sex, was
twined round with the cord that served as its bowstring. And there was a
shaft whose splendour looked like that of the sun or of the fire that
appears at the end of the Yuga. Verily, that shaft was the excellent
Pasupata that mighty and terrible weapon, which is without a second,
indescribable for its power, and capable of striking every creature with
fear. Of vast proportions, it seemed to constantly vomit sparks of fire.
Possessed of one foot, of large teeth, and a thousand heads and thousand
stomachs, it has a thousand arms, a thousand tongues, and a thousand
eyes. Indeed, it seemed to continually vomit fire. O thou of mighty arms,
that weapon is superior to the Brahma, the Narayana, the Aindra, the
Agneya, and the Varuna weapons. Verily, it is capable of neutralising
every other weapon in the universe. It was with that weapon that the
illustrious Mahadeva had in days of yore, burnt and consumed in a moment
the triple city of the Asuras. With the greatest ease, O Govinda,
Mahadeva, using that single arrow, achieved that feat. That weapon, shot
by Mahadeva's arms, can, without doubt consume in half the time taken up
by a twinkling of the eyes the entire universe with all its mobile and
immobile creatures. In the universe there is no being including even
Brahma and Vishnu and the deities, that are incapable of being slain by
that weapon. O sire, I saw that excellent, wonderful and incomparable
weapon in the hand of Mahadeva. There is another mysterious and very
powerful weapon which is equal or perhaps superior to the Pasupata
weapon. I beheld that also. It is celebrated in all the worlds as the Sum
of the Sula-armed Mahadeva. Hurled by the illustrious deity, that weapon
is competent to rive the entire Earth or dry up the waters of the ocean
or annihilate the entire universe. In days of yore, Yuvanaswa's son, king
Mandhatri, that conqueror of the three worlds, possessed of imperial sway
and endued with abundant energy, was, with all his troops, destroyed by
means of that weapon. Endued with great might and great energy and
resembling Sakra himself in prowess, the king, O Govinda, was slain by
the Rakshasa Lavana with the aid of this Sula which he had got from Siva.
The Sula has a very keen point. Exceedingly terrible, it is capable of
causing everybody's hair stand on its end. I saw it in the hand of
Mahadeva, as if roaring with rage, having contracted its forehead into
three wrinkles. It resembled, O Krishna, a