Chapter 212

‘Narada continued, ‘As soon as those festivities came to an end, thebrothers Sunda and Upasunda, desirous of the Sovereignty of the threeworlds, took counsel and commanded their forces to be arranged.

Obtainingthe assent of their friends and relatives, of the elders of the Daityarace and of their ministers of state, and performing the preliminaryrites of departure, they set out in the night when the constellationMagha was in the ascendant. The brothers set out with a large Daityaforce clad in mail and armed with maces and axes and lances and clubs.The Daitya heroes set out on their expedition with joyous hearts, thecharanas (bards) chanting auspicious panegyrics indicative of theirfuture triumphs. Furious in war, the Daitya brothers, capable of goingeverywhere at will, ascended the skies and went to the region of thecelestials. The celestials knowing they were coming and acquainted alsowith the boons granted unto them by the Supreme Deity left heaven andsought refuge in the region of Brahman. Endued with fierce prowess, theDaitya heroes soon subjugated the region of Indra, and vanquishing thediverse tribes of Yakshas and Rakshasas and every creature ranging theskies, came away. Those mighty car-warriors next subjugated the Nagas ofthe nether region, and then the inmates of the ocean and then all thetribes of the Mlechchhas. Desirous next of subjugating the whole earth,those heroes of irresistible sway, summoning their soldiers, issued thesecruel commands, ‘Brahmanas and royal sages (on earth) with theirlibations and other food offered at grand sacrifices, increase the energyand strength of the gods, as also their prosperity. Engaged in such acts,they are the enemies of the Asuras. All of us, therefore, musteringtogether should completely slaughter them off the face of the earth!’Ordering their soldiers thus on the eastern shore of the great ocean, andentertaining such a cruel resolution, the Asura brothers set out in alldirections. And those that were performing sacrifices and the Brahmanasthat were assisting at those sacrifices, the mighty brothers instantlyslew. And slaughtering them with violence they departed for some otherplace. Whilst their soldiers threw into the water the sacrificial firesthat were in the asylums of Munis with souls under complete control, thecurses uttered by the illustrious Rishis in wrath, rendered abortive bythe boons granted (by Brahman), affected not the Asura brothers. When theBrahmanas saw that their curses produced not the slightest effect likeshafts shot at stones they fled in all directions, forsaking their ritesand vows. Even those Rishis on earth that were crowned with asceticsuccess, and had their passions under complete control and were whollyengrossed in meditation of the Deity, from fear of the Asura brothers,fled like snakes at the approach of Vinata’s son (Garuda thesnake-eater). The sacred asylums were all trodden down and broken. Thesacrificial jars and vessels being broken, their (sacred) contents werescattered over the ground. The whole universe became empty, as if itscreatures had all been stricken down during the season of generaldissolution. And, O king, after the Rishis had all disappeared and madethemselves invisible both the great Asuras, resolved upon theirdestruction, began to assume various forms. Assuming the forms ofmaddened elephants with temples rent from excess of juice, the Asurapair, searching out the Rishis who had sheltered themselves in caves,sent them to the region of Yama. Sometimes becoming as lions and again astigers and disappearing the next moment, by these and other methods thecruel couple, seeing the Rishis, slew them instantly. Sacrifice and studyceased, and kings and Brahmanas were exterminated. The earth becameutterly destitute of sacrifices and festivals. And the terrified peopleuttered cries of Oh and Alas and all buying and selling were stopped. Allreligious rites ceased, and the earth became destitute of sacredceremonies and marriages. Agriculture was neglected and cattle were nolonger tended. Towns and asylums became desolate. And scattered over withbones and skeletons, the earth assumed a frightful aspect. All ceremoniesin honour of the Pitris were suspended, and the sacred sound of Vashatand the whole circle of auspicious rites ceased. The earth becamefrightful to behold. The Sun and the Moon, the Planets and Stars, andConstellations, and the other dwellers in the firmament, witnessing theseacts of Sunda and Upasunda, grieved deeply. Subjugating all the points ofheaven by means of such cruel acts, the Asura brothers took up theirabode in Kurukshetra, without a single rival.'”