In the meanwhile Śiva was pleased with the severe asceticism of Vishṇu and his companions in Siddhíśvara, and he appeared to them in the linga and delighted them by the following speech, “Rise up, afflict yourselves no longer; I have been fully propitiated with self-torture by your partizan Chandraketu, the prince of the Vidyádharas. And he shall have a heroic son, sprung from a part of me, who shall soon slay in fight that Daitya Vidyuddhvaja. Then, in order that he may perform another service to the gods, he shall fall[16] by a curse into the world of men, and the daughter of the Gandharva Padmaśekhara shall deliver him from that condition. And he shall rule the Vidyádharas with that lady, who shall be an incarnation of a portion of Gaurí, and shall be named Padmávatí, for his consort, and at last he shall come to me. So bear up for a little: this desire of yours is already as good as accomplished.” “When Śiva had said this to Vishṇu and his companions, he disappeared; then Vishṇu, Brahmá, Indra and Bṛihaspati went, in high delight, back to the places from which they came.
Then Muktávalí the wife of that king of the Vidyádharas, named Chandraketu, became pregnant, and in time she brought forth a son, illuminating the four quarters with his irresistible splendour,[17] like the infant sun arisen to remove the oppression under which those ascetics were groaning. And as soon as he was born this voice was heard from heaven, “Chandraketu, this son of thine shall slay the Asura Vidyuddhvaja, and know that he is to be by name Muktáphalaketu, the terror of his foes.”
When the voice had said so much to the delighted Chandraketu, it ceased; and a rain of flowers fell; and Padmaśekhara, and Indra, hearing what had taken place, came there, and the other gods, who were lurking concealed. Conversing to one another of the story of the boon of Śiva, and having rejoiced thereat, they went to their own abodes. And Muktáphalaketu had all the sacraments performed for him, and gradually grew up; and as he grew, the joy of the gods increased.
Then, some time after the birth of his son, a daughter was born to Padmaśekhara, the supreme lord of the Gandharvas. And when she was born, a voice came from the air, “Prince of the Gandharvas, this daughter of thine Padmávatí shall be the wife of that king of the Vidyádharas who shall be the foe of Vidyuddhvaja.” Then that maiden Padmávatí gradually grew up, adorned with an overflowing effulgence of beauty, as if with billowy nectar acquired by her being born in the world of the moon.[18]
And that Muktáphalaketu, even when a child, was high-minded, and being always devoted to Śiva, he performed asceticism, in the form of vows, fasts, and other penances. And once on a time, when he had fasted twelve days, and was absorbed in meditation, the adorable Śiva appeared to him, and said, “I am pleased with this devotion of thine, so by my special favour the weapons, the sciences, and all the accomplishments shall manifest themselves to thee. And receive from me this sword named Invincible,[19] by means of which thou shalt hold sovereign sway, unconquered by thy enemies.” When the god had said this, he gave him the sword and disappeared, and that prince at once became possessed of powerful weapons and great strength and courage.
Now, one day, about this time, that great Asura Vidyuddhvaja, being established in heaven, was disporting himself in the water of the heavenly Ganges. He saw the water of that stream flowing along brown with the pollen of flowers, and remarked that it was pervaded by the smell of the ichor of elephants, and troubled with waves. Then, puffed up with pride of his mighty arm, he said to his attendants, “Go and see who is disporting himself in the water above me.” When the Asuras heard that, they went up the stream, and saw the bull of Śiva sporting in the water with the elephant of Indra. And they came back and said to that prince of the Daityas, “King, the bull of Śiva has gone higher up the stream, and is amusing himself in the water with Airávaṇa: so this water is full of his garlands and of the ichor of Airávaṇa.” When that Asura heard this, he was wroth, in his arrogance making light of Rudra, and infatuated by the full ripening of his own evil deeds he said to his followers, “Go and bring that bull and Airávaṇa here bound.” Those Asuras went there, and tried to capture them, and thereupon the bull and elephant ran upon them in wrath and slew most of them. And those who escaped from the slaughter went and told Vidyuddhvaja; and he was angry, and sent a very great force of Asuras against those two animals. And those two trampled to death that army, upon which destruction came as the result of matured crime, and then the bull returned to Śiva, and the elephant to Indra.
Then Indra heard about that proceeding of the Daitya’s from the guards, who followed Airávaṇa to take care of him, and he concluded that the time of his enemy’s destruction had arrived, as he had treated with disrespect even the adorable Śiva. He told that to Brahmá, and then he united himself with the assembled forces of the gods, and the Vidyádharas, and his other allies; and then he mounted the chief elephant of the gods, and set out to slay that enemy of his; and on his departure Śachí performed for him the usual ceremony to ensure good fortune.
[1] It appears from the India Office MSS. that táv should be inserted after evam̱.
[2] I have adopted the reading andhakáritam̱ which I find in the three India Office MSS.