Adhyaya 90 — The Slaying of Shumbha and the Reabsorption of the Goddesses into Ambika
उत्पातमेघाः सोल्का ये प्रागासंस्ते शमं ययुः ।
सरितो मार्गवाहिन्यस्तथासंस्तत्र पातिते ॥
utpāta-meghāḥ solkā ye prāg āsaṃs te śamaṃ yayuḥ /
sarito mārga-vāhinyas tathāsaṃs tatra pātite
पूर्वं याः केतुमद्भिः उल्काभिः सह मेघाः आसन् ते प्रशान्ताः; तथा विकृतमार्गे प्रवहन्त्यः सरितोऽपि तत्र तस्य निपातने स्वस्वमार्गं प्रत्यपद्यन्त।
Moral disorder is mirrored as natural disorder; when adharma is removed, the world’s ‘courses’—social and ecological—return to proper alignment.
A narrative sign of manvantara-level governance: portents mark imbalance in an age; their cessation indicates re-established stability.
‘Rivers returning to their paths’ symbolizes prāṇa and attention no longer diverted by destructive impulses, flowing again in disciplined channels.