Chapter 203

“Markandeya said, ‘The illustrious Dhundhu, O king, was the son of Madhuand Kaitabha, and possessed of great energy and prowess, he underwentascetic penances of great austerity and he stood erect on one leg andreduced his body to a mass of only veins and arteries, and Brahma,gratified with him, gave him a boon. And the boon he had asked of thelord Prajapati was in these words, ‘Let no one among the gods, theDanavas, the Rakshas, the Snakes, the Gandharvas and the Rakshasas becapable of slaying me. Even this is the boon that I ask of thee.’ And theGrandsire replied unto him saying, ‘Let it be as thou wishest. Go thyway.’ And thus addressed by the Grandsire, the Danava placed the feet ofthe Deity on his head and having thus touched with reverence the Deity’sfeet he went away and possessed of mighty energy and prowess. Dhundhu,having obtained the boon hastily approached Vishnu remembering the deathof his father at the hands of that Deity, and the wrathful Dhundhu havingvanquished the gods with the Gandharvas began to distress all thecelestials with Vishnu at their head. And at last O bull of the Bharatarace, that wicked souled Asura arriving at a sea of sands known by thename of Ujjalaka, began to distress to the utmost of his might the asylumof Utanka. And endued with fierce energy, Dhundhu, the son of Madhu andKaitabha, lay in his subterranean cave underneath the sands in theobservance of fierce ascetic and severe austerities with the object ofdestroying the triple world, and while the Asura lay breathing near theasylum of Utanka that Rishi possessed of the splendour of fire, kingKualaswa with his troops, accompanied by the Brahmana Utanka, as also byall his sons set out for that region, O bull of the Bharata race! Andafter that grinder of foes, the royal Kuvalaswa, had set out, accompaniedby his twenty-one thousand sons all of whom were exceedingly powerful,the illustrious Lord Vishnu filled him with his own energy at the commandof Utanka and impelled by the desire of benefiting the triple world andwhile that invincible hero was proceeding on his way and loud voice washeard in the sky repeating the words, ‘This fortunate and unslayable onewill become the destroyer of Dhundhu to-day.’ And the gods began toshower upon him celestial flowers. And the celestial kettle drums beganto sound their music although none played upon them. And during the marchof that wise one, cool breezes began to blow and the chief of thecelestials poured gentle showers wetting the dust on the roads and, OYudhishthira, the cars of the celestials could be seen high over the spotwhere the mighty Asura Dhundhu was. The gods and Gandharvas and greatRishis urged by curiosity, came there to behold the encounter betweenDhundhu and Kuvalaswa and, O thou of the Kuru race, filled by Narayanawith his own energy, king Kuvalaswa, aided by his sons, soon surroundedthat sea of sands and the king ordered that wilderness to be excavatedand after the king’s sons had excavated that sea of sands for seven days,they could see the mighty Asura Dhundhu. And, O bull of the Bharata race,the huge body of that Asura lay within those sands, effulgent in its ownenergy like the Sun himself. And Dhundhu, O king, was lying covering thewestern region of the desert and surrounded on all sides by the sons ofKuvalaswa, the Danava was assaulted with sharp-pointed shafts and macesand heavy and short clubs and axes and clubs, with iron spikes and dartsand bright and keen-edged swords, and thus assaulted, the mighty Danavarose from his recumbent posture in wrath. And enraged, the Asura began toswallow those various weapons that were hurled at him and he vomited fromhis mouth fiery flames like unto those of the fire called Samvarta thatappeareth at the end of the Yuga and by those flames of his, the Asuraconsumed all the sons of the king and, O tiger among men, like the LordKapila of old consuming the sons of king Sagara, the infuriated Asuraoverwhelming the triple world with the flames vomited from his mouth,achieved that wonderful feat in a moment. And, O thou best of theBharatas, when all those sons of king Kuvalaswa were consumed by the fireemitted by the Asura in wrath, the monarch, possessed as he was of mightyenergy, then approached the Danava who, like unto a second Kumbhakarna ofmighty energy, had come to the encounter after waking from his slumbers.From the body of the king, O monarch, then began to flow a mighty andcopious stream of water and that stream soon extinguished, O king, thefiery flames emitted by the Asura. And, O great king, the royalKuvalaswa, filled with Yoga force, having extinguished those flames bythe water that issued from his body, consumed that Daitya of wickedprowess with the celebrated weapon called Brahma for relieving the tripleworld of its fears, and the royal sage Kuvalaswa, having consumed thatgreat Asura, that foe of the celestials and slayer of all enemies, bymeans of that weapon became like unto a second chief of the triple worldand the high-souled king Kuvalaswa having slain the the Asura Dhundhu,became from that time known by the name of Dhundhumara and from that timehe came to be regarded as invincible in battle, and the gods and thegreat Rishis who had come to witness that encounter were so far gratifiedwith him that they addressed him saying, ‘Ask thou a boon of us!’ Andthus solicited by the gods, the king bowed to them and filled with joy,the king said unto them, with joined hands these words, ‘Let me be alwaysable to give wealth unto superior Brahmanas! Let me be invincible asregards all foes! Let there be friendship between myself and Vishnu! Letme have no ill-feeling towards any creature! Let my heart always turn tovirtue! And let me (finally) dwell in heaven for ever!’ And the gods andthe Rishis and Utanka, hearing this were exceedingly gratified and all ofthem said, ‘Let it be as thou wishest!’ And, O king, having also blessedhim with many other speeches, the gods and the great Rishis then wentaway to their respective abodes. And, O Yudhishthira, after the slaughterof all his sons, king Kuvalaswa had still three sons left, and, O thou ofthe Bharata race, they were called Dridaswa and Kapilaswa and Chandraswa.It is from them, O king, that the illustrious line of kings belonging toIkshvaku’s race, all possessed of immeasurable prowess, hath sprung.

“It was thus, O best of king, that that great Daitya of the name Dhundhu,the son of Madhu and Kaitabha was slain by Kuvalaswa and it was for thisalso that king came to be called by the name of Dhundhumara. And indeed,the name he assumed was no empty one but was literally true.

“I have now told thee all that thou hadst asked me, viz., all about thatperson in consequence of whose act the story of Dhundhu’s death hathbecome famous. He that listeneth to this holy history connected with theglory of Vishnu, becometh virtuous and obtaineth children. By listeningto this story on particular lunations, one becometh blessed with longlife and great good fortune. And freed from every anxiety one ceaseth tohave any fear of diseases.”