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vaiśaṁpāyana uvāca : vaiśampāyana continued
dānavān ca api piprīṣuḥ kālanemir mahāsuraḥ |
vyavardhata mahātejāḥ tapa-ante jalado yathā ||1-47-1
trailokya antargataṁ taṁ tu dṛṣṭvā te dānaveśvarāḥ |
uttasthur a-pariśrāntāḥ prāpya eva amṛtam uttamam ||1-47-2
te bhītā bhaya-saṁtrastā maya tāra purogamāḥ |
tārakāmaya saṁgrāme satataṁ jaya kāṅkṣiṇaḥ |
rejur āyodhanagatā dānavā yuddha kāṅkṣiṇaḥ ||1-47-3
astram abhyasyatāṁ teṣāṁ vyūhaṁ ca paridhāvatām |
prekṣatāṁ ca abhavat prītir dānavaṁ kālaneminam ||1-47-4
On seeing demon-chief kāla-nemi, who assumed a high resplendence, looking like a massive cloud at the end of summer, increased his physique extending into the intervening space of the three worlds, all the demons have felt that they have achieved best ambrosia, relieved of their exhaustion, rose up from prostration as if they had never been tired, became zealous to win the battle, wielded all possible weaponry, brandished weapons time and again, formed into complicated battle arrays, always forward-looking for winning the starwars, and by peering at demon kāla-nemi as their role-model those demons marched ahead to reattack gods, but this time, at the back of stalwart-demons like tāraka-asura and maya-asura et al that are stationed in the vanguard, because gods putting a damper on them is still unforgettable…
ye tu tatra mayasya āsan mukhyā yuddha-puraḥsarāḥ |
te api sarve bhayaṁ tyaktvā hṛṣṭā yoddhum upasthitāḥ ||1-47-5
Those that are the principal frontline warriors on the side of demon maya, they have come forward for battling delightedly and fearlessly… some them are:
mayaḥ tāro varāhaḥ ca hayagrīvaḥ ca vīryavān |
viprachitta sutaḥ śvetaḥ khara laṁbau ubhau api ||1-47-6
ariṣṭo baliputraḥ tu kishora uṣṭrau tathaiva ca |
svarbhānuḥ ca amara-prakhyo vaktra-yodhī mahāsuraḥ ||1-47-7
ete astra viduṣaḥ sarve sarve tapasi suvratāḥ |
dānavāḥ kṛtino jagmuḥ kālaneminam uttamam ||1-47-8
maya, tāra, varāha, hayagrīva, śveta – the son of viprachitti, khara, laṁba, ariṣṭa, kishora the son of bali, uṣṭra, and svarbhānu, the godlike eclipsing demon rāhu, the gnawer… all of these demons are experts in the use of weapons, ever devoted to ascesis, seasoned in combats… they all quickly tagged along the foremost demon of them all, namely kāla-nemi…
te gadābhiḥ ca gurvībhiḥ cakraiḥ ca sa-paraśvadhaiḥ |
aśmabhiḥ ca adri-sadṛśaiḥ gaṇḍa-śailaiḥ ca daṁśitaiḥ ||1-47-9
paṭṭiśaiḥ bhindipālaiḥ ca parighaiḥ ca uttama āyudhaiḥ |
ghātanībhiḥ ca gurvībhiḥ śata-ghnībhiḥ tathaiva ca ||1-47-10
kāla-kalpaiḥ ca musalaiḥ kṣepaṇīyaiḥ ca mudgaraiḥ |
yugaiḥ yantraiḥ ca nirmuktaiḥ argalaiḥ ca agra-tāḍitaiḥ ||1-47-11
dorbhiḥ ca āyata-pīnāṁsaiḥ pāśaiḥ prāsaiḥ ca mūrcchitaiḥ |
sarpaiḥ lelihyamānaiḥ ca visarpadbhiḥ ca sāyakaiḥ ||1-47-12
vajraiḥ praharaṇīyaiḥ ca dīpyamānaiḥ ca tomaraiḥ |
vikośaiḥ ca asibhiḥ tīkṣṇaiḥ śūlaiḥ ca śita-nirmalaiḥ ||1-47-13
te vai saṁdīpta manasaḥ pragṛhīta uttama āyudhāḥ |
kālanemiṁ puraskṛtya tasthuḥ saṁgrāma mūrdhani ||1-47-14
They handled weapons like massive clubs, discs, axes, rocks, mountaintops, boulders that are impacting… best spears, slingshots, long cudgels, heavy and smashing cannon-like hundred-killers… pestles equalling death-stroke, projectile maces, yokes-like batterer, shootable machines, shots that can hit headlong… broad and massive lassos, fiery barbed missiles, snakes wigwagging tongues, and snake-like arrows strewing around… assault bolts, stormy beaters, unsheathed swords whetted sharp and scathing… wielding such and such best weapons dānavā-s stood on the battlefield keeping kāla-nemi in van as their helmsdemon…
sā dīpta-śastra-pravarā daityānāṁ shuśubhe chamūḥ |
dyauḥ nimīlita nakṣatrā sa ghana iva ambuda Agame ||1-47-15
That daitya army adorned with many a weapon shinning excellently shone forth like the sky shutting out her bespangled stars with tenebrosity on the arrival of dark cloudscape…
devatānām api chamū ruruche śakra pālitā |
dīptā śīta uṣṇa tejobhyāṁ candra bhāskara varchasā ||1-47-16
vāyu-vegavatī saumyā tārā-gaṇa-patākinī |
toyada āviddha vasanā graha-nakṣatra-hāsinī ||1-47-17
yam indra dhanadaiḥ guptā varuṇena ca dhīmatā |
saṁpradīpta agni pavanā nārāyaṇa parāyaṇā ||1-47-18
sā samudra ogha sadṛśī divyā deva-mahā-chamūḥ |
rarāja astra-vatī bhīmā yakṣa gandharva śālinī ||1-47-19
On the other hand the army of the gods under the command of indra also shone forth with the resplendence of the sunrays as well with the cool beams of moon … expeditious like life-giving air, peaceable in compose, hoister of detached yet assorted starscape- streamers, wearer of whiffling clouds as its wigwagging raiment, and smiley sporting the smiling stars and planets… that army which is a dedicatee of nārāyaṇa is shielded by indra, varuṇa and kubera, and irradiated by firegod and airgod for a good measure… with the effluence of a tiding ocean that army of gods shone forth with every weapon and with the enlisted yakśā-s and gandharvā-s, magnificently and venturesomely…
tayoḥ chamau tadā tatra babhūva sa samāgamaḥ |
dyāvā pṛthivyoḥ saṁyogo yathā syāt yuga paryaye ||1-47-20
Then there ensued a collision between those two armies of gods and demons that can be likened to the collision of earth and heaven at era-end…
tat yuddham abhavat ghoram deva-dānava saṅkulam |
kṣamā parākramamayaṁ darpasya vinayasya ca ||1-47-21
Pride versus pride results in stalemate, and forgiveness versus forgiveness into a b*tise… but that tumultuous encounter between gods and demons grew exceedingly dreadful because forgiving gods with all their humility are attacking the prideful demons…
nishcakramur balābhyāṁ tu tābhyāṁ bhiṁāḥ surāsurāḥ |
pūrva aparābhyāṁ saṁrabdhāḥ sāgarābhyām iva aṁbudāḥ ||1-47-22
One insurgent into other’s camp mutually trampled their enemies underfoot and when they are weltering like that the battlefield appeared like an ocean commixed with the riptides of eastern and western oceans…
tābhyāṁ balābhyāṁ saṁhṛṣṭāḥ cheruste devadānavāḥ |
vanābhyāṁ pārvatīyābhyāṁ puṣpitābhyyāṁ yathā gajāḥ ||1-47-23
samājagmuḥ tato bherīḥ śaṅkhān dadhmushcha na ekaśaḥ |
sa shabdo dyāṁ bhuvaṁ caiva diśaḥ ca samapūrayat ||1-47-24
jyā-ghāta tala nirghoṣo dhanuṣāṁ kūjitāni ca |
dundubhīnāṁ ninadatāṁ daityānāṁ nirdadhuḥ svanān ||1-47-25
Like two different and inimical herds of elephants bumping headlong, one coming from blossomy forests and the other from boorish highlands, the gods of rosy sky clashed with the surly demons of netherworld, filling whole sky and all quarters not in one way but with a pastiche of rumpuses from shrilling conches, thumping war-drums, twanging bowstrings, swishing bows, like the elephants that sonorously fill their ambience with blares, blasts and trumpets, beneath which noise level the hey-s, ho-s and hails of demons subsided…
te anyonyam abhisaṁpetuḥ pātayantaḥ parasparam |
babhaṣjur bāhubhir bāhūn dvandvam anye yuyutsavaḥ ||1-47-26
Some are fighting hand to hand, some felling the other; some are in wrestlers’ arm-lock; some other duel-enthusiasts grappling one another…
devatāḥ tu aśanīr ghorāḥ parighān ca uttama āyasān |
sasarjur Ajau nistriṁśān gadā gurvīn ca dānavāḥ ||1-47-27
Then in battle, gods began to throw dreadful thunderbolts and excellent lances and clubs at dānavā-s, while the dānavā-s began to discharge massive clubs and other assault weapons on gods…
gadā nipātaiḥ bhagna-aṅgā bāṇaiḥ ca śakalī-kṛtāḥ |
paripetur bhṛśaṁ kechin nyubjāḥ kechit sasarjire ||1-47-28
Some fell procumbent while others recumbent on battlefield with mace-mangled limbs and arrow-sheared bodies…
tato rathaiḥ sa-turagaiḥ vimānaiḥ ca āśu-gāmibhiḥ |
samīyuḥ te tu saṁrabdhā roṣāt anyonyam āhave ||1-47-29
Mutual fury animating them in that battle some met their opponents head-on riding on horse-yoked chariots, while some others airborne in their aircrafts…
saṁvartamānāḥ samare vivartantaḥ tathā apare |
rathā rathaiḥ nirudhyante padātāḥ ca padātibhiḥ ||1-47-30
While some from the warring factions are colliding, some are cowering, and some chariots are upheaving others chariots, while some footsoldiers are flooring enemy footsoldiers…
teṣāṁ rathānāṁ tumulaḥ sa śabdaḥ śabda-vāhinām |
babhūvu atha praśaktānāṁ nabhasi iva payo-mucām ||1-47-31
The sound of those chariots which are already trundling grew terrible like the rumblings of clouds in the sky…
babhāṣjire rathān kechit kechit saṁmṛditā rathaiḥ |
saṁbādham eke saṁprāpya na śekuḥ chalituṁ rathāḥ ||1-47-32
Some are demolishing enemy chariots, while some more are barricading them, but some more could not do anything as their chariots are stranded in traffic jams on roads with one-way-traffic – eka saṁbādham…
anyonyasya abhisamare dorbhyām utkṣipya darpitāḥ |
saṁhrādamāna ābharaṇā jaghnuḥ tatra asi-charmiṇaḥ ||1-47-33
Some proud warriors wearing leather armour caught and flung their enemies just with the bowl of their palms, as if they are flies in soup-bowl, knelled with tinny noise of the ornaments of the thrower and faller…
astraiḥ anye vinirbhinnā raktaṁ vemur hatā yudhi |
kṣarat jalānāṁ sadṛśā jaladānāṁ samāgame ||1-47-34
Wounded and mutilated with missiles and other weapons some vomited blood that outpoured like downpour on the arrival of new clouds…
tat astra śastra grathitaṁ kṣipta utkṣipta gadāvilam |
deva dānava saṁkṣubdhaṁ saṁkulaṁ yuddham ābabhau ||1-47-35
That tumulus war between gods and demons is calamitous since it is fraught with missiles and grapplers, also replete with obtuse weapons like clubs, maces, cudgels etc, of them numerous are already discharged, and innumerable are yet to be discharged as they are still now being brandished…
tat dānava mahāmeghaṁ deva āyudha taḍit prabham |
anyonya bāṇa varṣaṁ tat yuddhaṁ durdinam Ababhau ||1-47-36
When gods stormed flashy fulgurations called arrows on massive clouds called demons, demons too delivered an equal riposte with their arrows, and with them the arrow-rain fell in sheets while that war became a dark day in the lore…
etasmin antare kruddhaḥ kālanemiḥ mahāsuraḥ |
vyavardhata samudra oghaiḥ pūryamāṇa iva aṁbudaḥ ||1-47-37
Seeing all this, the great asura kāla-nemi, the son of demon-king hraṇya-kaśipu, who is already worked up with anger, because sometime back gods felled his father, is now brimming with continued war-enthusiasm, like an extensile cloud continuously filled with the tides of an ocean making a sternway…
tasya vidyut-chala-āpīḍāḥ pradīpta aśani-varṣiṇaḥ |
gātre naga-śiraḥ-prakhyā viniṣpeṣur balāhakāḥ ||1-47-38
As soon as the punishing flashes of lightning, or the showers of thunderbolts, or whatever shockers used by gods fell on the body of kāla-nemi, they all became self-smashed smithers, like clouds fizzling out after discharge…
krodhāt niḥśvasataḥ tasya bhū-bheda sveda-varṣiṇaḥ |
sa agni-niṣpeṣa-pavanā mukhāt nishcherur archiṣaḥ ||1-47-39
He stood there furiously suspiring, repeatedly frowning and copiously sweating… with these his face appeared to be shedding fiery air in suspires, embers in looks, hot-springs in sweat…
tiryak-ūrdhvaṁ ca gagane vavṛdhuḥ tasya bāhavaḥ |
paṣcha āsyāḥ kṛṣṇa vapuṣo lelihānā iva uragāḥ ||1-47-40
His arms outstretched straight and awry on the sky where each arm appeared as a five-headed black cobra; fingers are like hoods, five-fingered-hands are like five-hoods, when related each to each; and they looked springy with fanged mouths agape, split tongues agile…
saḥ astra-jālaiḥ bahu-vidhaiḥ dhanurbhiḥ parighaiḥ api |
divyaiḥ ākāśam āvavre parvataiḥ ucchritaiḥ iva ||1-47-41
The sky appeared to have enshrouded with his sprawling arms that are like the ridgy mountaintops, some which are ready with various weapons like bows and maces and some of which are flinging other missilery…
saḥ anila udbhūta vasanaḥ tasthau saṁgrāma mūrdhani |
sandhya Atapa grasta śikhaḥ sa archiḥ meruḥ iva aparaḥ ||1-47-42
His wind fluttered attire, ochreish silks with blackish borders that approximate with an ocherish sky at eventide and with black-bordered tongues of flames, speaks of the rustling heat and tonguing flames of animosity in him towards gods, whereby he approximates himself with Mt. meru, around which mountain the heat of eventide and the flutter of tongues of flames are usual, wherefore he stood out in the van of army as if he is another Mt. meru surrounded by such a bustling heat and tonguing flames…
ūru-vega-pratikṣiptaiḥ śaila-śṛṅga-agra-pādapaiḥ |
apātayat deva gaṇān vajreṇa iva mahā-girīn ||1-47-43
Once indra felled flying mountains by clipping their wings using his weapon thunderbolt, but kāla-nemi felled lofty gods with trees growing on mountaintops uprooted just by his leg side gusts…
bāhubhiḥ śastra nistriṁśaiḥ Chinna-bhinna shira urasaḥ |
na śekuḥ chalituṁ devāḥ kālanemi hatā yudhi ||1-47-44
muṣṭibhiḥ nihatāḥ kechit kecchit ca vi-dalī-kṛtāḥ |
yakṣa gandharva patayaḥ petuḥ saha mahoragaiḥ ||1-47-45
When kāla-nemi assaulted some chiefs of gods, yakśā-s, gandharvā-s, and uragā-s, some with fists, some with bare hands and some others with handheld weapons, the heads and chests of some of them are mangled, some are floored, while some more are defoliated of their limbs, and many more are out of kilter and fell in his fore…
tena vi-trāsitā devāḥ samare kālaneminā |
na shekur yatnavanto api prati-kartuṁ vi-chetasaḥ ||1-47-46
When kāla-nemi terrorised them in this way in that war, even if gods are capable they did not try either to retaliate, or to surrender, or to retreat – or anything… such is their despondency…
tena śakraḥ sahasrākṣaḥ staṁbhitaḥ śara-bandhanaiḥ |
airāvata gataḥ saṁkhye chalituṁ na śaśāka ha |1-47-47
Further, kāla-nemi straightjacketed indra with tangled arrows while still sitting on his elephant-vehicle airāvata, a famous berserker of any entanglement, thus rendering indra stilly…
nir-jala aṁbhoda sadṛśo nirjala arṇava saprabhaḥ |
nir-vyāpāraḥ kṛtaḥ tena vi-pāśaḥ varuṇo mṛdhe ||1-47-48
kāla-nemi also detained raingod varuṇa in that war rendering him as a barren cloud, bared ocean and bared of his lasso, whereby he barely had any activity to do…
raṇe vaiśravaṇaḥ tena parighaiḥ kāla-rūpibhiḥ |
vyalabhat loka pāleśāḥ tyājito dhanada kriyām ||1-47-49
Though god kubera is a mace-fighter he is trounced with death like mace of that demon, whereby kubera had to forgo his godhood for wealth management… and quarter-guards too lost their lordship on ten quarters they are guarding so far…
yamaḥ sarva-haraḥ tena daṇḍa-praharaṇo raṇe |
yāmyām-avasthāṁ samare nītaḥ svāṁ disham āviśat ||1-47-50
Deathgod yama, an impounder everything with his baton, is now browbeaten with the baton of that demon in that war and got into a state wellnigh death, wherefore he repaired to his southerly region avoiding futile scrambling with that demon…
sa lokapālān utsādya kṛtvā teṣāṁ ca karma tat |
dikṣu sarvāsu dehaṁ svaṁ caturdhā vidadhe tadā ||1-47-51
Intimadating the quarter-guard-gods kāla-nemi usurped their functions into his hands, devised four more entities from his own being, and entrusted those usurped functions of guarding directions to those newly created selfsame entities – and ruled quarters for himself…
sa nakṣatra-pathaṁ gatvā divyaṁ svarbhānu darshitam |
jahāra lakṣmīm somasya taṁ ca asya viṣayaṁ mahat ||1-47-52
cālayāmāsa śītāṁśuṁ svarga-dvārāt ca bhāskaram |
sa ayanaṁ ca asya viṣayaṁ jahāra dina-karma ca ||1-47-53
Ecliptic-demon rāhu, aka svarbhānu ushering him, kāla-nemi went to milky ways, appropriated the magnificence and ascendancy of moon, relegated the moon from the avenues to heaven and then he himself started to shine like moon… so is the case with sun… kāla-nemi took possession of solar path, orbit, and his diurnal functions, wherefore that demon himself started to blaze like sun, as well…
saḥ agniṁ deva-mukhe dṛṣṭvā cakāra ātma-mukhe svayam |
vāyuṁ ca tarasā jitvā cakāra ātma-vasha-anugam ||1-47-54
So far, firegod has set his face towards gods, since he has to pass on the offertories offered in the face and tongues of ritual-fire in vedic-rituals exclusively to gods… but kāla-nemi averted him from that posture, and turned the face of firegod towards his side, since all the vedic-oblations henceforth should belong to him alone… same is the case with airgod… taking control of airgod that demon made him to waft only to his tune…
sa samudrāḥ tam ānīya sarvāḥ ca sarito balāt |
cakāra ātma-vashe vīryāt deha-bhūtāḥ ca sindhavaḥ ||1-47-55
apaḥ svavaśa-gāḥ kṛtvā divi-jā yāḥ ca bhūmi-jāḥ |
sthāpayāmāsa jagatīṁ su-guptāṁ dharaṇī-dharaiḥ ||1-47-56
He forcibly brought all the oceans and rivers to his control, himself manifesting as a single entity of mega-water; as for the rivers, whether belonging to earth or flowing from heaven, and that are so far naturally and snugly stream-bedded by fixed mountains, he unnaturally diverted their course to himself, desirous of enjoying their husbandhood… thus he succeeded in establishing a de-naturalised world…
sa svayaṁbhūḥ iva ābhāti mahā-bhūta-patiḥ mahān |
sarva-loka-mayaḥ daityaḥ sarva-loka-bhayāvahaḥ ||1-47-57
sa loka-pāla eka vapuḥ candra sūrya graha ātmavān |
pāvaka anila saṁghāto rarāja yudhi dānavaḥ ||1-47-58
pārameṣṭhye sthitaḥ sthāne lokānāṁ prabhavātyaye |
tuṣṭuvuḥ taṁ daitya-gaṇā devā iva pitāmaham ||1-47-59
When demons extolled kāla-nemi on battlefield for his exploits, as a husbander of all created beings, as an all-inclusive world, as an all-in-one scare of the world, as a single-bodied quarter-guard-gods of ten quarters, as the soul of the sun, moon and all other planets, as a subverter of air and fire gods, and as one who on conquering all worlds ascended to the seat of creator brahma, bringing original brahma to naught… that demon kāla-nemi shone forth on battlefield as de facto brahma…
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iti śrīmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi
āścarya-tārakāmaye –kālanemi parākramo - nāma saptacatvāriṁśo'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, this is the forty-seventh chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the valour of demon kāla-nemi in starwars
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