavata. Yama gave a rod from his own rod of Fate, and the lord of the waters a noose; and the Praja-pati gave her a necklace of beads, Brahma an earthen water-pot

 23 the Sun bestowed his own rays on all the pores of her skin, and Destiny †† gave her a sword and a spotless shield; 

†† Or Time, Kala.

24 and the Ocean of milk a spotless necklace of pearls and also a pair of undecaying garmenls. And a celestial crest-jewel,

26 pair of ear-rings, and bracelets, and a brilliant half-moon ornament, and armlets over ail ter arms, and also a pair of

26 bright anclets, a necklet of the finest make, and rings and gems on all her fingers - these Vishva-karman gave to her, and 

27 also a brightly polished axe, weapons of many shapes and also armour that could not be pierced. And Ocean gave her a

28 garland of fadeless lotus-flowers for her head and another for her breast, and a very brilliant lotus-flower besides. Himavat

29 gave her a lion to ride on and gems of various kinds. Kuvera gave a drinking cup full of wine. And Sh’esha, the lord of all

30 the serpents, who supports this earth, gave her a serpent necklace adorned with large gems. Honoured by other gods

31 also with gifts of ornaments* and weapons, the goddess uttered a loud roar blended with a horse-laugh again and again. The whole welkin was filled with her terrible roar.

* For bhashanair read bhushanair. 

32 By that penetrating and exceedingly great roar a great echo

33 arose, all the worlds shook and the seas trembled, the earth quaked and all the mountains moved. And “Conquer thou!” exclaimed the gods with joy to her who rode on the lion

34 and the munis extolled her as they bowed their bodies in faith. 

Seeing all the three worlds greatly agitated, the foes of the

35 Immortals uniting all their armies rose up together, with uplifted weapons. “Ha! what is this?” exclaimed the Asura

36 Mahisha in wrath, and rushed surrounded by all the Asuras towards that roar. Then he saw the goddess, pervading the

37 three worlds † with her light, causing the earth to bow at the touch of her feet, grazing the firmament with her crest, shaking the whole of Patala with the twang of her bow-string,

† For vydpta-loka-trayam read vyapta-loka-trayam, with the Bombay edition; otherwise this word, read as a neuter noun, separates devim from the feminine adjectives which follow.

38 standing pervading the sky all around with her thousand arms. Then began a battle between the goddess and the 

39 enemies of the gods, in -which every region of the sky was illumined with the weapons and arms hurled in abundance. And the Asura Mahisha’s general, the great Asura named 

40 Ch’ikshura, fought with her; and the Asura Ch’amara attended by his cavalry fought along with others. The great Asura

41 named Udagra with six myriads of chariots fought; and Maha-hanu with a thousand myriads gave battle; and the

42 great Asura Asi-loman with fifty millions; with six hundred myriads Vaskala fought in the battle; Ugra-darsana * with 

* Instead of pari-varitah I take the reading of the Bombay edition Ugaradarshanah as a proper name. The Calcutta text contains no name as a nominative in this line or the next.

43 many troops of thousands of elephants and horses, and surrounded with ten million chariots fought in that battle; and

44 the Asura named Vidala fought in the battle there, surrounded with fifty myriads of myriads of chariots. And other

45 great Asuras in myriads, surrounded with chariots, elephants and horses, fought with the goddess in that battle there. Now

46 the Asura Mahisha was surrounded with thousands of ten million times ten millions of chariots and elephants and horses in the battle there. With iron maces and javelins, with spears

47 and clubs, with swords, with axes and halberds they fought in the battle against the goddess. And some hurled spears,

48 and others nooses, but they assailed the goddess with blows from their swords in order to slay her. 

And then the goddess Ch’andika clove, as it were in merest

49 play, those weapons and arms by raining forth her own weapons and arms. The goddess betrayed no exertion in her

50 countenance, while the gods and rishis were praising her. The queenly goddess hurled her weapons and arms at the Asuras’ bodies. The lion also that bore the goddess, enraged and

51 with rufiled mane, stalked among the armies of Asuras, like fire through the forests. And the deep breaths, which

52 Ambika fighting in the battle breathed forth, came into real being at once as troops by hundreds and thousands. These fought with axes, with javelins, and swords and halberds,

53 destroying the Asura bands, being invigorated by the goddess’ energy. And of these bands some raised a din with

54 large drums, and others with conchs, and others besides with drums, in that great battle-festival. Then the goddess with

55 her trident, her club, with showers of spears, and with her sword and other weapons slaughtered the great Asuras in

56 hundreds, and laid others low who were bewitched with the ringing of her bell; and binding other Asuras with her noose dragged them on the ground. And others again, cloven in

57 twain by sharp slashes of her sword and crushed * by blows with her mace, lie on the ground; aud some grievously

*Vi-pothita; vi-puth is not in the dictionary. 

58 battered by her club vomited forth blood. Some were felled to the ground, pierced in the breast by her trident. Some being closely massed together were cut in pieces † by

†For kritah read krittah? 

59 torrent of her arrows in the battle-field. Following the manner of an army,† † the afflicters of the thirty gods gave up the ghost; some with their arms cut off, and others with severed

†† Senanukarinah; but the commentator translates it, “fighting in the rear of the army.” The Bombay edition reads (silanukarinah, “who resembled mountains.” 

60 necks; their heads fell from others, others were torn asunder in the middle; and other great Asuras fell to the earth with

61 legs clean cut off; some were cloven by the goddess into two parts, with a single arm and eye and foot to each part; and others fell and rose again, although with head cut off.

62 Headless corpses, still grasping the finest weapons, fought with the goddess; and others danced there in the battle, keeping time to the strains of the musical instruments.

63 Corpses, with heads severed, still held swords and spears aud lances § in their hands; and other great Asuras were shouting

§ For ushti read rishti. 

64 to the goddess, “Stand! stand!” || With the prostrate chariots, elephants and horses and Asuras the earth became impassable 

|| The Bombay edition adds a line to this verse, “while from their mangled limbs flowed, streams of blood (rudhiraugka-viluptangah in that appalling battle.”

65 where that great battle took place. And large rivers formed of torrents of blood straightway flowed along there amidst the armies of Asuras, and among the elephants, Asuras and horses. 

66 Thus Ambika brought that great army of the Asuras to utter destruction in a moment, even as fire utterly consumes

67 a huge pile of grass and timber. And the lion, with quivering mane, stalked on roaring aloud.* While he prowled † as it were for lives out of the bodies of the foes of the Immortals,

* The Bombay edition repeats here the second line of verse 50.

†Vi-ch’invati, the loc. case, with simha understood. 

68 the battle was fought there between those troops of the goddess and the Asuras, so that the gods in heaven sending down showers of flowers gratified †† her.§ 

†† Or “lauded, “according to another reading. 

§ For esham read enam.