~*~
Of yore, Lords of the three worlds
And various Gods of various spheres
Forgot the true source of their energies.
And they were proud of their greatness.
Their ignorance had given a chance
To the rise of a demon king named
Mahisha, from the womb of darkness!
Mahisha, the demon king of great valor
Vanquished the forces of gods in a battle
And seized their lordships over the Earth
and the Heavens, then distressed Gods
approached the Lord of universe
and reported their miseries to Almighty..
"Great Lord! The evil king of demons
took over the charges of the Sun and
Moon, Earth and Water, Fire and Air
to him all we have become slaves!"
Listening to their words the great God
grew angry and suddenly a great light
issued forth from the face of the Lord.
From the bodies of the other gods also
issued forth clusters of light and all lights
concentrated blazed as a huge mountain
Of flames assumed the form of a goddess.
Her luster pervaded the three worlds and
Her face shone like a lustrous golden lotus.
The light of the fire formed her three eyes.
The light of the great Lord formed her arms.
Her breasts formed out of sun and moon.
The dawn and twilight formed her eyebrows.
The light of the night shone as her black hair.
By the light of oceans formed her thighs
By the light of the earth formed her hips
Her feet formed out of the lightnings
The milky ways formed Her necklaces
The lord of Himalayan Mountains gifted
A mighty lion as her vehicle, other gods
gave gifts of shining armor and divine arms!
The Lady of light then laughed like peals
Of thousands of clouds and her laughter
shook the earth, heavens and quarters!
On hearing those loud peals of laughter
Mahisha, the demon king enraged and sent
his generals followed by millions of armies
to the battlefield where the Lady of light
was stationed mounting on her lion vehicle
As she was ready to fight the demon armies.
They amazed, laughed and ridiculed her
and shouted in anger. The six generals
of the demon armies, masters of war craft
Raising terrific cries of war rushed to battle
Hurled their swords, javelins, and halberds
and shot forth fiery-arrows against her
They touched her body but broke to pieces.
They hurled missiles and fiery arms
but her arrows reduced them to ashes.
No trace of strain was seen on her face-
She sighed and from her sighs came
out countless troops of goddess forces
started to fight with the armies of demons.
As several heads of demons rolled down
severe cries filled the battlefield, turned
into a great sea of blood. Even the lion
the vehicle of the Goddess jumped over
the demons caused much destruction.
Then suddenly by the magic exercised
by generals of Mahisha the severed heads
of demons joined their trunks and even
the trunks torn asunder clubbed together.
All demons so far dead came to life and
resumed their fighting with fierce valor.
Some head less trunks of demons up rose
And danced wildly in the pools of blood.
Even the vampires and ghosts of demons
Challenged the divine forces for combats
The divine energies all were brutally beaten
and were tired in the battle they felt despair.
Seeing the plight of her forces the Goddess
had turned them into blazing flames of light.
Encircled by great flames, the armies of demons
and the six generals burnt and reduced to ashes!
Having heard the destruction of his armies
the most valiant Mahish, the king of demons
Taking shape of a buffalo rushed to battlefield
Bellowed on the ground where divine forces
were dancing like myriads of blazing flames.
He leaped over the flames like the hell’s dark fire.
By his touch the divine flames lost their luster
By the blows of his muzzle, by lashes of his tail
By stamping of his hooves, by pokes of his horns
By his impetuous speed, by his bellows terrifying
By blasts of his poisonous breath and by wheeling
Movements, he created the tempests of black fires
Raged down the divine forces on the battle ground.
He pounded the earth with his hooves in rage
Tossed up the great mountains by his horns.
Crushed by the velocity of his wheeling moves
The earth was disintegrated and seas overflowed
Thus he wrought great destruction of the nature.
Enraged by the evil acts of the demon king Mahish
The lady of light flung her huge noose of time
Bounded him, but taking the form of a man
He rushed unto her and by seizing the Goddess
He sprang up and mounted high unto the sky.
The great lady then without any support fought
the demon king surprising the hosts of the gods.
After carrying a great fight for a long time she
Lifted him up, whirled him around and flung
Him down on the earth causing great earthquakes
The demon then assumed his form of buffalo
Tried to rise but the Lady jumped down and landed
Herself on him, pressed on his neck by her foot
Struck down a terrible spear into his heart
Half issued forth from the buffalo form, Mahisha
Caught up under her foot, overcame by her valor.
The Goddess with a blazing sword struck off his head
at once in a crying consternation his vital airs left out.
~*~
The hosts of Angels bowed their heads and
Offered salutations to the Great Goddess in delight:
O Mighty Goddess! O Mother of the universe! Obeisance!
Thou art the supreme energy which created the universe
Thou art the supreme Goddess protecting the universe
Thou art the supreme knowledge revealed by the scriptures
Thou art the destroyer of ignorance of all creatures
Thou art the destroyer of sins, and destroyer of demons
Thou art the granter of joy, wealth and health to all
May we be always protected by Thy merciful glances
Obeisance unto Thee, O Durga, O Lady of light!
Om Hrim Obeisance, Obeisance, Obeisance!
