Description of Jalandhara

Vyasa said

Best of Vidhatri's sons, wise one, you have told a wonderful account. What happened in the battle after that? How was the daitya killed? Tell me.

Sanatkumara replied

Unable to see Girija, the Indra among daityas returned to the battle. When the gandharvas vanished, Vrishadhvaja regained his senses. When they disappeared Shankara realised that what he had seen was the work of maya. Following worldly custom, the destroyer grew very angry, and Shiva was surprised in his mind. Full of rage he again approached Jalandhara to fight him. Seeing Shiva back in the battle, the daitya covered him with a shower of arrows. Jalandhara was extremely strong, but the lord Hara cut the fierce net of arrows he shot with his own arrows; for the destroyer of the three worlds it was no surprise. Jalandhara saw Rudra's extraordinary valour. To confound Tryambaka he used maya to create Gouri. Shiva saw Parvati tied to the top of the chariot, weeping, about to be killed by Shumbha, Nishumbha and other daityas. Seeing Gouri so, he showed the world's ways. Behaving like an ordinary person, Shiva's mind was shaken. Skilled in many pastimes, he cast his face downward and was silent. His limbs went slack, he was dejected and forgot his own valour. Jalandhara forcefully pierced him with three arrows, which sank into Rudra's head, chest and stomach up to the feathers. But the lord plays great pastimes and is the essence of knowledge. In an instant Rudra took a fierce form, blazing in a garland of flames and exceedingly terrible. The great asuras saw his dreadful form and, unable to stand before him, fled in the ten directions. Lord among sages, Nishumbha and Shumbha, famous and supreme among the brave, could not stay in the battle either. In a trice the maya Jalandhara made vanished. In every direction great cries of lament arose in that battle. Seeing Shumbha and Nishumbha flee, Rudra in rage rebuked and cursed them.

Rudra said

You are wicked and have committed every crime against me. You are the ones who chastised Parvati. Now you run from the battlefield. Those who flee should not be killed, so I will not kill you. When this battle with me is over, Gouri will kill you.

Sanatkumara said

While Gouri's lord was saying this, Jalandhara, the ocean's son, blazing like a flaming fire, grew extremely angry with Rudra.

He rained swift, sharp arrows on Rudra until the ground was covered and dark. Rudra quickly cut down the countless arrows, and the powerful daitya struck the bull hard with his club, so that the bull drew back from the field. Rudra tried to pull it back but it would not hold the ground. Then great Rudra let his energy show, unbearable, to everyone, lord among sages; this is true. Furious, Rudra took on a fierce shape and suddenly blazed in it like the fire of dissolution. He saw the daitya standing before him like a cloud or a mountain top. He prepared himself, since he had heard that no one else could kill him, and the lord who guards the universe wished Brahma's words to prove true. With great compassion for him in his heart, he resolved to kill him. The trident-bearer was full of rage. Marvellous and fierce, with his big toe he swiftly drew a chariot wheel in the waters of the great ocean. Bhagavan, having drawn that sharp-edged wheel in the sea, remembered the enemies of the three worlds he had destroyed before: Daksha, Andhaka, Tripura and Daksha's sacrifice. The destroyer of the three worlds laughed and spoke.

Rudra said

Jalandhara, I have drawn this wheel in the great waters with my foot. If you have the strength to lift it, stay and fight me; if not, do not.

Sanatkumara said

Hearing him, Jalandhara's eyes blazed with rage. He looked at Shankara as if to burn him with his eyes and spoke.

Jalandhara said

Shankara, when I have lifted the line I will kill you and your ganas; I will wreck the world and the gods as Garuda seizes his portion, and I can destroy all that moves and stands, Vasava with it. Maheshvara, is there anyone in the three worlds my arrows cannot pierce? As a child I conquered Bhagavan Brahma with my austerity; he now lives in my fine city with the sages and the bulls among the gods. In an instant I can burn the three worlds. Rudra, what are your austerities? I have beaten even Bhagavan. Indra, Agni, Yama, the lord of riches, Vayu, the lord of water and the rest could not bear me, just as nagas cannot bear the smell of the king of birds. Shankara, nowhere in heaven or on earth has my vehicle failed to go. I have crossed every mountain and made the lords among ganas suffer. To ease an itch in my arms I struck Mandara, Indra of mountains, handsome Nila and lovely Meru and gave them pain. For fun on Mount Himalaya I dammed the Ganga with my arms. My very servants beat my enemies, the dwellers of heaven. I caught the Vadava fire, stopped its mouth with my hand and made the oceans one. I threw Airavata and other elephants into the sea. I flung lord Indra and his chariot a hundred yojanas off. I tied Vishnu and Garuda in a noose of serpents. Urvashi and other women are locked in my house. Rudra, you do not know me. I am the conqueror of the three worlds, Jalandhara the great daitya, the very strong son of the ocean.

Sanatkumara said

Having told Mahadeva this, the ocean's son did not move. Nor did he remember the danavas killed in battle. Insolent, with no sign of humility, he showed his strength, slapping his arms. Mahadeva was rebuked by him in harsh words. He heard the daitya's words, uttered in a most inauspicious manner.

Mahadeva laughed, full of mighty rage. With his big toe he shaped the chakra called Sudarshana, took it in his hand and prepared to kill him. Bhagavan Hara let fly the chakra Sudarshana, bright as a crore suns, like the fire of dissolution. It scorched the space between heaven and earth and swiftly reached Jalandhara. With great force it sliced off his head with its two wide dilated eyes. His body dropped from the chariot and the earth rang. The ocean's son's head fell too, to great cries of lament. His body, split in two, was like a mountain of collyrium shattered by the vajra, or a great mountain broken in half and thrown into the ocean. The whole universe was spattered with his awful blood, and, lord among sages, the entire earth was disfigured. At Rudra's order his whole body, with the blood and flesh, was carried to the hell called Maharourava, where it became a pit of blood. When his body was destroyed an energy came out of it and merged into Bhava, as the energy of Vrinda's body had merged into Gouri. Seeing Jalandhara dead, the gods, gandharvas and pannagas were delighted and sang praise. All the gods, siddhas and lords among sages were pleased, rained flowers and loudly praised Isha. The divine women, stirred by love, danced for joy and sang beautiful verses in sweet tones with the kinnaras. Sage, with Vrinda's husband dead, all the directions grew calm. The three winds blew pleasantly and auspiciously. The moon regained its coolness and the sun its great energy. The fire burned serenely and the sky was no longer marred. Sage, in this way the three worlds and the waters came to a more beneficial state when Hara, infinite in forms, killed the ocean's son.