17 T H E G O D D E S S A N D H E R H E L P E R S P R E PA R E T O F I G H T M A H I S H A S U R A I N H I S B U F FA L O G U I S E
Finally Mahishasura himself comes out to battle with the Goddess, crushing her troops underfoot, heaving mountains into the air with his horns, and lashing the sky and the ocean with his tail.
21. As his army was thus being destroyed,
24. Having laid low her army, Mahishasura
27. Pierced by his swaying horns, the clouds went
Mahishasura terrified the troops of the Devi with
rushed to slay the lion of the Mahadevi.
into fragments. Cast up by the blast of his breath,
his own buffalo form.
This enraged Ambika.
mountains fell down from the sky in hundreds.
22. Some (he laid low) by a blow of his muzzle, some
25. Mahishasura, great in valour, pounded
28. Seeing the great asura swollen with rage and
by stamping with his hooves, some by the lashes
the surface of the earth with his
advancing towards her, Chandika displayed her
of his tail, and others by the pokes of his horns.
hooves in rage, tossed up the high
wrath in order to slay him.
23. Some he laid low on the face of the earth by his
mountains with his horns, and
impetuous speed, some by his bellowing and
bellowed terribly.
wheeling movement, and others by the blast of
26. Crushed by the velocity of his wheeling,
his breath.
the earth disintegrated, and lashed by his
tail, the sea overflowed all around.
India (Kangra), circa 1810 Folio: Height: 23 cm Width: 29.3 cm
Image: Height: 19 cm Width: 25.7 cm
Opaque pigments and gold and silver on paper within wide red borders
Numbered 16 on reverse and 17 on cover sheet and inscribed with the subject of the painting: ‘Mahishasura crushes the troops; with his tail he hurls rocks at the Goddess’ Cf. Aijazuddin 1977, Guler 41(vi)