Shiva Purana — Rudra Samhita, Shloka 8
देवपराजयः — शङ्करशरणागमनं स्कन्दकालीयुद्धं च | Devas’ Defeat, Refuge in Śaṅkara, and the Battle of Skanda and Kālī
पपौ रक्तानि तेषां च दानवानां समं ततः । युद्धं चकार विविधं सुरदानवभीषणम्
papau raktāni teṣāṃ ca dānavānāṃ samaṃ tataḥ | yuddhaṃ cakāra vividhaṃ suradānavabhīṣaṇam
Dann trank er sogleich das Blut jener Dānavas; danach führte er einen vielgestaltigen Kampf, furchterregend für Devas wie für Dānavas.
Suta Goswami (narrating the Yuddhakhaṇḍa account to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Kālabhairava
Role: destructive
FAQs
The verse portrays the Lord’s fierce, protective grace: by destroying the demonic force and its “blood” (the fuel of tamas and violence), dharma is restored. In Shaiva Siddhanta terms, Shiva as Pati subdues forces that bind beings (pāśa) so the path to clarity and liberation can continue.
This is a Saguna depiction—Shiva’s manifest power acting within time to protect cosmic order. Linga-worship remembers the same Supreme Reality as both transcendent (nirguṇa) and immanent (saguṇa): the fierce battle form is one mode of the One Lord who is worshipped in the Linga as the stable, all-pervading center.
A practical takeaway is protective japa of the Pañcākṣarī—“Om Namaḥ Śivāya”—with Tripuṇḍra (bhasma) and Rudrākṣa as aids for steadiness, while meditating on Shiva as the inner purifier who consumes destructive tendencies and establishes fearlessness.