Aparajita - The Legend of Mahishasura

The battlefield is dirtied by dozens of my loyal soldiers' corpses. Vultures fight with each other over the possession of the dead bodies which would satisfy their hunger for weeks to come. The cries and loud laments of widows and children rent the air. Many women have lost their husbands, and yet more children have been rendered orphans. But alas! Their king can't provide his condolences or do anything for these unfortunates, for he himself lies on the dirt of the battlefield- helpless, wounded and defeated.

My guts seem to fall apart. Pus oozes out from the large crater on my leg which the lion had marred. My heart beats frantically, and blood harmoniously jerks out from the innumerable incisions on my body. The trident did not miss its aim. Just a few moments more, after which Mahishasura will be freed forever from this earthly body.

Tears roll down my cheeks when I think about Mahishi, my wife, the most beautiful woman in all three worlds. I do no lament at my defeat, rather I regret dying alone, without Mahishi beside me. I am scared of leaving her alone because I do not know what the Devas will do to her after my death. The only thing I look forward to now is apologizing to her once we meet in the other world. 

Her lovely dimples which could be seen whenever her soft lips parted to give way to a mesmerizing smile, her broad hips which marvellously swayed when she walked, her sharp curves which would entrap my heart and make me love her more- all these images float before my eyes, promising to provide me even the slightest bit of peace. 

I hope the Asuras will remember me, and not forget me as one of the many who laid their lives for the well-being of the Asuras. I am not the first one to be killed unfairly, and I will not be the last one who will be unfairly killed. The whole Asura race knows that I am dying a brave death. Very few are fortunate enough to die like a hero. The Devas had conspired against me and sent a ten-armed woman to fight a man who had no one else to protect him. The plan has borne fruit. I know Mahishi will be proud of me, for I had single-handedly fought a ferocious lion and a woman who had a clear advantage over me. I hope young Asura children will look up to me as a hero who kept fighting even in the face of defeat. It is these children who will succeed me and work for the welfare of my tribe.

You humans will, of course, remember me as a brute, a dangerous villain, killed by that goddess of yours. You will celebrate the day of my death as the day of good winning over evil. And I am not surprised by that. Humans are fickle-minded creatures. They blindly listen to the stories written by the victors but do not even try to look through the eyes of the defeated and the outcast. But we Asuras are different. We worship those heroes who have been killed unfairly. We do not slaughter our own brothers and sisters for insignificant matters and reasons. We do not forget our ancestors; their ashes are sacred to us and their resting place is hallowed ground. 

I had been told by the Asura elders that my uncle was killed by that scoundrel Devaraj, who took the form of a crocodile and devoured him. And what was his excuse? That my uncle wanted to please Varuna and gain heavenly powers to usurp the throne of Heaven. Is that our sin? Do we not have a right over the Heavens? You Devas deprived us of our hard-earned nectar which you promised to share after the churning of the ocean. When we desire to reside and co-exist peacefully with you in Heaven, you slaughter us. Have you forgotten we are your half-brothers? Have you forgotten that we share a common father? Have you forgotten those days when we rolled in mud and played under the sun together?

You Devas have on many occasions, attacked our empire south of the Vindhyas without any reason. You murdered innocent children and raped our women. You burnt our habitats to ashes and destroyed our families. Not a single star of hope hovered above our horizon. We were forced to keep quiet, for we had grown accustomed to bear patiently all the atrocities committed on us. And now when we avenge our fallen Asuras, you simply breach the Code of Ethics of War- which forbear females from taking part in war- by sending a ten-armed woman with a lion to duel with and kill the king of Asuras. Is that your definition of fair play?

My father and mother, they say, were unorthodox yet loving. After all, not every Asura King renounced his throne to transmute into a water buffalo and raise a family with one. But that Devraj was still not at peace. My mother's community was biased. They too, like you, looked down upon us Asuras as barbarians. Hence the news of my mother marrying one of those Asuras did not go down well with them. Devraj poured oil into the fire. He instigated the males of my mother's community, who in the garb of midnight, killed my father and widowed my pregnant mother.

But my mother was an honourable and brave woman. She did not remarry after the death of her partner, she lived on till the time of my birth, filled with grief at her lover's demise. And as soon as I was born, she burned herself alive, to merge with her lover's soul in the next world. Thus I was born, orphaned and exposed to the dangers of the world. 

I was ever-since filled with anger towards Devraj. I had trained, sweated and disciplined myself all my life, just to avenge the destruction of my family. He had snatched away from me the bliss of a mother's love and a father's protection for absolutely no fault of mine. 

I pleased Lord Brahma with my rigorous penance and obtained a boon not to be killed at the hands of a male. Many Asuras sympathised with me and joined my cause. Every other Asura had a score to settle with the Devas. Fuelled by our burning desire for revenge, we prepared ourselves for war. Once we were enough and ready, we laid siege on the Heavens.

That coward Devraj abandoned the heavens at the very news of my arrival and sought refuge in Kailash. He was cunning, for he knew that we Asuras would never even dream of attacking the adobe of the Mahadev, the only God we worshipped and looked up to. He was the only one who seemed to understand our sorrows, and the only person who deserves endless admiration and devotion.

But we had the Heavens at our disposal. We decided to leave the Devas alone and wished to indulge in the abundant pleasures of Heaven. Our tribe felt safe. Women, children and men populated the newly acquired territory. Their joyous squeals and shrieks were welcomed by my ears which were accustomed only to the sounds of weapons clashing and bodies getting butchered. Everyone ate full wholesome meals. No one slept hungry. Wherever I went, I was greeted by blessings, well-wishes and gratitude. Our tribe flourished and prospered after a very, very long time.

I thought we Asuras would finally live happily ever after.

And I was wrong, utterly wrong, for such endings exist only in fairy tales.

Rumour had it that Devraj felt intimidated by the boon I had obtained and conspired with the Trimurti to device my death. I knew from the very instant of seizing Heaven that it wouldn't be long before a confrontation, for that dog Devraj would not settle for anything less than the throne of Heaven and his Apsaras. So I wasn't bothered. But what I cannot comprehend even now is the fact that our Lord, who drank the Halahala to protect his Asura children, seemed to support the cause of the Devas. It is really disheartening to see the person whom you cherished and loved all your life join the cause for your death. 

Ten days earlier, when the sentries informed us about the sight of a ten-armed woman riding a lion and advancing towards our capital, we knew the battle was lost. Durga, what I assume she was named, was born from the combined powers of the Trimurti and the Devas. She was equipped with divine weapons, which were far more superior to the arms we Asuras currently possessed. 

But I am a true Kshatriya. I do not fear away from even the most formidable of challenges. That is why when that woman lured me to battle, I went on to follow my Dharma and led a suicide charge against her despite the vehement warnings from Mahishi. I was not one of those thick-skinned Devas who managed to find peace even in shameful defeats. 

For ten days I battled, drenched in my own sweat and bleeding from the various cuts on my body. The lion meanwhile massacred the bravest of my soldiers- dragging them by the neck, gouging out their eyes with his claws and ripping off their intestines. Yet I kept fighting. I managed to defend myself from the simultaneous attacks of ten different weapons and a bloodthirsty lion. Showers of arrows rained. Bodies of my brave soldiers dropped down dead. 

Both of us knew that it was going to be a long battle.

Everything went well until a few hours ago when I started to get exhausted. She sensed that. She struck Devraj's thunderbolt at me, breaking my armour. Reeling from the massive impact, I stumbled and staggered and fell on my knees. Her lion pinned me to the ground and chewed off a large lump of flesh from my thigh. I roared in agony, too bound and ravaged to move. Seizing the opportunity, that woman grabbed me by my hair with one of her hands and using another, she pierced the Mahadev's trident deep inside my chest. I vomited blood and fell down immobile, and have remained like this ever since, waiting for my impending death. 

Bright red blood from my slit arteries mingles with the sand of the battlefield and colours it a dull pink. The sun sinks below the horizon, purporting the end of the day and with it, the end of the glorious Asura kingdom, which I had nurtured with my blood, sweat and tears. At the distant, I see the pyres alight, their fiery tongues threatening to touch the clouds. It is this fire which will carry the souls of my brave Asuras soldiers to the next world, and it is this fire which will engulf my earthly body after I die. Jackals and dogs sniff and urinate on me. But I am too wasted to even open my mouth, let alone shoo those creatures away. 

My vision blurs, and my soul threatens to break free from this prison of torture. Through a blurred vision, I see a woman running towards me and kneeling beside me, weeping. I smile and gather up just enough strength from every bit of my wounded body to wipe off the tears from Mahishi's cheeks. She weeps at my disgraced state and says something my tired eyes cannot catch. I stare at her hypnotising eyes and her sensual face for the last time. We shall meet again in the next world, but for now, she has to live on without me, and guide the Asuras like a mother. I wish I could tell her how much I loved her, how proud she had always made me feel and how I enjoyed every moment of my life with her. I wanted to thank her for staying by my side all the time, no matter what life threw at us. But fate has other plans for me. 

The stinging pain unexpectedly starts reducing. I feel my body loosen up. This is it, this is the end. Everything around me seems to slow down. I clutch Mahishi's hands tight. My heart wants to stay with her and cling on to her forever, but my soul knows that it's too late. I have to wait for a long time before we reunite again in the other world. 

Slowly but steadily, darkness shrouds my vision. My eyes shut, and I creep into eternal sleep, never to wake up again.