t down irreligion and
sin. At this, the divine Rudra of immeasurable soul, praised by the great
Rishis, took up that sword and assumed a different shape. Putting forth
four arms, he became so tall that though standing on the earth he touched
the very sun with his head. With eyes turned upwards and with every limb
extended wide, he began to vomit flames of fire from his mouth. Assuming
diverse complexions such as blue and white and red, wearing a black
deer-skin studded with stars of gold, he bore on his forehead a third eye
that resembled the sun in splendour. His two other eyes, one of which was
black and the other tawny, shone very brightly. The divine Mahadeva, the
bearer of the Sula, the tearer of Bhaga's eyes, taking up the sword whose
splendour resembled that of the all-destructive Yuga fire, and wielding a
large shield with three high bosses which looked like a mass of dark
clouds adorned with flashes of lightning, began to perform diverse kinds
of evolutions. Possessed of great prowess, he began to whirl the sword in
the sky, desirous of an encounter. Loud were the roars he uttered, and
awful the sound of his laughter. Indeed, O Bharata, the form then assumed
by Rudra was exceedingly terrible. Hearing that Rudra had assumed that
form for achieving fierce deeds, the Danavas, filled with joy, began to
come towards him with great speed, showering huge rocks upon him as they
came, and blazing brands of wood, and diverse kinds of terrible weapons
made of iron and each endued with the sharpness of a razor. The Danava
host, however, beholding that foremost of all beings, the indestructible
Rudra, swelling with might, became stupefied and began to tremble.
Although Rudra was alone and single-handed, yet so quickly did he move on
the field of battle with the sword in his arm that the Asuras thought
there were a thousand similar Rudras battling with them. Tearing and
piercing and afflicting and cutting and lopping off and grinding down,
the great god moved with celerity among the thick masses of his foes like
forest conflagration amid heaps of dry grass spread around. The mighty
Asuras, broken by the god with the whirls of his sword, with arms and
thighs and chests cut off and pierced, and with heads severed from their
trunks, began to fall down on the earth. Others among the Danavas,
afflicted with strokes of the sword, broke and fled in all directions,
cheering one another as they fled. Some penetrated into the bowels of t