Radha Krishna - Chapter 18: The Battle Between Lord Boar and the Demon Hiranyâksha

(1) Maitreya continued: 'Having heard the proud words of the Lord of the seas, the vainglorious one took little heed of them. From Nârada having learned about the whereabouts of the Lord, oh dear Vidura, he hurriedly betook himself to the place of punishment. (2) There he saw how the Victorious One bearing the earth high on the tips of His tusks, was putting him in His shadow

with His radiant, reddish eyes. He laughed and said: 'Oh, a beast of the wilderness!' (3) He told the Lord: 'Come and fight oh fool, leave the earth to us inhabitants of the lower worlds. The creator of the universe entrusted us this earth. My seeing You here will not be to Your wellbeing, oh summit of divinity who assumed the form of a boar. (4) Have our enemies called on You in order to kill us? You killed the ones attached to the world, while You remained out of view Yourself! Your bewildering internal potency is of no importance. I will erase the grief of my relatives by killing You idiot! (5) When I have killed You smashing Your skull with the mace in my hand, all the sages and God-conscious people who where presenting their offerings to You will be released and automatically cease to exist without that root.'

(6) When He, hurt by the assailing abuse of words of the enemy, saw that the earth He was bearing on the tips of His tusks was affrighted, He bore the pain and came out of the water like a male elephant who in the company of his wives is attacked by a crocodile. (7) He who had golden hair and frightening teeth chased Him who came out of the water like the crocodile would do with the elephant. He roared like thunder: 'Is there anything a condemned poor devil [like You running away from me] is ashamed of?' (8) With the enemy looking on He [Lord Boar] placed the earth within His sight on the water and invested her with the power of His own strength [to stay afloat]. [For that] He was praised by the creator of the universe and pleased with flowers by the ones in charge. (9) Hiranyâksha with his wealth of golden ornaments, his huge mace and his beautiful golden armor, followed Him closely behind and constantly pierced the core of His heart with terribly angry abuses. But He laughed about it and addressed him. (10) The Supreme Lord said: 'We [boars] are indeed creatures of the jungle, for I seek to kill dogs just like you oh mischievous one. [And as for your insults: We] heroes who are free from the bondage of death take no notice of the loose talk of someone bound [to this or that culture]. (11) We [digging up matters] are thieves of the reserves of the inhabitants of the lower worlds and are not ashamed about it. Despite of being chased by your mace We somehow will manage to maintain in battle. Where can one go having challenged such a mighty adversary? (12) [You] being the commander of the leaders of foot soldiers have to take steps to defeat Us forthwith, without further consideration. And with killing Us you wipe the tears away of your kith and kin. Is it not so that he who does not fulfill the words of his promise deserves no place in an assembly?'

(13) Maitreya said: 'The attacker, thus being insulted and ridiculed by the Supreme One of Devotion got seriously agitated and furious as a challenged cobra. (14) Hissing of anger and stirred in all his senses because of his wrath, the demon quickly attacked and threw his mace at the Lord. (15) The Lord however stepped aside to evade the blow of the mace thrown by the enemy, just like an accomplished yogi eluding death. (16) After picking up his mace again he brandished it about repeatedly and bit his lip in the rage of his anger to rush towards the Lord for the second time. (17) But, oh gentle one [Vidura], He as an expert on this weapon with the help of His mace saved Himself by striking the enemy with it on his right eyebrow. (18) In this manner Hiranyâksha and the Lord both eager for the victory were furiously striking each other with their huge maces. (19) The two combatants with their bodies injured by the pointed maces, smelled the oozing blood, which increased their vigor to perform diverse maneuvers in their effort to win. It looked like an encounter between two bulls fighting about a cow.

(20) Oh descendant of Kuru, Brahmâ, the self-born one who desired to witness what transpired for the sake of the world came, accompanied by the sages, for the Daitya Hiranyâksha and the Supersoul of all sacrifices who had engaged His potency to appear in the form of a boar. (21) Upon seeing the power the Daitya Hiranyâksha had acquired and how he, unafraid, had arrived at an unavoidable opposition, the respectable Lord Brahmâ, the leader of thousands of sages, addressed the original Lord Nârâyana in His boar form. (22-23) Brahmâ said: 'This one, oh God, is to the gods, the brahmins, the cows, the normal living beings and the innocent souls who obtained Your feet, an evil-doer, a source of fear doing wrong by the power of a boon obtained from me. He wandering about as a pain to everyone as a demon has searched all the universe missing a proper adversary. (24) Play no innocent game with him oh God, aroused he is a snake full of tricks, arrogant, self-righteous and most wicked. (25) Please oh Infallible One, engage Your internal potency and forthwith kill the sinner before he one moment seizes the opportunity to increase his formidable power. (26) This encroaching dark of night destroys the world, oh Soul of Souls, please bring victory to the God-conscious ones. (27) This auspicious moment called abhijit [the eight muhûrta, about midday] has almost passed now. For the welfare of us, Your friends, quickly dispose of this formidable foe. (28) The death of this one, who fortunately arrived here on his own accord, was ordained by You. Show him Your power in the duel, kill him and restore the peace of the worlds.'