Adhyaya 68
The Slaying of Muci
After Bala and Namuci are slain, Muci confronts Indra in grief and accusation, declaring that his eldest brother has been killed. Śakra/Indra answers with martial resolve, vowing to strike Muci down with his arrows; the narration portrays Muci’s onrush as deluded self-destruction, like a moth rushing into fire. In the battle that follows, arrows fly: Muci wounds Indra’s attendants—Mātali the charioteer and Airāvata the elephant—yet Indra counters with decisive might. When Muci raises an iron mace, Indra swiftly hurls the thunderbolt (vajra) and fells him; at Muci’s death the earth trembles, the gods rejoice, and the Dānavas flee, as deva-order is restored over asuric violence.
Shlokas
Verse 1
व्यास उवाच । बलं च निहतं दृष्ट्वा नमुचिं च स्वकाग्रजम् । मुचिस्तत्राब्रवीद्वाक्यं ज्येष्ठो मे सूदितस्त्वया
Vyāsa said: Seeing Bala slain, and also Namuci—his own elder brother—Muci spoke there these words: “My eldest has been killed by you.”
Verse 2
परोक्षेणाधुना त्वां च शरैर्नेष्यामि भास्करिम् । तमब्रवीन्महातेजाः शक्रः सर्वसुरार्चितः
“Now, while you are off your guard, I shall bring you down to Bhāskarī with my arrows.” Thus spoke Śakra (Indra), the greatly radiant one, worshipped by all the gods, addressing him.
Verse 3
भ्रातुस्ते धर्मपंथानमिदानीं लप्स्यसे ध्रुवम् । वह्नेरुष्णमविज्ञाय प्रमोहाच्छलभा यथा
Surely, you will now attain the path of dharma shown by your brother—like a moth that, not knowing the heat of fire, rushes toward it in delusion.
Verse 4
सहसा प्रविशंत्यग्निं तथा मां योद्धुमिच्छसि । एवं ब्रुवाणमिन्द्रं च जघान विशिखैस्त्रिभिः
“You rush headlong into the fire, and in the same way you wish to fight me.” While Indra was speaking thus, he struck him with three arrows.
Verse 5
स चिच्छेद त्रिभिर्बाणैः शक्रः परपुरंजयः । ततो जघान दशभिरिंद्रमैरावणं त्रिभिः
Then Śakra (Indra), the conqueror of enemy strongholds, cut him down with three arrows. Thereafter, with ten arrows he struck Indra, and with three he struck Airāvata.
Verse 6
सप्तभिर्मातलिं छित्वा नादैरुच्चैर्ननाद ह । शक्रं प्रति पुनर्दैत्यो भ्रामयामास संभ्रमात्
Having struck Mātali seven times, he roared aloud with thunderous cries; then the Daitya, in the heat of frenzy, whirled about again and turned his assault toward Śakra (Indra).
Verse 7
आयसीं तां गदां कोपान्महाबलपराक्रमः । ततस्तु लाघवाच्छक्रो जघान कुलिशेन हि
In wrath, that mighty and valorous one seized the iron mace. Then Indra (Śakra), with swift resolve, indeed struck him with the vajra, the thunderbolt.
Verse 8
भिदुरस्यावपातेन गतासुर्निपपात ह । दनुजस्य प्रपातेन संचचाल वसुंधरा
Struck down by Bhidura’s blow, the asura fell lifeless to the ground; and with the fall of that Danu-born demon, the very earth trembled.
Verse 9
देवाः प्रचक्रुर्नृत्यानि दानवा विप्रदुद्रुवुः
The gods began their dances, while the Dānavas fled in panic.
Verse 68
इति श्रीपाद्मपुराणे प्रथमे सृष्टिखंडे मुचिवधोनामाष्टषष्टितमोऽध्यायः
Thus ends the sixty-eighth chapter, called “The Slaying of Muci,” in the first section (Sṛṣṭikhaṇḍa) of the glorious Padma Purāṇa.