Shloka 14

Vishnu Slays Kalanemi — Vishnu Enters the Deva–Asura War and Slays Kalanemi

Devanagari script

दानवानां सहस्राणि प्रयुतान्यर्बुदानि च/ संप्रयातानि युद्धाय देवैः सह कलिप्रिय

Transliteration

dānavānāṃ sahasrāṇi prayutānyarbudāni ca/ saṃprayātāni yuddhāya devaiḥ saha kalipriya

Translation

Thousands of Dānavas—tens of thousands and even crores—marched forth to battle together with the gods, O one fond of strife.

Speakers

• Narrator (Purāṇic narrator) addressing a listener with the epithet ‘kali-priya’ (exact interlocutors not specified in the excerpt)

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (contextual)
• Devas (collective)

Key Themes

• Scale of cosmic warfare
• Deva–Asura antagonism
• Hyperbolic enumeration (saṅkhyā-stuti of armies)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "vira", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

How should we understand ‘prayuta’ and ‘arbuda’ numerically?

They are traditional large-number terms used to convey vastness. ‘Prayuta’ commonly denotes ten-thousand; ‘arbuda’ denotes an even larger unit (often treated as a crore/ten-million in later conventions). The intent is rhetorical magnitude rather than census precision.

Why does the verse say ‘devaiḥ saha’—are the Dānavas fighting with the gods?

Literally it reads ‘together with the gods,’ but in battle narration this can function idiomatically for ‘in confrontation involving the gods.’ The surrounding verses (deployment of asura leaders) strongly suggest a Deva–Asura conflict rather than alliance.

Who is addressed as ‘kali-priya’?

It is an epithet meaning ‘one who delights in quarrel/strife.’ Without the surrounding dialogue frame, the safest reading is that the narrator addresses the immediate listener (or a character in the dialogue) with a conventional descriptive epithet, emphasizing the warlike theme.