Shloka 1
Adhyaya 83 — The Slaying of Mahishasura’s Armies and the Final Death of Mahishasura
इति श्रीमार्कण्डेयमहापुराणे सावर्णिके मन्वन्तरे देवीमाहात्म्ये महिषासुरसैन्यवधो नाम द्व्यशीतितमोऽध्यायः ।
ऋषिरुवाच— निहन्यमानं तत्सैन्यमवलोक्य महासुरः ।
सेनानीश्चिक्षुरः कोपाद्ययौ योद्धुमथाम्बिकाम् ॥
iti śrīmārkaṇḍeyamahāpurāṇe sāvarṇike manvantare devīmāhātmye mahiṣāsurasainyavadho nāma dvyaśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ | ṛṣiruvāca nihanyamānaṃ tatsainyamavalākya mahāsuraḥ / senānīścikṣuraḥ kopādyayau yoddhumathāmbikām
وهكذا، في «شري ماركانديّا مهاپورانا»، ضمن «سافارني مانفنترا»، في «ديفي ماهاتميا»، تنتهي الفصول المسماة «إبادة جيش ماهيشاسورا» (الفصل 82). قال الرِّشي: لما رأى جيشه يُقتَل، خرج الأسورا العظيم—قائده تشيكشورا—غاضبًا ليقاتل أمبيكا.
FAQs
When collective wrongdoing collapses, its leadership often responds with anger rather than reflection; the verse sets up the moral pattern of adharma doubling down and meeting decisive defeat.
Manvantara (explicitly named) with Anucarita (episode narrative). The colophon anchors the story within purāṇic time-structuring.
The ‘general’ represents the organizing intellect of ego (ahaṃkāra’s strategy); once the mass of tendencies is cut down, the controlling node confronts Śakti directly—and is undone.