“Like an elephant hit by a goad, Lord Indra, the destroyer of foes, now attacked Bali with his powerful thunderbolt. Hit by the thunderbolt Bali collapsed to the ground just like the mountain whose wings have been chopped off.

Jambhasura, the dearest friend and well-wisher of Bali, noticed Bali collapsing to the ground. With the intent of helping his friend, he now began to fight with Indra. This mighty warrior mounted a lion. Approaching Indra at great speeds, he hit Indra’s knees with his powerful mace. In addition he also hit Indra’s elephant Airavata.

Due to the power of this blow Airavata reeled and lost its balance. It touched its two knees to the ground, turned to a side and swooned. At this juncture, Mātali brought Indra’s chariot that is driven by a thousand horses. Leaving Airavata, Indra mounted this chariot and continued to fight.

Seeing this deed of charioteer Matali, demon Jambha applauded him. Smiling gently, he struck Mātali with a burning trident. With utmost difficulty Mātali endured this excruciating agony. Seeing this, Indra, was enraged with Jambha and instantly using his thunderbolt, he severed the head of this demon”.

Understand that the Jambhasura who was killed by Lord Datta with the help of Mother Goddess Anagha, was a different demon who lived in a different eon. Different demons of different periods had the same name.

“Maharishi Nārada informed the relatives of Jambha about his demise in the battlefield. Enraged, his relatives Namuci, Bala and Pāka arrived there in great haste. With harsh, insulting words which pierce the heart, they abused Indra. Indra was deeply pained to hear such words. Thereafter, just like the torrential rainfall, the demons showered arrows incessantly upon him.

Demon Bala, the expert mighty archer, who could simultaneously and playfully shower innumerable arrows attacked and bound all the thousand horses of Indra’s chariot by piercing them with his arrows.

From another direction demon Pāka, with all his might, released two hundred sharp arrows. He attacked Mātali, the charioteer, with hundred arrows while with the other hundred he hit the chariot from all directions. This deed of his caused everyone in the battlefield to gape in awe.

From another angle Namuci, roaring violently like a cloud full of water, forcefully released fifteen gold-pointed arrows upon Indra. Seizing this opportune moment, other demons attacked Indra, his chariot, his charioteer from all directions. Just as the monsoon clouds cover the Sun, Indra was submerged under torrential shower of arrows.

When Indra was not to be seen, the Devata-troops were deeply aggrieved. They panicked as they were now bereft of a leader. All of a sudden Indra emerged clearly from the cage of arrows together with his flag, chariot, horses and charioteer. Like the Sun that rises after the end of the night, Lord Indra now shone effulgently illumining the all the directions, earth and space.

Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt, observed the demons torturing his army in the course of the war. In fury he raised his thunderbolt to kill the enemies. Even as all their relatives were watching, with the thunderbolt that had eight sharp edges he severed the heads of demons Bala and Pāka. The other demons were petrified seeing this. Namuci, who witnessed his relatives meeting a ghastly death, was overcome with uncontrollable anger and agony. Roaring loudly like an angry lion he held an iron spear in his hand and pounced upon Indra, with the intent of killing him. Screaming, “You are now dead” he flung the iron spear that was tied with bells and ornaments made of gold towards Indra. Seeing the weapon that was flying towards him at unimaginable speeds, Indra released arrows which shred the spear into a thousand tiny pieces. Enraged with Namuci and seeking to sever his head, Indra took up his thunderbolt and hit Namuci’s neck.

Strangely, the thunderbolt could not even harm Namuci’s skin even when it was struck forcefully with the infallible thunderbolt. With this, Indra was petrified and alarmed when his thunderbolt failed. He reflected, “Previously when mountains had wings they would fly freely in the air. Whenever they landed on earth, hordes of living entities would be crushed under their weight. At that time I single-handedly used this thunderbolt to chop off the wings of these mountains.

Tvasṭa’s intense austerities transformed into demon Vṛttasura. With this thunderbolt not only could I destroy Vṛttasura but also hordes of other mighty demons who could not be killed through any other means. How could this powerful thunderbolt fail against this insignificant demon? This thunderbolt contains Maharishi Dadhici’s complete power of penance. Even such powerful weapon has today become redundant like a small stick. Hence I shall no longer use it”.

Indra was lamenting thus, heard a celestial voice from the skies which said, “O Indra, due to boons obtained from me, this demon cannot be killed by any dry or wet object. Therefore figure out some other method for his destruction”.

Indra then meditated with absolute concentration. He then realized that foam is the best weapon to annihilate this demon as it has the qualities of both dry as well as wet object. Using foam Indra severed the head of Namuci.

All the Maharishis extolled this wondrous deed of Indra and rained flowers upon him. Gandharvas, Vishwavasus, Parāvasus sang in his praise. The celestials beat kettle-drums. Apsaras danced in joy. Vāyu, Varuṇa, Agni, Yama and other Devatas, using their weapons easily killed the demons who were fighting them, just as lion kills the deer in the forests. Almost all the demons were annihilated by then. Lord Brahma who observed this situation sent Maharishi Nārada as a messenger to the Devatas. Maharishi Nārada addressed the Devatas as well as the Gandharvas who were supporting the Devatas and said,

“My dear Devatas, as you sought shelter in the arms of the Supreme Lord you were blessed with nectar. Mother Goddess Lakshmi has ensured your prosperity. Therefore please stop fighting”.

Accepting Maharishi Nārada’s advice, the Devatas stopped fighting. While their supporters and followers were singing their praises they returned to heaven. With the permission of Maharishi Nārada, the remaining demons took their emperor Bali, who was still alive, to the hill called Astachala. Here Śukracharya using his Sanjeevani knowledge brought back to life all the dead demons, whose limbs and head were not severed. In other words, the demons who had died in the war but whose limbs and head were totally intact were restored to life.

Due to the grace of Sukracharya, emperor Bali was restored to life. He regained his health completely. His memory was restored. Emperor Bali was well-versed in the ways of the world. Hence he did not grieve that he had lost the battle.

With this the eleventh chapter of the eighth canto comes to an end.

Madhusudanaya namah