Durga Saptashati
Tritiyodhyaya
CHAPTER 3
The Slaying of Mahisasura
The Rishi said:
1-2. Then Ciksura, the great asura general, seeing that army being slain(by the Devi), advanced in anger to fight with Ambika.
3. That asura rained showers of arrows on the Devi in the battle, even as a cloud (showers) rain on the summit of Mount Meru.
4. Then the Devi, easily cutting asunder the masses of his arrows, killed his horses 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 the Devi.
7. Swiftly he smote the lion on the head with his sharp-edged sword and struck the Devi also on her left arm.
8. O king, his sword broke into pieces as it touched her arm. Thereon his eyes turning red with anger, he grasped his pike.
9. Then the great asura flung at Bhandrakali the pike, blazing with lustre, as if he was hurling the very sun from the skies.
10. Seeing that pike coming upon her, the Devi hurled her pike that shattered his pike into a hundred fragments and the great asura himself.
11. Mahisasura’s very valiant general having been killed, Camara, the afflictor of devas, mounted on an elephant, advanced.
12. He also hurled his spear at the Devi. Ambika quickly assailed it with a whoop, made it lustreless and fall to the ground.
13. Seeing his spear broken and fallen, Camara, full of rage, flung a pike, and she split that also with her arrows.
14. Then the lion, leaping up and seating itself at the centre of the elephant’s forehead, engaged itself in a hand to hand fight with that foe of the devas.
15. Fighting, the two then came down to the earth from the back of the elephant, and fought very impetuously, dealing the most terrible blows at each other.
16. Then the lion, springing up quickly to the sky, and descending, severed Camara’s head with a blow from its paw.
17. And Udagra was killed in the battle by the Devi with stones, trees and the like, and Karala also stricken down by her teeth and fists and slaps.
18. Enraged, the Devi ground Uddhata to powder with the blows of her club, and killed Baskala with a dart and destroyed Tamra and Andhaka with arrows.
19. The three-eyed Supreme Isvari killed Ugrasya and Ugravirya and Mahahanu also with her trident.
20. 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. As his army was thus being destroyed, Mahisasura terrified the troops of the Devi with his own buffalo form.
22. Some ( he laid low) by a blow of his muzzle, some by stamping with his hooves, some by the lashes of his tail, and others by the pokes of his horns.
23. Some he laid low on the face of the earth by his impetuous speed, some by his bellowing and wheeling movement, and others by the blast of his breath.
24. Having laid low her army, Mahisasura rushed to slay the lion of the Mahadevi. This enraged Ambika.
25. Mahisasura, great in valour, pounded the surface of the earth with his hooves in rage, tossed up the high mountains with his horns, and bellowed terribly.
26. Crushed by the velocity of his wheeling, the earth disintegrated, and lashed by his tail, the sea overflowed all around.
27. Pierced by his swaying horns, the clouds went into fragments. Cast up by the blast of his breath, mountains fell down from the sky in hundreds.
28. Seeing the great asura swollen with rage and advancing towards her, Chandika displayed her wrath in order to slay him.
29. She flung her noose over him and bound the great asura. Thus bound in the great battle, he quitted his buffalo form.
30. Then he became a lion suddenly. While Ambika cut off the head (of his lion form), he took the appearance of a man with sword in hand.
31. Immediately then the Devi with her arrows chopped off the man together with his sword and shield. Then he became a big elephant.
32. (The elephant) tugged at her great lion with his trunk and roared loudly, but as he was dragging, the Devi cut off his trunk with her sword.
33. The great asura then resumed his buffalo shape and shook the three worlds with their movable and immovable objects.
34. Enraged threat, Chandika, the Mother of the worlds, quaffed a divine drink again and again, and laughed, her eyes becoming red.
35, And the asura, also roared intoxicated with his strength and valour, and hurled mountains against Chandika with his horns.
36. And she with showers of arrows pulverized ( those mountains) hurled at her, and spoke to him in flurried words, the colour of her face accentuated with the intoxication of the divine drink. The Devi said:
37-38. ‘Roar, roar, O fool, for a moment while I drink this wine. When you sill be slain by me, the devas will soon roar in this very place.’ The Rishi said:
39-40. Having exclaimed thus, she jumped and landed herself on that great asura, pressed him on the neck with her foot and struck him with her spear.
41. And thereupon, caught up under her foot. Mahisasura half issued forth ( in his real form) from his own (buffalo) mouth, being completely overcome by the valour of the Devi.
42. Fighting thus with his half-revealed form, the great asura was laid by the Devi who struck off his head with her great sword.
43. Then, crying in consternation, the whole asura army perished; and all the hosts of deva were in exultation. 44. With the great sages of heaven, the devas praised the Devi. The Gandharva chiefs sang and the bevies of apsaras danced. Here ends the third chapter called ‘The Slaying of Mahisasura’ of Devi-mahatmya in Markandeya-purana during the period of Savarni, the Manu.