Andhaka's Fight

Sanatkumara said

The king of the daityas understood the signs. He took up his club, gathered his soldiers and put at their front Gila, a terrible daitya whom even the best gods could not assail. Reaching the mount of Maheshvara's cave, Gila tried to shatter it with many weapons as hard as the vajra. Others attacked Viraka, and others covered the mountain's daughter with weapons. Some broke the lovely gate, some destroyed flowers and leaves, some smashed fruits, roots, water, pleasant gardens and paths, and some, delighted, tried to shake the mountain's golden peaks. Hara, wielder of the trident, was enraged and remembered his own soldiers. At once many terrible beings arrived, and so did the gods' armies with Vishnu in front. All the gods and many kinds of beings came, folded their hands and bowed: ganas and their troops, chariots, elephants, horses, bulls, cows, camels, mules, great birds, lions, tigers, boars, cranes, large and small fish led by dolphins, many other beings with broken teeth who haunt cremation grounds, snakes, hundreds of pretas and pishachas, divine vimanas, lotus lakes, great and small rivers, and mountains and mounts. Kapardin made the high-minded Viraka his general, and when the gods and mounts had rested, the Pinaka-wielder sent them to fight.

Maheshvara sent the best of them, those who would pursue victory steadily. Without following the usual rules of war, all of them fought Gila as though the yuga were ending. The Daitya lord's soldiers were always fearsome, and in the fight they angrily devoured heaven's dwellers. In an instant Vighasa swallowed every fighting soldier, with Brahma, Indra, Vishnu, the sun and the moon foremost. Only Viraka was left. He left the field, entered the cave and, bowing to Sharva, told Smara's enemy everything that had happened. He said Vighasa had devoured the soldiers, and with them Vishnu, guru of the three worlds and crusher of daityas, and the moon, the sun, Brahma and Indra, the givers of boons, and also Yama, Varuna, Vayu and Dhanada. Humiliated, he alone was left, and the daitya lord, with his daityas, was glad and unbeatable. What was he to do?

Viraka then told a story of Vishnu. When Vishnu, swift as the wind and fear-inspiring, tore Hiranyakashipu apart with his nails, the daitya's son begged him devotedly, yet Bhagavan came under the sway of wickedness: he opened his mouth wide and began to blow away all the impurities of the three worlds. Vasishtha and the other seven sages cursed him then, saying that for a very long time he would be subject to the daityas. Wishing his own good, he asked them in affectionate words when he would be freed from the terrible curse. The sages answered angrily that when it was time to fight he would be pierced by terrible arrows and struck by fists, Vighasa would open his mouth wide and swallow him, and he would then stay in Hara's sacred cave in the forest called Badari, and when cleansed of his sins he would move on. Following their words, from that day he had been grieved and wandered on battlefields, and now that he had devoured daityas he was full of delight again. Viraka added that even more terrible was Shukra, the great enemy of the sun and moon: when gods killed daityas he spoke hymn verses and used his mritasanjivani knowledge to bring them back healthy and vigorous, cured of hundreds of wounds. It would be better to give up their lives, he said, and, to Shiva, that at the time of battle Shiva had remained only a witness and done nothing to accomplish the task. Hearing this from his virtuous son, the lord of the pramathas was enraged, but then thought for a long time, first chanted Sama Veda hymns, laughed inwardly, and took a form like the sun, which destroyed the darkness.

When there was light again in the world, Viraka, with his malformed face, fought the daityas again. Earlier he had eaten powdered stones given by the best of sages and had conquered cities in battle, but though terrible, the daitya swallowed him at once. Nandi tried to help him with sharp arrows, a spear and a sword, but he too was swallowed. The daitya also swallowed leading warriors and hundreds of excellent sages, great abodes of learning, calm, self-controlled and steadfast. Seeing this, Bhagavan Kapardin mounted his bull and advanced on Vighasa to fight him. He did japa with a divine mantra that makes one disgorge what has been swallowed, and stood with his bow strung and vajra-like arrows. All those swallowed came out of Vighasa's mouth: Viraka, the sages, all the matchless forces, Vishnu, the lotus-born Brahma, Bala's enemy Indra, the sun, the moon and the soldiers. Delighted, they fought again and won. But Shukra, by the strength of his knowledge, revived the daityas who had been killed. Then the ganas bound the danavas' guru and brought him before Bhutapati, and Tripura's enemy swallowed him. With Shukra destroyed in this way, the gods beat all their enemies, crushing and breaking their dwelling. Bhutas filled the place, eating the daityas' corpses, headless torsos danced with sharp arrows and spears in hand, and drunken vetalas, birds with strong talons and beaks, and wolves with gaping mouths stuffed with corpses crowded the field.

Hiranyakashipu's descendant fought for a very long time but was defeated by Hari, Hara and great Indra. The exhausted remnant of his army fled into Patala, the mountains, the waters and any refuge. Supreme Andhaka, a bull among daityas, who had crushed the universe, had wrought great carnage among the gods, but Hari crushed his pride with a blow of his terrible mace. Since he had a boon, he did not give up the fight even though his body was battered by that blow from the lord of the gods. With torrents of shastras, astras, trees, mountains and water he quickly beat the gods back, and, roaring loudly, challenged the lord of the pramathas to a duel.

They stayed in that battle and used many weapons. When these were spent, Andhaka attacked Girija and Rudra with trees, snakes, thunder, dark and misshapen weapons made by maya, and hundreds of deceitful weapons fashioned by Shambara. To beat the lord of the mountains he created another illusory being, great in spirit and as powerful and brave as Tripura's enemy. The daitya's body was mangled by the many shastras and astras, but though disabled, because of the hundreds of boons he could not be killed by the gods. From the blood that flowed, many other terrible Andhakas arose, just like him, with misshapen faces, and covered the earth. Bhutapati, Tripura's enemy, struck him with a trident like the scorching fire at the end of a kalpa and pierced him terribly. But whenever Pashupati killed some soldiers, others sprouted from the wounds, the flesh and the flowing blood. At this Vishnu called Pashupati back. The intelligent Shiva used his yoga to create a fierce female form with a misshapen face, cruel, harsh, angry and many-armed. As soon as she emerged she stood before Shambhu's ganas, her two feet straddling the whole earth, praised by all the gods. Bhagavan resolved to urge her on, and, afflicted by hunger, she devoured the soldiers and drank the warm blood flowing from the daityas, till the field was a mire. Only the single daitya was left. Though his blood was dried up, he remembered the eternal kshatriya dharma of those born in his line and fought Girisha with vajra-like palm blows, knees, legs and nails, with mouth, arms and head. But the lord of the pramathas pacified him in battle and pierced his heart with the trident. He was raised up into the sky like a pillar. The lower half of his body was dried by the sun's rays, and the upper half rotted by rain from the clouds and wind, every part devastated like flakes of snow under the harsh sun. Yet the bull among daityas did not give up his life. Shambhu was pleased by this, and the ocean of supreme compassion happily gave him the position of ganapati. With the battle over, the lords of the worlds rejoiced and worshipped the lord of the pramathas in many fitting ways, and Hari, Brahma and the others lowered their shoulders in praise and cried victory. Hara spent some time with them inside the cave, honoured his many powerful portions and their followers in due order and released them. Having got back the mountain's supreme daughter and an unblemished son freed from the mouth of a terrible death, he ordered festivities.