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Bhagavadgita Pages, Chapters 1 to 18

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V.Krishnaraj

Durga kills demon

Source: Siva Purana and Devi Mahatmya

Thomas B. Coburn says in his book Devi Mahatmya (DM):

"The many battles that the Goddess wages against Asuras in the DM are simply allegories for the battle in which every individual participates between true power and ubiquitous proud pretenders."

You hear a common expression that there is a woman behind everyman. We never hear of a reverse stance where man is behind a woman, not just one man but a host of men behind one women. Were they hiding? No, not at all. The gods devised a plan to solve a sticky problem: the Demon King Mahisa had the protection of a boon that guaranteed no death at the hands of a man or god. He defeated the gods and took over heaven. Vishnu, Siva, and other gods, upon supplication from lesser gods, diffused their Tejas (splendor, male energy) from their bodies, which eventually coalesced and congealed into a warrior goddess, Durga, who was one mass of splendor, a powerhouse of a million suns.  Having become the repository of Tejas from gods, she was ready to face any adversary on the battlefield. She had help from seven Maatrakaas (Mothers) to fight the army of Mahisa. The real battle is between overwhelming Virtue on one side and evil forces on the other side representing usurpation, selfishness, jealousy, anger, hatred, and ego.  Who else other that a Mother who could restrain, admonish, and punish her errant children?  Adam gave his Tejas (rib, in this case, was actually taken while he was put to sleep) to create Eve; the Hindu gods gave Tejas to create a warrior goddess; Koran says that God created one soul, a mate from the latter and countless men and women thereafter. That is one view. Ask the Tantrics, they have a different version. Mother Goddess is the origin of men and material.

(When Adam gave his rib to create Eve (geneticists refute this), God actually made a clone of Adam with significant variation in gender. Is that possible? Anything is possible. Don't they extract DNA from bone and teeth nowadays? Since Adam gave his DNA to Eve, his descendants' Y chromosome is shrinking and wasting away. Compare the robust size of X chromosome with its counterpart, Y --a runt lined up by its side. The Y is a loner; the Y rejects the advances of X to exchange genes except at the ends, when they do the dance of "give and take."  The Y has been an immigrant haven for new genes which serve no useful purpose. Over ages, the immigrant genes die off.  There is no new "real blood" coming into Y. Will Y waste away and come to a naught? The laconic Y is short, dense and wasting way; and  its hyperbole, haughtiness, and bombast do not match its size. They (sperm) march by millions to assault one ovum with hardy accoutrement and loaded with nourishment, so a lonely sperm can enter the premises for companionship and progeny. All those prospective suitors die in battle, as one princely critter enters the once impregnable fortress and makes a mark with an X or Y. The little runt has a big ego; it has the ability to morph the primary default state of femaleness of the embryo into a male, if the critter carries the Y (SRY).  The critter says in effect, "I am the greatest; I broke through the formidable fortress; it is in me whether the progeny is male or not." 

Genetically speaking, Y came into being from X and not X from Y.  Adam can draw little comfort from that notion.  Even worse, the X and Y were not sex chromosomes to begin with; they were autosomes before they became sexy. The future Y chromosome was a copy of X chromosome. Where is the male pride here? And a mere copy at that. What would Adam say to this? When Kali says that she is the origin of men, women and matter, who is going to refute that claim? The male genes hijacked ( took residence in)  the autosome which would be Y. If you stay long enough in a place, you eventually own it. That is how the autosome became the Y chromosome, when the sex genes claimed ownership; there was a transfer of deed of ownership of the house to Y chromosome. To begin with the new X and Y looked alike; they did their dance like all other autosomes and exchanged genes from each other. Then the Y became a loner and lone ranger and stopped nuclear exchange with X except at the ends.  Y also has a lot of palindromes of enormous lengths which forwards and backwards read the same like MADAM. There are palindromes within palindromes which are compared to hall of mirrors. The Y  chromosome chants these palindromes like mantras, repeating them umpteen times.  One such palindrome is the infertility gene. Deletions in the gene during sperm formation leads to infertility. That is misspelling of mantra, which equally has deleterious effect in the world of Tantrics. Man uses the female as the copying machine for his X and Y chromosomes; that is the naked Truth and speaks ill of  Y.)

Though I digressed here, the fact of the matter is that Kali's claim of Supremacy over other gods has validity.

Durga and Inanna-Ishtar Goddess of Mesopotamia are seen here to have some common traits.

Demon (Titan) Rambha, the foremost among Daityas, had a son Mahisa. Kasyappa is the common father of gods and demons, the mothers being Aditi and Diti respectively. (Kasyappa married 13 daughters out of 60 of Daksa, the son of Brahma. Dharama married ten daughters; Moon twenty-seven daughters; Bhrgu, Angiras, Krsasva, and Tarksya two daughters each. The sons and their descendants occupied the three worlds of heaven, earth and nether world.) Sons of Aditi were Adityas (gods) and sons of Diti were Daityas (Demons); gods and demons fathered by Kasyappa were half brothers. (Kasyappa had 13 wives in all.) Polymorphic Demon Mahisa came in line of Daityas, who had the ability to morph to any shape, size and form at will. There was always a rivalry between gods and demons. Both groups churned the Milk Ocean for Nectar of Immortality. The Daityas stole Ambrosia held by Divine Physician Danvantri for  safekeeping; Lord Vishnu, in the form of a ravishing celestial woman, Mohini, fooled the Daityas and extricated the Nectar of Immorality and gave it to the gods for imbibing. There had been wars between the gods and demons; many times demons won over the gods. The Daityas, by their severe austerity, obtained boons from Greater Gods (Siva, Brahma).  (Rambha: Does Rambo have anything to do with Rambha?)

    Mahisa defeated the gods and their chief Indra, usurped the kingdom of Heaven and sat on Indra's throne. The routed gods sought refuge at the feet of Brahma who took them to Siva and Vishnu. They narrated details of their rout at the hands of the demons. They continued their pitiable account: "We were peaceful, but Mahisa usurped our kingdom and throne and banished us from heaven. We are wandering on earth, having been uprooted from our hearth and home. The flagrant turncoats amongst us joined Asura Mahisa, enjoying freedom and prosperity at the hands of Daityas. Our powers, portfolios and sphere of influence have been wrested from us: The Sun, the Moon, Varuna (Lord of waters), Kubera (Treasurer of heaven), Yama, (god of death), Indra (chief of gods), Agni (Fire), Wind, Gandhravas (musicians), Vidyadharas (scholars), and Caranas (celestial singer). It is incumbent upon you to give us refuge, kill the Daityas as soon as possible, and restore what has been taken away from us.

    Upon hearing an earful of woes, Vishnu and Siva became very angry, their eyes rolling and turning red. They witnessed in the mouths of Vishnu, Siva and the bodies of other gods an unrivaled splendor (Tejas) emanating in all ten directions, coalescing, and congealing into a woman Mahisasmardini (Killer of Mahisa). Her face rivaled the splendor of Siva's face; her hair shone like lightning and rivaled that of Yama; her hands were as beautiful and splendorous as those of Vishnu. In all, she had the appearance of a valiant seductress and killer. (Look, the killer girls in 007 movies are no match to Mahisasmardini either in beauty or valor; they should take lessons from her.) Her beauty was a direct bequeathal from Siva, her strength from Vishnu. The moon's beaming rays composed her breasts; Indra's her waists; Varuna's her calves and thighs; earth's her hips; Brahma's her feet; the sun's her toes; Indra's her fingers; Kubera's her nose; Patriarch's her teeth; Fire's her eyes; Dusk's her eyebrows; Wind's her ears; celestials' her limbs. She was sitting on Padma, the lotus seat. (She was the Light and Splendor of all gods.) Vishnu and Siva knew that Mahisâsura obtained a boon by which he would not be killed by any man (except a woman). Mahisa was of the opinion that woman could never overpower and kill him. That is the reason why the gods created Mahisasmardini to kill Mahisa.

    They noticed no weapons on her to fight the demon. Lord Siva gave her a trident; Lord Krishna, his discus; Varuna his conch and noose; the Fire-god his Sakti; Wind-god his bow and a quiver of inexhaustible arrows; Indra his thunderbolt and a bell; Yama, the god of Death, his Big Stick; Prajapati a garland of beads; Brahma a water pot; and the sun lustrous hair.

Others gave the following articles:

Having been endowed with Light, Splendor, weapons and jewels, the goddess roared, which reverberated through heaven and earth; the oceans roiled with tsunamis; the earth shook; the gods let out a cry of victory and relief. The gods looked at Ambika, the newly created warrior goddess, and spouted words of praise. The gods raised their arms and marched their army to the battlefield. The Daityas felt the tumult of the seas and the earth and the din of celebration. They hoisted their arms and were at the ready to march. Mahisa turned his face towards the Light and Sound and rushed headlong towards Ambika, who was radiating beauty and luster in all directions illuminating the three worlds. Million of his armed minions were not far behind Mahisa. They were battle-hardened heroes, and masters of their weapons. They fought hard, they fought long; Ambika easily parried missiles and weapons launched by them. She sent showers of arrows on her enemies, used her trident, club, axe and Sakti. Durga created out of her body many Matrakas (Maatrakaas), the fighting mothers; no men were allowed to do their fighting. They are the seven mothers: Brahmani, Mahesvari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Camunda.  These seven mothers are the personified energies (Tejas) of  seven deities resident in Durga. Another source says that Brahmani came from Brahma, Mahesvari from Siva, Kaumari from Kartikeya, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Varahi from Boar Avatara of Vishnu, Indrani from Indra.

Kali also helped Durga in battle. Mahisasura was in the form a buffalo. There were piles of bodies, body parts, and weapons strewn all over the battlefield, which is the handiwork of one goddess and her Ganas (assistants) fighting millions of soldiers. Headless bodies danced in the battlefield and the heads were talking as they rolled on the ground asking the goddess and her army to stop fighting them. Rivers of blood from Asuras, elephants and horses flowed on the field. Durga killed many Daitya Generals with her sword, pike and club.  Mahisasura, enraged at the carnage, killed many of the Ganas and rushed towards the lion of the goddess with the intent to kill it. As he rushed, he cleared his way by kicking debris with his hooves, sweeping some with his tail, and using his horns and snout to fling them. He was angry and rushed towards the lion who noticed the thrashing buffalo, who broke the mountain top with his horns and hurled a crag at the lion. Many mountains tops were gored by the horns and there was a rain of crags from the sky. The clouds, shattered by the horns, dissipated in no time. The ocean, whipped by his tail, came in waves and ran beyond its shores. Ambika witnessed all this devastation and was ready to put an end to the Buffalo Demon.

She took a lasso, swirled it skillfully with ever widening circle and swung it on the Buffalo Demon to catch him by the horns. As soon as the noose fell on the demon, he metamorphosed into a lion. No sooner than she tried to cut his head off, he became a human being with a sword in his hand. She sent a downpour of arrows on him, which he parried with his shield. He became an elephant, swung his trunk and landed a blow on the lion. Then he became a human; the goddess cut off his hand with her sword; he took his original form of Buffalo. He sent turbulence through all three worlds and Chandica the protector of the worlds, was very angry with him. She began drinking wine and laughed out loud. The Demon also bellowed loud.  He dug the mountains with his horns and flung them at the Goddess; she pulverized them all with her arrows. Now the effects of inebriation was showing on her; her eyes were red and her face became ruddy; she was excited; she spoke like the rumbling clouds. "O monumental idiot, O demon of decadence and low intellect, why are you so foolhardy? No Asura in this universe can stand before me." Thus saying, she jumped on him, kicked his neck and thrust him with her spear. He was dying and yet he continued to fight. With his strength ebbing and blood gushing from his body, he managed to be half human and half buffalo. His buffalo head fell off his body with one clean sweep of the sword by Durga; he fell to the ground; he was dead. His followers ran away shouting and asking for mercy. Indra praised the goddess; the Gandharvas sang songs of glory; the Apasaras danced.  Millions of Devas  were hovering in the sky singing praises and came reverentially to Devi with down-cast heads and shoulders.  This is the origin of Mahalakshmi from Durga. Mother Goddess who is the origin of all gods and goddesses. Mahalakshmi, Sarasvati, and others came from the physical sheath (Kosas) of Parvati (Durga).

Suras and Asuras (gods and demons) churned the milk ocean and obtained nectar; the gods were imbibing the nectar, because they always served at the feet of Lord Vishnu and the demons never did so. The gods thrived and prospered drinking the nectar. Having helped the gods in obtaining the nectar, the demons felt they were entitled to the nectar. The gods and demons started fighting on the beaches of the Milk Ocean. Bali, commander-in-chief of the demons, came by airplane and landed on the beach, surrounded by his underlings. Among the demons were Sumbha and Nisumbha. They all bristled with anger and jealousy because they did not get their share of the Amirta (Ambrosia).

Indra and lesser gods assembled on the beach for the demons were in a fighting mood. Indra was seated on a celestial elephant Airavata. The gods and demons exchanged barbed words and insults and began fighting. Sumbha and Nisumbha fought with Durga also known as Bhadra Kali. Gods and demons fought with their equals in skills, strength and endurance. The dust raised by this fight was so enormous that it reached the sun. When the dust mixed with blood, it precipitated to the earth.

    Lord Vishnu appeared in the sky riding on Garuda in full regalia, dressed in yellow, wearing Kaustubha gem, helmet, earrings, and holding powerful weapons in his eight hands. Demon Kalaneni seated on a lion threw his trident aiming at Garuda's head; Lord Vishnu, caught the trident and killed the lion and the demon with his own weapon.

Sumbha and Nisumbha became powerful demons and usurped the three worlds of Indra, the chief of gods. They took over the portfolios and sovereignty  of the sun, the moon, Kubera, Yama, Varuna, Vayu and Agni.  Kubera = treasurer of the gods; Yama = god of death; Varuna = god of the waters; Vayu = god of wind; Agni = god of fire. Having been defeated and deprived of their station by Sumbha and Nisumbha, the gods appealed to the invincible Devi. The gods went to her father Himavat and eulogized Devi. Sumbha reduced them to nothing, while Nisumbha defeated them in battle. They appealed to Parvati from whose physical sheath (Kosa or body) Ambika came out and thus she was called Kausiki. Parvati became black and was called Kalika.

Chanda and Munda, the two minions of Sumbha and Nisumbha, saw Ambika's (Kausiki) most radiant beautiful form. They went to their king Sumbha and told him of the ineffable beauty of Ambika lighting up the Himalayas. They continued to elaborate on her beauty. "A woman of such supreme beauty has never ever been seen before. Please, King, find out who that goddess is and take her. She is the brightest gem among gems. She has beautiful hands and legs. You must see her to appreciate her beauty. You own all the riches of the world. Nothing is impossible for you to get."

    Upon hearing these words, Sumbha sent demon Sugriva as a messenger to Devi, to persuade her to come to him. Sugriva found the inimitable Beauty and spoke sweat words to her. He said to Devi,  " I have come on the command of Sumbha, the Lord of Asuras, who defeated all gods and owns the three worlds and their riches. You are a woman of heavenly beauty; you are the jewel among women. We enjoy the best in the world. Come with me to Sumbha."

    Devi said, Yes, I agree with all you said; it is all true. I made a silly promise to myself that I will marry the one who defeats me in battle, humiliates me and cuts my pride. Tell Sumbha or Nisumbha to come here, defeat me, and then marry me." The messenger made flippant remarks to Devi by saying that Sumbha and Nisumbha the winners of the three worlds should not find it difficult to defeat a woman and that she should not be haughty now and later lose her dignity by being pulled and tugged by her hair. Devi said to the messenger, " Yes, Sumbha and Nisumbha are powerful. what can I do now? I made this vow which I have to keep. Go and tell them exactly what I told you here. Let them decide what they want to do."

    The messenger was very angry at her non-compliance, left her presence, and told the king of daityas all that Devi said. Sumbha called a high official, Dhumralocana and ordered him to take an army with him to the resistant unwilling shrew and drag her to his court by her hair. He told his chieftain not to take any prisoners, if any body, god, Yaksha, or gandharva resists him and his army. The chieftain found Devi sitting on a heap of snow in Himalayas. He called her loud and clear and ordered her to come in peace to Sumbha and Nisumbha. He threatened force and humiliation of being dragged by her hair to the king. She did not move and Dhumralocana charged towards her in anger to capture her, only to be reduced to ashes by uttering the sound 'hum.' Upon seeing the death by word, the army sent a shower of arrows, javelins, and axes to Devi. The lion, Devi's mount, sensing the danger, shook and bristled its mane, roared like thunder, charged towards the army and killed them by his paws, and mouth; the battlefield was chockfull of body parts and internal organs of the daitya soldiers. Devi did not budge from her seat. Sumbha heard of the destruction of his army by the lion, the mount of Devi. Sumbha became red and hot with anger; his eyes spewed hate; his lips quivered; his hair stood on end. He ordered two valiant asuras, Chanda and Munda to maul and kill the lion and bring Devi in the most indecorous way.

    The armed soldiers saw her sitting calmly on the lion and smiling benignly. She became angry when they charged towards her with swords and bows drawn. When Ambika (Devi) sensed their evil intentions, her face turned black and from her forehead emerged Kali of fierce countenance, carrying sword and noose. She was very emaciated, wore a garland of skulls and tiger skin, moved with a gaping mouth and lolling tongue and peered out of flaming sunken eyes; peals of thunder roared out of her mouth. She devoured soldiers, elephants with mahouts and riders, horses and cavalry, chariots, charioteers and archers; she masticated them with fury. Some she chewed and spit; some she bashed with the skull-tipped staff; some she killed by mere word.

    Chanda sent showers of arrows; Munda flung endless salvo of discuses, which disappeared into her mouth. She laughed; her white teeth glistened against her black fearsome face. She mounted on her lion, charged towards Chanda, caught him by his hair and severed his head with her sword. Seeing headless Chanda on the battleground, Munda rushed towards her like the wind to meet the same fate as Chanda. The soldiers, upon seeing their generals down headless on the battlefield, scattered like riven cloud in all directions. Kali took the heads of Chanda and Munda to Chandika and offered them as sacrifice. Chandika (Devi), pleased with the death of Chanda and Munda, conferred on her the name of Chamunda.

    Sumbha, having heard of the death of Chanda and Munda, gathered his forces and marched towards Chandika. She picked up her bow, which extended into space and twanged the sting raising a loud musical thunder. The lion joined her with a roar. The Daitya soldiers surrounded Devi, Kali and the lion on all four sides. At that moment, Saktis (power, prowess, effulgence, Tejas) of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and other gods entered Chandika, who was one goddess with the aggregate power of all gods who also gave her their powerful weapons. Chandika called upon Siva of russet hair and matted locks and sent him as emissary to Sumbha and Nisumbha with the message that they could live in peace in the nether world, by giving up and restoring  the nectar and the three worlds to Indra, the chief of gods and that if they refused the offer they will die the most dreadful death. Since Devi conscripted Siva as the Ambassador, she came to be known as Sivaduti. Siva dutifully fulfilled his mission with no avail.

    The Daityas came down hard on Devi with arrows, javelins and spears; she smashed every one of them with great ease. The indwelling Brahma's Sakti, Brahmani, doused the Asuras with water from her Kamandalu (pot), thereby divesting the enemies of  valor and power. Mahesvari, indwelling Sakti of Siva, gored the Daityas to death with the trident; Vaishnavi (Sakti of Vishnu) drained the life out of them with her discus and Kaumari with Javelin; Narasimhi mauled, tore, and devoured the asuras.  Durga created out of her body many Matrakas (Maatrakaas), the fighting mothers; no men were allowed to do their fighting. They are the seven mothers: Brahmani, Mahesvari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Varahi, Indrani, Camunda.  These seven mothers are the personified energies (Tejas) of  seven deities resident in Durga, who has in her all the donated Tejas of the male gods.  There are various depictions of the Mahavidyas clustered around first Siva and Sati, second Kali, third Durga. Matrakas did a marvelous job of destroying the Asuras; the remaining ones took off helter-skelter. Durga brings Matrakas in to do the fighting at the right moment.

Matrakas faced Titan Raktavija on the battleground and fierce battle took place between the Titan and Matrakas; Raktabija (Raktavija) swung the club on Aindri (Indrani) who in turn responded with her thunderbolt weapon obtained from Indra.   A thousand fighting clones of Titan appeared from each drop of blood every time she wounded him and spilt his blood on the battleground. The battlefield was chock full of these fighting clones. Kali brought in Matrakas to fight her battle with the clones. Things got worse; more clones appeared as more blood was shed. Vaishnavi sent the discus spinning to Raktavija; more blood was shed; more clones appeared from each drop of blood. Kaumari gored him with her spear, Varahi with her sword and Mahesvari with her trident. All the Matrakas received heavy blows from Raktabija's club. The gods were very alarmed and worried at seeing the clones rising from earth like mushrooms.

Kali created Chandi, who started killing the clones. Kali had a brilliant idea: she sucked up all the blood from his body and bones as the Matrakas and Chandi were killing the clones; she herself was stuffing the clones into her mouth. She grew to an enormous size and filled the sky and heaven. As the Titan was sucked bone-dry, there was no more blood falling on the battlefield. That was the end of Titan Raktavija.  Compare Kali's problem with that of Hercules. Hercules had a problem with the Hydra (water serpent) with nine heads; every time he cut one head of Hydra, two heads grew in its place. Hercules hit upon the idea of cauterizing the neck to destroy the germinating heads as he cut the heads off one by one.

    Sumbha and Nisumbha were very angry. Sumbha with mighty Asuras advanced towards Devi to kill her. Nisumbha and Sumbha looking like dark nimbus thunder clouds sent arrows like pelting rain on Devi. Chandika (Devi) quickly countered with a rainstorm of  arrows which split the arrows in mid flight; she further hit them hard on their limbs. Nisumbha saw an opportunity to fell the lion, the mount of Kali (Durga) by striking it on the head with his sword. Kali in turn broke his sword and shield into smithereens with her arrow.  Assault with various kinds of weapons took place between Devi on one side and the two Asuras on the other side. Soon Nisumbha was down on the scarred battlefield teeming with dead and mutilated bodies of Asuras who constituted those that were not eaten by Kali and Matrakas. Sumbha became furious at the turn of events and death of his brother, stood up on his chariot with weapons held aloft by his eight arms, shone like a million suns and rode towards Devi. Devi sighting his approach sounded her conch, twanged the bow strings in a show of disdain for Sumbha, which was earsplitting and painful, and rang her bell which sapped the strength of the opponents.  The lion in its masterful show of might, roared and thundered so loud it filled the heaven and earth and the ten directions, and snatched and rendered the rutting elephants docile and calm. Kali sprang up in the air, and came down striking the earth with both hands so hard that all erstwhile sounds subsided into silence; Devi boomed peals of thunderous laughter, which shook and put the Asuras out of kilt. Sumbha was in palpable rage and launched a raging fiery arrow which was immediately countered and extinguished by Devi.  She fired thousands of arrows which were countered adroitly by Sumbha.  Devi gored him with her trident; he fell to the ground in a faint. He recovered his consciousness fast, hoisted his bow and sent a deluge of arrows to Devi, Kali and the lion, which Durga fielded very well. Durga drove an arrow into Nisumbha's heart and as the blood welled up, a valiant person of immense strength sprang from him and yelled at Devi, "stop." His head was severed promptly by Devi, who sprinkled water from Kamandalu that repulsed and drove the Asuras. The lion mauled, killed and devoured the enemies of Devi; Varahi used the snout to pound and kill the Asuras; Vaisnavi sent her discus spinning to cut their heads; Mahesvari lunged at them with deadly trident; Aindri sent never-ending pulses of undulating thunderbolts at Asuras. There was pandemonium on the killing fields, sending the Asuras to take to their heels. Devi, Matrakas, and Lion had their fill of sumptuous feeding on the Asuras. Suddenly Sumbha appears in front of Durga disparaging her, and accusing her of haughtiness. Devi absorbed and assimilated all the Matrakas into her and told Sumbha to fight with her man to woman. (Man to man fight would have favored Sumbha by the power of his boon.) Ambika (Devi) stood there in all her  fierceness and taunted him with advice to be steadfast in combat. The fight was about to start with a galaxy of gods, siddhas, and sages and a gaggle of asuras looking on this two from the skies.

Arrows and missiles whizzed by at lightening speed, as the onlookers cheered for their respective leader. Cheer turned to fright as the earth and heaven shook. Ambika's targeted missiles were countered with antimissiles of Sumbha. (This description is true to its source; the idea of antimissiles originated from Hindu mythology.) There was no end in sight; the torrential rain of arrows from Sumbha came to a end, when Devi broke his bow with her own arrows. Sumbha became a supercharged aggressor. One after another, Devi broke his discus, spear, sword, and mace. She was so close to him that she delivered a blow to his chest which sent him biting the dirt. He promptly rose and engaged in hand to hand combat with Devi. This went for a long time; Ambika picked him up, whizzed him around in rapid circles many times and tossed him so hard that he tumbled in the air and the ground like falling rock. One would think it was the end. Not at all. He rose from the bruising fall, twirled his mustache, slapped his thighs, thumped his chest, raised his fist and ran towards Devi, wanting to kill Devi.  Devi in the wink of an eye, skewered him on the chest with her dart and flung him down on the battlefield. The thud was so hard the mountains shook, the earth quaked, the seas roiled, and the clouds dispersed. Sumbha was dead, really dead this time; the universe in a moment became peaceful; the clouds lifted, the sky became blue, the overflowing rivers receded; the minds of Devas (gods) reposed in tranquility; happiness reigned everywhere; Gandharvas sang; Apsaras danced; favorable winds glided soothingly; the sun shone brighter; the holy fires danced reaching for the gods; tranquility replaced the sounds of war.

    The chief of gods, Indra, and other celestials led by the god of Fire, Agni, came to Devi in full regalia eulogizing her; their glistening eyes showed gratitude; their face lit up with smiles; they paraded in front of her in utter humility and grace. They showered her praises and gratitude: "You are the Mother of all; you are the hypostasis of this universe of beings and matter; You are all the elements of the universe; you are the liberator and refuge."

Notes: Durga Puja starts on the 7th lunar day of bright fortnight and animals are sacrificed to Durga on the 9th lunar day (Shukla Navami).