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likewise credits the six-faced, Skanda with the killing of the
buffalo-shaped Mahisa.¹
Literature subsequent to the Mahābhārata, however, notably
the Puranic, is, with the exception of the passage in the Vamana
noted above, see ingly unanimous in ascribing the death of
Mahişa not to the prowess of Skanda, but to that of Skanda's
mother, Siva's wife, who is variously denominated, although her
most common appellatives are Devi, Pärvatī, Kāli, Candi, or
Durga. Even in the Mahabharata, Durgā is once addressed as
'Slayer of the Demon Mahișa (mahiṣāsuranāśini)," though the
passage is supposed to be an interpolation." Elsewhere in the
Epic it is Skanda, as we have seen, who is described as Mahişa's
conqueror. As there seems to be no way of surely settling the
rival claims of Durga and Skanda to the honor of having killed
the demon in question, we must either suppose that Durga has
usurped the fame originally belonging to her son, or else that
Mahisa, after being once killed by Skanda, was obligingly born
again in a second incarnation, so that the goddess might gain
glory by bringing about his death a second time.
INTRODUCTION
The best account of Candi's struggle with Mahişa is given in
the Devimahatmya section of the Märkandeya Purana. A syn-
1 Th. Aufrecht (Catalogus Codicum Sanscriticorum Bibliothecae Bod-
leianae, p. 46, b, line 29, Oxford, 1864) says that the birth of Kärttikeya
and the death of Mahişa are described in chapters 57-70 of the Vamana
Purana.
2 For Candi's relationship to Skanda (Kärttikeya), see Canḍiśataka,
stanza 28, note 2.
& Once, so far as I have discovered; there may be other references that
I have failed to unearth, but no other instances are given in Sörensen's
Index to the Names in the Mahabharata. The vocative mahişasykpriye,
though addressed to Durga in Mahabharata, 6. 23.8, I take to mean 'O
thou fond of buffalo's blood.' It is not cited by Sörensen as a proper
name.
4 See Mahabharata, 4. 6. 15.
5 See B. C. Mazumdar, Durga: Her Origin and History, in JRAS, 1906,
P. 355-362.
In the Skanda Purana it is related that the demons Canda and Munda,
who had been slain by Caṇḍī, were born again and subsequently slain a
second time by Siva; cf. Vans Kennedy, Ancient and Hindu Mythology,
P. 339-340, and footnote.
likewise credits the six-faced, Skanda with the killing of the
buffalo-shaped Mahisa.¹
Literature subsequent to the Mahābhārata, however, notably
the Puranic, is, with the exception of the passage in the Vamana
noted above, see ingly unanimous in ascribing the death of
Mahişa not to the prowess of Skanda, but to that of Skanda's
mother, Siva's wife, who is variously denominated, although her
most common appellatives are Devi, Pärvatī, Kāli, Candi, or
Durga. Even in the Mahabharata, Durgā is once addressed as
'Slayer of the Demon Mahișa (mahiṣāsuranāśini)," though the
passage is supposed to be an interpolation." Elsewhere in the
Epic it is Skanda, as we have seen, who is described as Mahişa's
conqueror. As there seems to be no way of surely settling the
rival claims of Durga and Skanda to the honor of having killed
the demon in question, we must either suppose that Durga has
usurped the fame originally belonging to her son, or else that
Mahisa, after being once killed by Skanda, was obligingly born
again in a second incarnation, so that the goddess might gain
glory by bringing about his death a second time.
INTRODUCTION
The best account of Candi's struggle with Mahişa is given in
the Devimahatmya section of the Märkandeya Purana. A syn-
1 Th. Aufrecht (Catalogus Codicum Sanscriticorum Bibliothecae Bod-
leianae, p. 46, b, line 29, Oxford, 1864) says that the birth of Kärttikeya
and the death of Mahişa are described in chapters 57-70 of the Vamana
Purana.
2 For Candi's relationship to Skanda (Kärttikeya), see Canḍiśataka,
stanza 28, note 2.
& Once, so far as I have discovered; there may be other references that
I have failed to unearth, but no other instances are given in Sörensen's
Index to the Names in the Mahabharata. The vocative mahişasykpriye,
though addressed to Durga in Mahabharata, 6. 23.8, I take to mean 'O
thou fond of buffalo's blood.' It is not cited by Sörensen as a proper
name.
4 See Mahabharata, 4. 6. 15.
5 See B. C. Mazumdar, Durga: Her Origin and History, in JRAS, 1906,
P. 355-362.
In the Skanda Purana it is related that the demons Canda and Munda,
who had been slain by Caṇḍī, were born again and subsequently slain a
second time by Siva; cf. Vans Kennedy, Ancient and Hindu Mythology,
P. 339-340, and footnote.