34. Then he produced by his sorcery three very strong and fearful Asuras for the protection of his army, with their hideous appearances as that of death.
35. These horrible leaders of his army, being produced in his magic, flew upward with their enormous bodies, resembling the flying mountains of old.
36. They had the names of Dáma—the snare, Vyála—the snake, and Kata—the mat given them for their entrapping, enfolding and enwrapping the enemy, according to the demon’s wish.
37. They were preadamite beings and devoid of changing desires; and the want of their prior acts (like those of the human kind), made them move about as free as spiritual beings in one uniform tenor of their course.
38. These were not born as men from the seeds of their previous acts, with solid and substantial bodies; but mere artificial forces and airy forms, as facsimiles of the images in the demon’s mind.
CHAPTER XXVI.
BATTLE OF THE DEITIES AND DEMONS.
Argument. The war of the gods with the Demons, rising from the Rasátala or Infernal regions.
Vasishtha continued:—So saying, the chief of the demons despatched his generals Dáma, Vyála and Kata, to lead his armies for the destruction of the Deities upon earth.
2. The demoniac army rose out of the foaming sea and infernal caverns, in full armour and begirt with fiendish arms; and then bursting forth with hideous noise, soared aloft with their huge bodies, like mountains flying on high.
3. Their monstrous and mountainous bodies, hid the disk of the sun in the sky; and their stretching arms smote him of his rays. They increased also in their number and size under the leadership of Dáma, Vyála and Kata.