The destruction of Samkhachuda with the trident of Siva
Narayana said—О Narada, Siva who is well- versed in the knowledge of tattva, leamt about the factual position from Bhadrakali and he went to the battle field himself.
Finding Siva approaching the battle field Samkhachuda descending, from the plane prostrated before Siva, bowing in reverence to him. He at once mounted his chariot and alerted his demon soldiers. He then picked up his invisible bow.
О Brahmana, the battle between Siva and the demon continued for a year but no one could be victorious. Thereafter lord Siva disowning his weapons stood there without them. The demon too stood there quietly. Thereafter Saihkhacuda mounted on his chariot and Siva on his bull Nandi. The innumerable demons were killed in the battle field. Such of the soldiers of Siva’s army as were killed in the battle field were brought back to life by him.
Thereafter lord Vishnu taking to the form of an old Brahmana reached the battle field and said to the demon king.
The old Brahmana said—“О demon, king you give an old Brahmana the alms desired by him, since you are the possessor of ^immense riches and I have not eaten for щвйу days. I am old, thirsty and am a helpless Brahmana. In case you give me a solemn promise that you will give away whatever is begged by me, only then shall I disclose the same. The delighted demon king Samkhaciida reciting ‘ Om ’ promised to give him the desired things. Thereafter lord Vishnu said— “I am desirous of your kavacha”.
On hearing this the best of the demons took out the kavaca and handed it over to the beggar who left the place at once.
Thereafter taking to the form of Samkhachuda, Vishnu went to Tulasi and with an illusion implanted his seed into the womb of Tulasi.
At that very moment lord Siva took up his trident in order to destroy the demon king. The trident was shining like hundreds of suns at noon in summer.
Over the fore part of the trident resided Narayana, Brahma in the eentre and lord Siva at the rear end. It had very sharp edges.
It had the lustre of the fire of dissolution and was terrific and could never be wasted. It was fatal for the enemies.
Like the Sudarshana-chakra it possessed lustre and could penetrate all the weapons and except Siva and Visnu no one could handle it.
It was as long as a thousand bows and was a hundred feet in width. It had the figure of Brahman itself. Its form could never change and it was of divine origin.
О Narada, the trident had the capacity to destroy the entire universe. Lord Siva playfully held it and moved it round and round and then threw it at Sarhkhacuda. The intelligent demon king realised the entire secret of it and intelligently sat in Yogasana and devoted his mind to the lotus-like feet of lord Krsna. The trident after taking many rounds, ultimately fell on the demon king who was reduced to ashes together with his chariot and horses.
Thereafter the demon king was turned into the form of a cowherd boy. He had two arms and held a flute in his hand. He was adorned with all the ornaments and was surrounded by crores of cowherds. He then mounted on the divine plane and went to Goloka. О sage, reaching Rasamandala in Goloka, he bowed in reverence at the lotus-like feet of Radha and Madhu. Thereafter he prostrated before them. Finding Sudama there both Radha and Krsna felt delighted. With their minds filled with love and affection, the lord lifted him up in his lap. On the other hand the trident shot by Siva returned to his hand with great force. Lord Siva then carried the bones of the demon king and consigned them to the ocean of salt water. From the bones several types of samkha emerged.
These samkha which emerged in several forms were used for performing piija of the gods. The water of the samkha offered to the gods is immensely liked by them.
The water of the samkha is offered to all the gods except Lord Siva. Wherever the sound of the Samkha echoes, the goddess Lakshmi resides there.
Whosoever takes a bath with the water of samkha, earns the merit of having a bath in all the sacred places. Indeed samkha represents lord Vishnu and wherever samkha lives, it becomes the abode of lord Vishnu.
The goddess Lakshmi also resides there continuously and all the evils are removed, but the goddess Lakshmi is adverse to the blowing of the conches by the ladies as well as the Sudras and leaves the place at once.
Thus with the killing of the demon king, Siva was extremely pleased and mounting on his bull, he returned to his abode together with his ganas.
The gods felt delighted at getting back their kingdoms. The sound of dundubhl echoed in the heavens. The Gandharvas and Kinnaras started singing and dancing.
The gods started showering flowers over Siva. The gods and the sages immensely pleased Lord Siva.
