Shloka 72
Adhyaya 85 — The Gods’ Hymn to the Goddess and the Emergence of Kaushiki; Shumbha Sends His Envoy
यो मां जयति संग्रामे यो मे दर्पं व्यपोहति ।
यो मे प्रतिबलो लोके स मे भर्ता भविष्यति ॥
yo māṃ jayati saṃgrāme yo me darpaṃ vyapohati /
yo me pratibalo loke sa me bhartā bhaviṣyati
He who conquers me in battle, who removes my pride, who is my equal in strength in the world—he shall be my husband.
FAQs
Devi makes worthiness—not coercion—the condition. The ‘removal of pride’ is central: authority and relationship are legitimate only when ego is overcome; otherwise power remains tyrannical.
Narrative dharma-teaching within vaṃśānucarita: the vow sets the causal law for the ensuing battle episode (a moral-structural hinge in the story).
The battle is an inward allegory: ‘he who removes my pride’ points to the conquest of ahaṃkāra. Devi, as supreme Shakti, is unconquerable externally; the only ‘victory’ is inner transformation—hence the asura’s inevitable failure.