The Deliverance of the Demon Bhaumäsura
The story of Bhaumäsura—how he kidnapped and made captive sixteen thousand princesses by collecting them from the palaces of various kings and how he was killed by Kåñëa, the Supreme Lord of wonderful character—is all described by Çukadeva Gosvämé to King Parékñit in Çrémad-Bhägavatam. Generally, the demons are always against the demigods. This demon, Bhaumäsura, having become very powerful, took by force the umbrella from the throne of the demigod Varuëa. He also took the earrings of Aditi, the mother of the demigods. He conquered a portion of heavenly Mount Meru and occupied the portion known as Maëi-parvata. The King of the heavenly planets, Indra, therefore came to Dvärakä to complain about Bhaumäsura before Lord Kåñëa.
Hearing this complaint by Indra, the King of heaven, Lord Kåñëa, accompanied by His wife Satyabhämä, immediately started for the abode of Bhaumäsura. The two of them rode on the back of Garuòa, who flew them to Prägjyotiña-pura, Bhaumäsura’s capital city. To enter the city of Prägjyotiña-pura was not a very easy task, because it was very well fortified. First of all, there were four strongholds guarding the four directions of the city, which was well protected on all sides by formidable military strength. The next boundary was a water canal all around the city, and in addition the whole city was surrounded by electric wires. The next fortification was of anila, a gaseous substance. After this, there was a network of barbed wiring constructed by a demon of the name Mura. The city appeared well protected even in terms of today’s scientific advancements.
When Kåñëa arrived, He broke all the strongholds to pieces by the strokes of His club and scattered the military strength here and there by the constant onslaught of His arrows. With His celebrated Sudarçana cakra He counteracted the electrified boundary, annihilated the canals of water and the gaseous boundary, and cut to pieces the electrified network fabricated by the demon Mura. By the vibration of His conchshell, He broke the hearts of the great fighters and also broke the fighting machines that were there. Similarly, He broke the walls around the city with His invincible club.
The vibration of Lord Kåñëa’s conchshell sounded like a thunderbolt at the time of the dissolution of the whole cosmic manifestation. The demon Mura heard the vibration of the conchshell, awakened from his sleep and came out to see what had happened. He had five heads and had long been living within the water. The Mura demon was as brilliant as the sun at the time of the dissolution of the cosmos, and his temper was like blazing fire. The effulgence of his body was so dazzling that he was difficult to see with open eyes. When he came out, he first took out his trident and rushed the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The demon Mura in his onslaught was like a big snake attacking Garuòa. His angry mood was very severe, and he appeared ready to devour the three worlds. First of all he attacked the carrier of Kåñëa, Garuòa, by whirling and then throwing his trident, and through his five mouths he vibrated sounds like the roaring of a lion. These roaring vibrations spread all over the atmosphere until they extended all over the world and into outer space, up and down and out to the ten directions, rumbling throughout the entire universe.
Lord Kåñëa saw that the trident of the Mura demon was rushing toward His carrier, Garuòa. Immediately, by a trick of His hand, He took two arrows and threw them toward the trident, cutting it to pieces. Simultaneously, using many arrows, He pierced the mouths of the demon Mura. When the Mura demon saw himself outmaneuvered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he immediately began to strike the Lord in great anger with his club. But Lord Kåñëa, with His own club, broke the club of Mura to pieces before it could reach Him. The demon, bereft of his weapon, decided to attack Kåñëa with his strong arms, but Kåñëa, with the aid of His Sudarçana cakra, immediately separated the demon’s five heads from his body. The demon then fell into the water, just as the peak of a mountain falls into the ocean after being struck by the thunderbolt of Indra.
This demon Mura had seven sons, named Tämra, Antarikña, Çravaëa, Vibhävasu, Vasu, Nabhasvän and Aruëa. All of them became puffed up and vengeful because of the death of their father, and to retaliate they prepared in great anger to fight with Kåñëa. They equipped themselves with the necessary weapons and situated Péöha, another demon, to act as commander in the battle. By the order of Bhaumäsura, all of them combinedly attacked Kåñëa.
When they came before Lord Kåñëa, they began to shower Him with many kinds of weapons, like swords, clubs, lances, arrows and tridents. But they did not know that the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is unlimited and invincible. Kåñëa, with His arrows, cut all the weapons of the men of Bhaumäsura into pieces, like grains. Kåñëa then threw His weapons, and Bhaumäsura’s commander in chief, Péöha, along with his assistants, fell down, their military dress cut off and their heads, legs, arms and thighs severed. All of them were sent to the superintendent of death, Yamaräja.
Bhaumäsura, who was also known as Narakäsura, happened to be the son of the earth personified. When he saw that all his soldiers, commanders and fighters had been killed on the battlefield by the strokes of the weapons of the Personality of Godhead, he became exceedingly angry at the Lord. He then came out of the city with a great number of elephants who had all been born and brought up on the seashore. All of them were highly intoxicated. When they came out, they saw that Lord Kåñëa and His wife were beautifully situated high in outer space just like a blackish cloud about the sun, glittering with the light of electricity. The demon Bhaumäsura immediately released a weapon called Çataghné, by which he could kill hundreds of warriors with one stroke, and all his assistants simultaneously threw their respective weapons at the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kåñëa counteracted all these weapons by releasing His feathered arrows. The result of this fight was that all the soldiers and commanders of Bhaumäsura fell to the ground, their arms, legs and heads separated from their trunks, and all their horses and elephants also fell with them. In this way, all the weapons released by Bhaumäsura were cut to pieces by the Lord’s arrows.
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