Durga Slays Mahishasura

From The Devi-Mahatmyam

This source was originally a poem and the lines are preserved the start of their paragraphs. To cite this source at the end of a sentence, use the title, chapter number, and the relevant line numbers in parentheses at the end of the sentence, as in (Devi-Mahatyam 1.59-62).

The word asura means something roughly akin to demon, and the devas are the gods.

From Chapter 1:

The king said:

59-62. “Venerable sir, what is that Devi (Goddess) whom you call Mahamaya? How did she come into being, and what is sphere of action, O Brahmana? What constitutes her nature? What is her form? Wherefrom did she originate? All that I wisht o hear from you, O you supreme among the knowers of Brahman.”

The Rishi (a wise sage) said:

63-71. “She is eternal, embodied as the universe. By her all this is pervaded. Nevertheless she incarnates in manifold ways; hear it from me. When she manifests herself in order to accomplish the purposes of the goddesses, she is said to be born in the world, though she is eternal.”

From Chapter 2:

The Rishi said:

1-3. “Long ago when Mahishasura was the lord of asuras and Indra the lord of devas, there was a war between the devas and asuras for a full hundred years. In that the army of the devas was vanquished by the valorous asuras. After conquering all the devas, Mahishasura became the lord of heaven.”

10-11. “Then issued forth a great light from the face of Vishnu who was full of intense anger, and from that of Brahma and Shiva too. From the bodies of Indra and other devas also sprang forth a very great light. And all this light united together.

12-13. “The devas saw there a concentration of light like a mountain blazing excessively, pervading all the quarters with its flames. Then that unique light, produced from the bodies of all the devas, pervading the three worlds with its luster, combined into one and became a female form.

19. “Then, looking at her who had come into being from the assembled lights of all the devas, the immortals who were oppressed by Mahishasura experienced joy.

20-21. “Shiva, drawing forth a trident from his own trident, presented it to her; and Vishnu bringing forth a discus out of his own discus gave it to her. Varuna gave her a conch, Agni the god of fire gave her a spear, and Maruta gave a bow as well as two quivers full of arrows.

22-23. “Indra, lord of devas, bringing a thunderbolt out of his own thunderbolt and a bell from that of his elephant, gave them to her. Yama the lord of death gave a staff from his own staff of Death and Varuna, the lord of waters, a noose; and Brahma, the lord of beings, gave a string of beads and a water-pot.

34-46. “The earth quaked and the all the mountains rocked. ‘Victory to you,’ exclaimed the devas in joy to her, the lion-rider. The saves, who bowed their bodies in devotion, extolled her. Seeing Durga agitated the devas, who mobilized tall their armies and rose up together with uplifted weapons. Mahishasura, exclaiming in wrath, ‘Ha! Who is this?’ rushed towards that roar, surrounded by innumerable asuras. Then he saw Durga pervading the three worlds with her luster. Making the earth bend with her footstep, scraping the sky with her diadem, shaking the nether worlds with the twang of her bowstring, and standing there pervading all the quarters around with her thousand arms. Then began a battle between Durga and the enemies of the devas, in which the quarters of the sky were illumined by the weapons and arms hurled diversely. Mahishasura’s general, a great asura named Ciksura and Camara, attended by forces comprising four parts, and other asuras fought. A great asura named Udagra with sixty thousand chariots and Mahahanu with ten million chariots gave battle. Asiloman, another great asura, with fifteen million chariots and Baskala with six million fought in that battle. Privarita with many thousands of elephants and horses, and surrounded by ten million chariots, fought in that battle. An asura named Bidala fought in that battle surrounded with five hundred multitudes of chariots. And other great asuras, thousands in number, surrounded with chariots, elephants and horses fought with Durga in that battle.

47-48. “Mahishasura was surrounded in that battle with thousands of multitudes of horses, elephants, and chariots. Other asuras fought in the battle against Durga with iron maces and javelins, with spears and clubs, with swords, axes, and long spears. Some hurled spears and others nooses.

49-58. “They began to strike her with swords in order to kill her. Showering her own weapons and arms, Durga very easily cut into pieces all those weapons and arms. Without any strain on her face, and with gods and sages extolling her, the Goddess threw her weapons and arms at the bodies of the asuras. And the lion also which carried Durga, shaking its mane in rage, stalked among the hosts of the asuras like a fire amidst the forests. The sighs which Durga, engaged in the battle, heaves became at once her battalions by hundreds and thousands. Energized by the power of Durga, these battalions fought with axes, javelins, swords, and long spears, and destroyed the asuras. Of these battalions, some beat drums, some blew conches, and others played on tambourines in that great martial festival. Then Durga killed hundreds of asuras with her trident, club, showers of spears, swords, and the like, and threw down others who were stupefied by the noise of her bell; and binding others with her noose, she dragged them on the ground. Some were split into two by the sharp slashes of her swords, and others, smashed by the blowers of her mace, lay down on the ground; and some severely hammered by club vomited forth blood.

59-61. “Pierced in the breast by her trident, some fell on the ground. Pierces all over by her arrows and resembling porcupines, some of the enemies of devas gave up their lives on that field of battle. Some had their arms cut off, some, their necks broken, the heads of others rolled down; some others were torn asunder in the middle of their trunks, and some great asuras fell on the ground with their legs severed.

62. “Some rendered one-armed, one-eyed, and one-legged were again clove in two by Durga. And others, though rendered headless, fell and rose again.
63. “Headless trunks fought with Durga with best weapons in their hands. Some of these headless trunks danced there in the battle to the rhythm of the musical instruments.

64-65. “The trunks of some other great asuras, with their swords, spears, and lances still in their hands, shouted at Durga with their just severed heads, ‘Stop, stop!’ That part of earth where the battle was fought became impassable with the asuras, elephants, and horses and chariots that had been cut down.

66-67. “The profuse blood from the asuras, elephants and horses flowed immediately like large rivers amidst that army of the asuras. As fire consumes a huge heap of straw and wood, so did Durga destroy that vast army of asuras in no time.

68-69. “And her lion-steed, thundering aloud with quivering mane, prowled about in the battlefield, appearing to search out the vital breaths from the bodies of the enemies of the devas. In that battlefield the battalions of Durga fought in such a manner with the asuras that the devas in heaven, showering flowers, extolled them.

From Chapter 3

The Rishi said:

1-2. “Then Ciksura, the great asura general, seeing that army being slain by Durga, advanced in anger to fight with her.

3. “That asura rained showers of arrows on Durga in the battle, even as a cloud of showers rain on the summit of Mount Meru.
4. “Then Durga, easily cutting asunder the masses of his arrows, killed his horsesa and their controller with her arrows.
5. “Forthwith she split his bow and lofty banner, and with her arrows pierced the body of that asura whose bow had been cut.
6. “His bow shattered, his chariot broken, his horses killed and his charioteer slain, the asura armed with sword and shield rushed at Durga.
7. “Swiftly he smote the lion on the head with his sharp-edged sword and struck Durga also on her left arm.
8. “His sword broke into pieces as soon as it touched her arm. Eyes reddened with anger he took the spear.
9. “He hurled the resplendent weapon at Durga, as though he was hurling the very orb of sun from the skies.
10. “Seeing the spear coming upon her, Durga hurled her spear. It shattered his spear into a hundred pieces, as it did likewise with the great asura.
11. “When the very valiant general of Mahisha, was slain, Camara, the afflictor of the gods came forward mounted on an elephant.
12. “He too hurled his lance at her. Durga quickly assailed it with a grunt, made it dull and fall to the ground.
13. “Seeing his lance broken and fallen, Camara, full of rage, hurled a spear, and she broke that also with her arrows.
14. “Then the lion, leaping up and seating itself at the center of the elephant’s forehead, engaged itself in a hand to hand fight with that enemy of the gods.
15. “Fighting, the two then came down to the earth from the back of the elephant, and fought very animatedly dealing each other terrible blows.
16. “Then the lion, springing up quickly to the sky, and descending, severed Camara’s head with a blow of its paw.17. “Udagra was killed in the battle by Durga with rocks, trees and the like. Karala was brought down by her teeth, fists and slaps.
17. “Enraged, Durga pulverized Uddhata with the blows of her mace. She killed Baskala with a javelin and destroyed Tamra and Andhaka with arrows.
18. “The three-eyed Supreme Goddess killed Ugrasya, Ugravirya and Mahahanu too with her
    trident.
19. “With her sword she struck down Bidala’s head from his body, and dispatched both Durdhara and Durmudha to the abode of Death with her arrows.21-22. “Seeing his army being destroyed thus, Mahishasura terrified the troops of Durga with his buffalo form, hitting some by muzzle, trampling some by the hooves, lashing at some with his tail, and tearing others with his horns.
20. “Some he laid low on the face of the earth by sheer speed, some by his bellowing
    and wheeling movement, and others by the blast of his breath.
21. “Having laid low her army, Mahishasura rushed to slay the lion of the great goddess. This enraged Durga.
22. He too, of great valor, pounded the terrain with his hooves in rage, tossed
    about the mountains with his horns, and bellowed terribly.
23. “Crushed by his whirling speed, the earth crumbled to pieces. Lashed by his tail, the ocean flooded everywhere.
24. “Pierced by his swaying horns, the clouds went into pieces. His heaving breath lifted the mountains up in the sky in hundreds and brought them down.
25. “Seeing the great asura bloated with rage advancing towards her, Chandika assumed an angry mood in order to slay him.
26. “She flung her noose over the great asura and bound him. Thus bound in the great battle, he relinquished his buffalo form.
27. “Then suddenly he became a lion. As soon as Durga cut the head off, he took the appearance of a man with sword in hand.

31-32. “Immediately the Goddess cut asunder the man along with his sword and shield. Then he became a huge elephant and pulled her lion with his trunk roaring loudly. As he was dragging, Durga cut off his trunk with her sword.

33. “The great asura then resumed his buffalo form and shook the three worlds with their movable and immovable objects.
34. “An enraged Durga, the mother of the worlds, quaffed again and again a superb drink, her eyes becoming red.
35. “The asura, too intoxicated with his strength and valor, roared and threw mountains at Durga with his horns.

36-38. “She reduced those mountains to powder with a volley of arrows. She spoke to
him, her words faltering and the color of her face rising due to the intoxication of the drink. The Goddess said, “Roar, roar, O fool, for a moment till I drink this wine. Soon the gods are going to roar in this very place, when you are slain by me”.

39-40. “Exclaiming thus, she jumped and landed herself on that great asura, crushing his neck under her foot and struck him with her spear.

41. “Thereupon, caught under her foot, Mahishasura managed to emerge partly from his own buffalo mouth. Being completely overcome by the valor of the Goddess only half of his self could emerge.
42. “Fighting thus with his half-revealed form, the great asura was beheaded and slain by the Goddess with the sword.

43-44. “Then, crying in consternation, the entire army of asuras perished. The entire hosts of gods exulted at this. The gods along with the divine seers lauded the Goddess, the male divinities sang and the multitudes of female spirits danced in
celebration of Mahishasura’s end.

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