Nov 30, 2015 — CANADA (SUN) — An excerpted presentation of Sri Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840.
VISHŃU PURÁŃA - BOOK V
CHAPTER XXXIII - Part Two
Next Vishńu overcame and demolished the five fires, and with perfect ease annihilated the army of the Dánavas. Then the son of Bali (Báńa), with the whole of the Daitya host, assisted by Śankara and Kártikeya, fought with Śauri. A fierce combat took place between Hari and Śankara; all the regions shook, scorched by their flaming weapons, and the celestials felt assured that the end of the universe was at hand.
Govinda, with the weapon of yawning, set Śankara a-gape; and then the demons and the demigods attendant upon Śiva were destroyed on every side; for Hara, overcome with incessant gaping, sat down in his car, and was unable longer to contend with Krishńa, whom no acts affect. The deity of war, Kártikeya, wounded in the arm by Garud́a, struck by the weapons of Pradyumna, and disarmed by the shout of Hari, took to flight. Báńa, when he saw Śankara disabled, the Daityas destroyed, Guha fled, and Śiva's followers slain, advanced on his vast car, the horses of which were harnessed by Nandíśa, to encounter Krishńa and his associates Bala and Pradyumna.
The valiant Balabhadra, attacking the host of Báńa, wounded them in many ways with his arrows, and put them to a shameful rout; and their sovereign beheld them dragged about by Ráma with his ploughshare, or beaten by him with his club, or pierced by Krishńa with his arrows: he therefore attacked Krishńa, and a fight took place between them: they cast at each other fiery shafts, that pierced through their armour; but Krishńa intercepted with his arrows those of Báńa, and cut them to pieces. Báńa nevertheless wounded Keśava, and the wielder of the discus wounded Báńa; and both desirous of victory, and seeking enraged the death of his antagonist, hurled various missiles at each other. When an infinite number of arrows had been cut to pieces, and the weapons began to be exhausted, Krishńa resolved to put Báńa to death.
The destroyer of the demon host therefore took up his discus Sudarśana, blazing with the radiance of a hundred suns. As he was in the act of casting it, the mystical goddess Kot́aví, the magic lore of the demons, stood naked before him. Seeing her before him, Krishńa, with unclosed eyes, cast Sudarśana, to cut off the arms of Báńa. The discus, dreaded in its flight by the whole of the weapons of the demons, lopped off successively the numerous arms of the Asura. Beholding Krishńa with the discus again in his hand, and preparing to launch it once more, for the total demolition of Báńa, the foe of Tripura (Śiva) respectfully addressed him.
The husband of Umá, seeing the blood streaming from the dissevered arms of Báńa, approached Govinda, to solicit a suspension of hostilities, and said to him, "Krishńa, Krishńa, lord of the world, I know thee, first of spirits, the supreme lord, infinite felicity, without beginning or end, and beyond all things. This sport of universal being, in which thou takest the persons of god, animals, and men, is a subordinate attribute of thy energy. Be propitious therefore, O lord, unto me. I have given Báńa assurance of safety; do not thou falsify that which I have spoken. He has grown old in devotion to me; let him not incur thy displeasure. The Daitya has received a boon from me, and therefore I deprecate thy wrath."
When he had concluded, Govinda, dismissing his resentment against the Asura, looked graciously on the lord of Umá, the wielder of the trident, and said to him, "Since you, Śankara, have given a boon unto Báńa, let him live: from respect to your promises, my discus is arrested: the assurance of safety granted by you is granted also by me. You are fit to apprehend that you are not distinct from me. That which I am, thou art; and that also is this world, with its gods, demons, and mankind. Men contemplate distinctions, because they are stupified by ignorance."
So saying, Krishńa went to the place where the son of Pradyumna was confined. The snakes that bound him were destroyed, being blasted by the breath of Garud́a: and Krishńa, placing him, along with his wife, upon the celestial bird, returned with Pradyumna and Ráma to Dwáraká.
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust