Parva 1 Chapter 45: deva asura saṅgrāma varṇanam - about war of gods and demons

Thereupon a terrible encounter between the armies of the gods and demons took place; one desirous of vanquishing the other; like mountains clashing with other mountains dānavā-s combated hand to hand with the gods, both wielding various weapons; that incredible encounter between the gods and demons is conducted with a combination fairness and unfairness, humility and pride… tato rathaiḥ pra-javibhiḥ vāhanaiḥ ca prachoditaiḥ | utpatadbhiḥ ca gaganaṁ sa asi-hastaiḥ samantataḥ ||1-45-4 vi-kṣipyamāṇaiḥ muśalaiḥ saṁpreṣyadbhiḥ ca sāyakaiḥ | cāpaiḥ visphāryamāṇaiḥ ca pātyamānaiḥ ca mudgaraiḥ ||1-45-5 tat yuddham abhavat ghoraṁ deva-dānava saṁkulam | jagataḥ trāsa jananaṁ yugasaṁvartaka-upamam ||1-45-6 Dashing to arch of heaven both the factions have crammed it all over by driving on chariots and on other quick-coursing vehicles and wielding swords… some of them are hurling pestle-like missiles, some shooting arrows, some with full drawn bows, some darting bolt-like missiles… thus that scrambling conflict of gods and demons escalated to a deadly war causing scare of D-day to the world… sva-hasta-muktaiḥ parighaiḥ kṣipyamāṇaiḥ ca parvataiḥ | dānavā samare jaghnur devān indra purogamān ||1-45-7 In that battle dānavā-s have hurled clubs and mountains by hand and assaulted gods including indra to the maximum, without resorting to guiles and tricks, so to speak… te vadhyamānā balibhir dānavair jita-kāśibhiḥ | viṣaṇṇa manaso devā jagmur ārtiṁ parām mṛdhe ||1-45-8 When the highly powerful dānavā-s with a foreseeable triumph have been battering the gods, the gods have become downhearted and experienced high anguish in that battle … te astra-jālaiḥ pramathitāḥ parighair bhinna mastakāḥ | bhinna uraskā diti-sutair vemū raktaṁ vraṇair bahu ||1-45-9 spanditāḥ pāśa-jālaiḥ ca niyatnāḥ ca śaraiḥ kṛtāḥ | praviṣṭa dānavīṁ māyāṁ na śekuḥ te vicheṣṭitum ||1-45-10 Roughed up with the fusillades of missiles of demons, skulls of some gods are fractured; chests of some more are gored; some are with many gashes oozing blood; still some more impaled with arrows are shedding blood; some more are put into fetters with nooses, and some more slipping into the stupefaction wizardry – sammohana māya - of dānavā-s are unable to mobilise themselves… saṁstambhitam iva ābhāti niḥprāṇa sadṛśa ākṛti | balaṁ surāṇām asurair niḥprayatna āyudhaṁ kṛtam ||1-45-11 With such an assault of daiyā-s the army of gods seemed to be gorgonized, insentient in its look, made to become otiose in lifting even a frail weapon… māyā pāśān vikarṣan ca bhindan vajreṇa tāṣ śarān | shakro daitya balaṁ ghoraṁ vivesha bahu-locanaḥ || 1-45-12 Deactivating the lassos of demonic illusion waylaid in his pathway, shredding the demon’s arrows with his Thunderbolt, the many-eyed god śakra, aka indra, spearheaded into the dreadful army of the dānavā-s… sa daityān pramukhe hatvā tat dānava balaṁ mahat | tāmasena astra-jālena tamo0bhūtam atha akarot ||1-45-13 On eliminating the demons available in the vanguard of the demon’s powerful army he loosed a series of his stupefactive missiles – aindrīm tamo astram; vāsava tamishra astram – making everything in demons’ army dazed… te anyonyaṁ na avabudhyanta devān vā dānavān api | ghoreṇa tamasā āviṣṭāḥ puruhūtasya tejasā ||1-45-14 Enshrouded in the bewilderment created through the energy of the demons have landed into a puzzlement of distinguishing friends or foes… fellow demons looked like gods, and gods resembled their own team-mates… māyā pāśaiḥ vimuktāḥ ca yatnavantaḥ surottamāḥ | vapūṁṣi daitya saṅghānāṁ tamo-bhūtāni apātayan ||1-45-15 apadhvastā vi-saṁjṣāḥ ca tamasā nīla-varchasaḥ | petuḥ te dānava gaṇāḥ cinna-pakṣā iva achalāḥ ||1-45-16 tat vanībhūta daityānām andhakāra mahārṇavam | praviṣṭaṁ balam uttrastaṁ tamo-bhūtam iva babhau ||1-45-17 Thereupon, freeing themselves from the demon-flung nooses of illusion gods strived to slay the dānavā-s who are still overpowered with indra-heaved stupefaction, and when gods assailed thus those dark-hued daityā-s remaining under the spell of stupefaction started to fall like mountains with clipped wings… then that palace resembled an ocean of darkness with cloud-like fallen demons spreading over it, as if an umbral ocean is in full tide… tat āsṛjat mahā-māyāṁ mayastāṁ tāmasīṁ dahan | yugānta-agnim iva ati ugrāṁ sṛṣṭām aurveṇa vahninā ||1-45-18 sā dadāha tamaḥ sarvaṁ māyā mayavi-kalpitā | daityāḥ ca dīpta-vapuṣaḥ sadya uttasthur Ahave ||1-45-19 Then the dānava maya created an unfuelled holocaustic inferno called baḍaba-agni, aurva-agni, resembling the firestorm at end of era, only to counteract indra-created illusion of darkness… accordingly that hallucinatory fire destroyed all indra-created darkness enabling the daityā-s to assume their original forms, with which fiery forms they sprang up again on battlefield… māyām aurvīṁ samāsādya dahyamānā divaukasaḥ | bhejire candra viṣayaṁ śītāṁśu salile śayāt ||1-45-20 te dahyamānā hi aurveṇa tejasā bhraṣṭa-tejasaḥ | śaśaṁsur vajriṇe devāḥ saṁtaptāḥ śaraṇa-īṣiṇaḥ ||1-45-21 When those heavenites on battlefield are parched to the extent of dissipating their lustre with the hallucinatory wild-fire, baḍabānalam, devised by demon maya, they immediately rushed to soma, the moon, who is a lenitive to heat as he lazes most in waters moist with moonbeams, and who is now operating within the precinct of battlefield… and when indra questioned them about their summer-camping under the ambit of moon without battling, they reported to indra about the torrid fire they faced just now.. saṁtapte māyayā sainye dahyamāne ca dānavaiḥ | chodito devarājena varuṇo vākyam abravīt ||1-45-22 On observing the gods roasted by some hallucinatory wild-fire, that too projected by dānavā-s, indra referred the matter to watergod varuṇa, seeking nullification process of that fire, to which varuṇa responded in this way: varuṇa uvāca: varuṇa said purā brahmarṣi-jaḥ śakra tapaḥ tepe ati-dāruṇam | Urvo muniḥ sa tejasvī sadṛśo brahmaṇo gunaiḥ ||1-45-23 In the days of yore, oh, śakra, an energetic sage named Urva, the son of bhṛgu, a brahma-sage adorned with accomplishments like those of brahma, undertook sever ascesis... taṁ tapantam iva ādityaṁ tapasā jagat-avyayam | upatasthur munigaṇā devā brahmarṣibhiḥ saha ||1-45-24 When he is scorching whole world with his sever ascesis, like the scorching sun, then other brahma-sages, gods and ascetics have come to him… hiraṇyakaśipuḥ caiva dānavo dānaveśvaraḥ | ṛṣiṁ vijṣāpayāmāsa purā parama-tejasam ||1-45-25 dānava hiraṇya-kasipu, the king of dānavā-s, has also come there as he had an appeal of his own to be made to that highly energetic sage… tamūcur brahmaṛṣayo vacanaṁ brahma-saṁmitam | ṛṣi vaṁśeṣu bhagavaṣ Chinna mūlam idaṁ kulam ||1-45-26 ekaḥ tvam anapatyaḥ ca gotraṁ yat na anuvartase | kaumāraṁ vratam-āsthāya klesham eva anuvartase ||1-45-27 bahūni vipra-gotrāṇi munīnāṁ bhāvita-ātmanām | ekadehāni tiṣṭhanti vibhaktāni vinā prajāḥ ||1-45-28 kuleṣu cinna mūleṣu teṣu naḥ nāsti kāraṇam | bhavān tu tapasā śreṣṭhaḥ prajā-pati-sama-dyutiḥ ||1-45-29 tat pravartasva vaṁśāya vardhaya ātmānam ātmanā | tvam Adhatsva urjitaṁ tejo dvitīyāṁ vai tanuṁ kuru ||1-45-30 The brahma-sages then addressed to him the following sacred words: "This family, of the sages is about to be extinct now… you too are single and sonless… you are not thinking of perpetuating your race, but adopting a life of celibacy you are practising these hard ascesis... Many families of self-controlled sages and saints are on the verge of extinction on account of their absence from the idea of bringing any offspring… even if some are there they are more localised without spreading their progeny all over… we will have no interest in the families of saints and sages with roots afar and asunder, isn’t it… But, you are the foremost of ascetics and have effulgence similar to brahma, as such, involve yourself in multiplying your dynasty… devote your great energy and generate an alter nature of yours…” so said brahma-sages to sage Urva. sa evam ukto munibhir muniḥ manasi tāḍitaḥ | jagarhe tāṇ ṛṣi-gaṇān vacanaṁ ca idam abravīt ||1-45-31 When the sages have addressed him thus, that self-controlled ascetic Urva is piqued at heart and disapprovingly said this to them: yathā ayaṁ śāśvato dharmo munīnāṁ vihitaḥ purā | sat āṣaṁ sevatāṁ karma vanya mūla phala aśinām ||1-45-32 brahma yonau prasūtasya brāhmaṇasya anuvartinaḥ | brahmacaryaṁ sucaritaṁ brahmāṇam api cālayet ||1-45-33 As prescribed for the sages in the days of yore, if a sage becomes a forester, follows eternal dharma - śāśvataḥ dharmaḥ - vaidika dharma, serves great saints, sustains on fruits and tubers, adheres to brāhmaṇa-s taken birth in chaste brāhmaṇa line, commits himself to celibacy, he can make the prajāpati-brahma discomposed… dvijānāṁ vṛttayaḥ tisro ye gṛha-āśrama vāsinaḥ | asmākaṁ tu vanaṁ vṛttiḥ vana āśrama nivāsinām||1-45-34 yajana, adhyāpana, pratigraha – conducting vedic-rituals, imparting education and receiving donations - are the three sanctioned functions for a brāhmaṇa householder… while we hermits are supposed to live in hermitages of forests, unconnected with temporal affairs… ambu-bhakṣā vāyu-bhakṣā danta-ulūkhalikāḥ tathā | aśmakuṭṭā daśana-pāḥ paṅcha-ātapa-tapāḥ ca ye ||1-45-35 ete tapasi tiṣṭhanto vrataiḥ api su-duṣkaraiḥ | Sages sustaining on air or water, or - daśana-pā danta-ulūkhalikā-s, those that eat by using teeth as grinding stones and have raw grain as their food without cooking it; aśmakuṭṭā-s, who will have raw grain just after pounding it with stone; paṅcha-ātapa-tapā-s, who undertake ascesis under five fires, four around them and one over their heads, viz. the sun’s fire… these sages are rooted in ascesis which is impossible by other vows and practices… brahmacaryaṁ puraskṛtya prārthayante parāṁ gatim ||1-45-36 brahmacarya ādbrāhmaṇasya brāhmaṇatvaṁ vidhīyate | evam āhuḥ pare loke brahma brahmavido janāḥ ||1-45-37 brahmacharye sthitaṁ dhairyaṁ brahmacharye sthitaṁ tapaḥ | ye sthitā brahmacharyeṣu brāhmaṇāḥ te divi sthitāḥ ||1-45-38 Those who undertake ascesis giving utmost priority to celibacy attain most excellent state… those who undertake celibacy while practising ascesis they alone are said to be true brāhmaṇa-s… advocates of brahma, living in the most excellent region, have said so… courage and ascesis are rooted in celibacy and those who practise it will attain celestial regions… nāsti yogaṁ vinā siddhiḥ nāsti siddhiṁ vinā yaśaḥ | nāsti loke yasho mūlaṁ brahmacaryāt paraṁ tapaḥ ||1-45-39 tat nigṛhya indriya-grāmaṁ bhūta0grāmaṁ ca paṣchamam | brahmacharyeṇa varteta kim ataḥ paramaṁ tapaḥ ||1-45-40 Perfection without devotion, glory without perfection is null and void… in this world there is no other base for glory than celibacy… subduing the pentads of subtle elements and sense organs, that make a muddle of everything, one should practise celibacy... what other greater ascesis is there than celibacy… a-yoge keśa-haraṇam a-saṅkalpe vrata-kṛyā | a-brahmacharye caryā ca trayaṁ syāt dambha saṁjṣitam || 1-45-41 Tonsuring heads without dhyāna or yoga in those pates, undertaking difficult rituals just for show without any ambition to seek upper worlds, poring over the Absolute minus celibacy – these three are not unlike humbuggery… kva dārāḥ kva ca saṁyogaḥ kva ca bhāva-viparyayaḥ | yat iyaṁ brahmaṇā sṛṣṭā manasā mānasī prajā ||1-45-42 Where is a wife, where is lovemaking, where is libidinous thought at all for brahma when he fathered brainchildren just with his volition… yadi asti tapaso vīryaṁ yuṣmākam amita-ātmanām | sṛjadhvaṁ mānasān putrān prājāpatyena karmaṇā ||1-45-43 I wish you would engender some brainchildren of yours on the lines of brahma’s endeavours, provided you have ascetic efficiency, whereof a feme covert or fatale is inessential… manasā nirmitā yoniḥ ādhātavyā tapasvinā | na dāra-yogaṁ bījaṁ vā vratam uktaṁ tapasvinām ||1-45-44 Improvise some receptacle calling uterus and sconce your brainchildren in there… this apart, neither taking wife nor shedding seed in her is an unsaid rigmarole to ascetics… yat idaṁ lupta-dharma-arthaṁ yuṣmābhiḥ iha nirbhayaiḥ | vyāhṛtaṁ sadbhiḥ ati-artham asadbhiḥ iva me matiḥ ||1-5-45 What you have recklessly said to me is minus dharma or its meaning, hence all this talk seems to be the prate of prattlers with the genuine… vapuḥ dīpta antara ātmānam eṣa kṛtvā manomayam | dāra-yogaṁ vinā srakṣye putramātm a-tanu ruham ||1-45-46 evam ātmānam ātmā me dvitīyaṁ janayiṣyati | vanyena anena vidhinā didhakṣantam iva prajāḥ ||1-45-47 And as for me, I can procreate a son bouncing from my body without espousing a wife, just by merging body and mind with self-radiant inner-soul… I shall create a second entity, which at need will be holocaustic to all creatures, just out of this single body of mine… “so said sage ūru to other sages… ūrvaḥ tu tapasā-āviṣṭo niveshya uruṁ hutāśane | mamantha ekena darpeṇa putrasya prabhava araṇim ||1-45-48 Then entering into spell of ascesis sage ūru rubbed two araṇi sticks, produced ritual fire from them, placed darbha grass as igniter on his thigh and inflamed it to Vedic chants, with a single-minded assiduity for a firelike son… tasya ūruṁ sahasā bhittvā jvālāmālī nir-indhanaḥ | jagato nidhana ākāṅkṣī putraḥ agniḥ samapadyata ||1-45-49 Urvasya uruṁ vinirbhidya aurvo nāma antako'nalaḥ | didhakṣann iva lokān trīṣ jajṣe parama-kopanaḥ || 1-45-50 Then all of a sudden, an entity has emerged riving the thigh of sage Urva, which is enwreathed in fuelless flames and agog to burn down the universe… that all-ending fire came out of sage ūru’s thigh is called aurva-fire, a highly furious fire capable of reducing all the three worlds to ashes… utpanna mātraḥ caivā ca pitaraṁ dīptayā girā | kṣudhā me bādhadte tāta jagat bhakṣe tyajasva mām ||1-45-51 tridiva ārohibhiḥ jvālaiḥ jṛmbhamāṇo disho daśa | nirdahann iva bhūtāni vavṛdhe saḥ antako'nalaḥ ||1-45-52 As soon as he emerged he said to his father, “torturous is my hunger, oh, father, with your leave I shall eat up the whole world to satiate my hunger…” and without waiting for yes or no from his father, because it is the hunger of a newborn, his tongues of his fire started to tower over the heaven, while breadthways he spread all over the ten quarters, thus he started to grow like era-ending fire about to consume all beings… etasminn antare brahmā sarva-loka-patiḥ prabhuḥ | ājagāma muniḥ yatra vyasṛjat putram uttamam ||1-45-53 sa dadarsha uru pūrvasya dīpyamānaṁ suta-agninā | aurva kopāgni saṁtaptān lokān ca ṛṣibhiḥ saha | tam uvāca tato brahmā munim ūrvaṁ sa-bhājayan ||1-45-54 In the mean time the master of all worlds, god brahma, has come to the place where that sage Urva fathered and let go his most excellent fire-son; where he saw the worlds along with the sages are ablaze ignited by the thigh-begotten fiery son of Urva, spun off by the fire of the anger of his father sage Urva, and then honouring the sages available there Brahma said to sage Urva: dhāryatāṁ putra-jaṁ tejo lokānāṁ hitakāmyayā | asya apatyasya te vipra kariṣye sāhyam uttamam ||1-45-55 vāsaṁ ca asya pradāsyāmi prāśanaṁ ca amṛta-upamam | tathyam etat mama vacaḥ śṛṇu tvaṁ vadatāṁ vara ||1-45-56 “I wish you will roll back the blaze created byu your son out of compassion for the world… I will make him an help meet for him… I shall bestow on him a best habitat and nectarine food… definite are my words, hence take heed of them…” so said brahma to sage… Urva uvāca: Urva said to brahma: dhanyo asmi anugṛhīto asmi yat mama adya bhavāṣchiśoḥ | matim etāṁ dadāti iha parama anugrahāya vai ||1-45-57 prabhāva-kāle saṁprāpte kāṅkṣitavye samāgame | bhagavan tarpitaḥ putraḥ kaiḥ havyaiḥ prāpsyate sukhaṁ ||1-45-58 kutra ca asya nivāso vai bhojanaṁ ca kim ātmakam | vidhāsyati bhavān asya vīrya-tulyaṁ mahaujasaḥ || 1-45-59 Then sage Urva asked brahma: “Blessed I am... I have received a great favour since the god has conferred a great grace on my child giving a nod to keep him among the living… may I know what offertories derive pleasure to my son when he starts to grow… where will be his habitat… what will be his food… which kind of food will you arrange for this highly powerful one commensurate with his strength…” brahma uvāca : brahma replied vaḍavā-mukhe asya vasatiḥ samudra Asye bhaviṣyati| mama yoniḥ jalaṁ vipra tat ca toya mayaṁ vapuḥ ||1-45-60 tat haviḥ tava putrasya visṛjāmi ālayaṁ tu tat | tatra ayam āstām niyataḥ piban vāri-mayaṁ haviḥ ||1-45-61 tato yugānte bhūtānām eṣa ca ahaṁ ca su-vrata | sahitau vichariṣyāvaḥ lokān iti punaḥ punaḥ ||1-45-62 eṣaḥ agniḥ anta-kāle tu salila-āśī mayā kṛtaḥ | dahanaḥ sarva bhūtānāṁ sa deva asura rakṣasām || 1-45-63 brahma replied the sage: “this boy’s habitat is an orifice of ocean that resembles the face of a mare, hence called baḍaba mukha-agni… let him subsist on the water of my birthplace and on my form… where my birthplace – yoni, matrix - is an ocean and my form is a matrix of water; I am making my birthplace, namely ocean, as his dwelling… there let him stay always consuming water-offertories… “Then at the end of era he will consume all the worlds with its beings; with him at my side, we both will be ranging all the worlds repeatedly at the end of eras to consume them all… “I have generated this particular end-time fire, of course, through you, only to consume all at era-endings, where gods, asaurā-s and rākśasā-s are no exception…” brahma said so to that sage… evam astu iti saḥ api agniḥ saṁvṛta-jvāla-maṇḍalaḥ | pravivesha ārṇava-mukhaṁ nikṣipya pitari prabhām ||1-45-64 prati-yātaḥ tato brahmā te ca sarve maharṣayaḥ | aurvasya agneḥ prabhāva-jṣāḥ svāṁ svāṁ gatim upāśritāḥ ||1-45-65 Saying "so be it," that newborn fire, baḍabāgni, with anfractuosities of infernos around him entered the orifice of ocean, thus ensconcing father created conflagration… seeing the abatement of present calamity brahma returned from there, while the other sages too, who by now are alive to the infernal fire created by sage Urva, slipped away from there… hiraṇyakaśipuḥ dṛṣṭvā tat adbutam apūjayat | ūrvaṁ praṇata sarvāṅgo vākyaṁ ca idam uvāca ha ||1-45-66 Demon king hiraṇyakaśipu who is still lingering there, on seeing this wonder worshipped sage Urva prostrating before him, and said this to him: bhagavan adbutam idaṁ nivṛttaṁ loka-sākṣikam | tapasā te muniśreṣṭha parituṣṭaḥ pitāmahaḥ ||1-45-67 ahaṁ tu tava putrasya tava caiva mahāvrata | bhṛtya iti avagantavyaḥ ślāghyo'smi yadi karmaṇā ||1-45-68 tat māṁ pashya samāpannaṁ tava eva ārādhane ratam | yadi sīde muniśreṣṭha tava eva syāt parājayaḥ ||1-45-69 “Oh godly sage, you have demonstrated your wonderful prowess to the world, and the grand-parent of worlds has been pleased with your ascesis… if I am praiseworthy for deeds I have undertaken in the welfare of subjects, then please recognise me as a servant of yours and of your son… consider me as one who presented himself in your audience and one delights in worshipping you… such as I am a devotee of yours, my failure hereinafter tantamount to your failure… hence, please make an invoker of your fire-son in the event of crisis…" so said hiraṇyakaśipu to sage Aurva, and that sage replied him saying: Urva uvcha : Urva replied: dhanyo'smi anugṛhīto'smi yasya te'haṁ guruḥ mataḥ | nāsti te tapasā anena bhayam adya iha suvrata ||1-45-70 imāṁ ca māyāṁ gṛhṇīṣva mama putreṇa nirmitām | nir-indhanām agni-mayīṁ duḥsparśāṁ pāvakaiḥ api ||1-45-71 eṣā te svasya vaṁśasya vaśagā ari vinigrahe | rakṣiṣyati ātma-pakṣaṁ sā parān ca prahariṣyati ||1-45-72 evam astu iti tāṁ gṛhya praṇamya munipuṅgavam | jagāma tridivaṁ hṛṣṭaḥ kṛtārtho dānaveśvaraḥ ||1-45-73 “Deem that I am fortunate and honoured because you deem me as your teacher… O hiraṇyakaśapa of firm vows, you need not have any fear from this ascetic invention of mine… if that comes to that – have it from me… have this fuelless eidolonic inferno, invulnerable even to real-fire, generated in the form of my son, for yourself… Abiding under the control of your dynasts this whirlfire will come to the succour of those dynasts when an onslaught from their enemies is immanent, duly safeguarding your dynasts' allies and annihilating their adversaries…” so said sage Urva to hiraṇyakaśapu… “Then saying `may it be so' and saluting that foremost of sages, namely Urva, demon-king hiraṇyakaśapu with his mission accomplished and with a delight to have the newfound assaulter, the unusual whirlfire, then obtruded upon heaven instead of going home… whereupon the row between gods and demons continued afresh…” thus raingod varuṇa continued his reporting to indra… varuṇa uvāca : varuṇa continued: sa eṣā dur-viṣahā māyā devaiḥ api dur-āsadā | aurveṇa nirmitā pūrvaṁ pāvakena Urva sūnunā ||1-45-74 This is that insufferable eidolonic inferno, even for gods, is the creation of sage Urva in the days of yore, of course, generated through ritual-fire… fire breeds fire… tasmin tu vyutthite daitye nivīrya eṣā na saṁśayaḥ | śāpo hi asyāḥ purā dattaḥ sṛṣṭā yena eva tejasā ||1-45-75 I doubt that the intensity of this fire has abated with the abatement of hiraṇyakaśapu, the daitya, yet alive to counteract our moves… further, it has an undoing too, issued by its creator in the days of yore when he created this from out his power, viz. moon and moonbeams are its counteractants… yadi eṣā prati-hantavyā kartavyo bhagavān sukhī | dīyatām me sakhā śakra toya-yoniḥ niśā-karaḥ ||1-45-76 tena ahaṁ saha saṁgamya yādobhiḥ ca samāvṛtaḥ | māyām etāṁ haniṣyāmi tvat prasādāt na saṁśayaḥ ||1-45-77 If our mission is to repulse this fire effortlessly, oh, indra, then give me the help of the night-maker whose emergence is from waters, i.e. moon… joining with him and some other aquatic beings, and with your good grace, I will put this whirlfire to rout… no doubt about it…” so said varuṇa to indra. --o)0(o-- iti śrīmanmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi aurva agni saṁbhavo nāma paṣchacatvāriṁśo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the forty-fifth chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the war of gods and demons. --o)0(o--