Vamana Purana — Skanda Slays Taraka & Mahisha, Shloka 111
Skanda’s Svastyayana and the Slaying of Taraka and Mahisha
तस्मिन्हते ऽथ तनये बलवान् सुनाभो वेगेन भूमिधरपार्थिवस्तथागात् ब्रह्मेन्द्ररुद्रश्विवसुप्रधाना जग्मुर्दिवं महिषमीक्ष्य हतं गुहेन // वम्प्_32.110 स्वमातुलं बीक्ष्य बली कुमारः शक्तिं समुत्पाट्य निहन्तुकामः निवारितश्चक्रधरेण वेगादालिङ्ग्य दोर्भ्या गुरुरित्युदीर्य
tasminhate 'tha tanaye balavān sunābho vegena bhūmidharapārthivastathāgāt brahmendrarudraśvivasupradhānā jagmurdivaṃ mahiṣamīkṣya hataṃ guhena // VamP_32.110 svamātulaṃ bīkṣya balī kumāraḥ śaktiṃ samutpāṭya nihantukāmaḥ nivāritaścakradhareṇa vegādāliṅgya dorbhyā gururityudīrya
Then, when that son had been slain, the mighty Sunābha came swiftly. Seeing the buffalo slain by Guha, the hosts of Brahmā, Indra, and Rudra departed to heaven. And the youthful Bali, seeing his maternal uncle, tore up a spear, desiring to kill him; but the wielder of the discus quickly restrained him, embracing him and declaring, ‘He is your teacher.’
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FAQs
The verse frames the restraint as dharma-based: the uncle is identified as ‘guru’ (teacher/preceptor). Even in a battle context, harming one’s guru is a grave transgression; Viṣṇu embodies the regulating principle that curbs adharmic impulse.
Buffalo-slaying imagery commonly signals the defeat of a fierce, tamasic or asuric force (cf. Mahīṣa motifs). Here it marks Skanda’s martial leadership within the deva host and escalates the conflict, prompting further arrivals (Sunābha) and reactions.
They represent major deva constituencies. Listing them functions like a ‘battle-roll’ that universalizes the event: the conflict is not local but cosmic, drawing in principal divine orders who then ‘go to heaven’ after witnessing the decisive kill.