Chapter 2 · Dvitīyo’dhyāyaḥ (Second Chapter)
Verse 42
अयुध्यतायुतानां च सहस्रेण महाहनुः। पञ्चाशद्भिश्च नियुतैरसिलोमा महासुरः ॥ ४२ ॥
ayudhyatāyutānāṁ ca sahasrēṇa mahāhanuḥ | pañcāśadbhiśca niyutairasilōmā mahāsuraḥ || 42 ||
Translation
'Mahahanu fought with one thousand times ten thousand (10 million) troops. And the great demon Asiloma fought with fifty times hundred thousand (5 million) troops.'
Word by word
- ayudhyata
- fought
- ayutānām
- of ten thousands
- ca
- and
- sahasreṇa
- with a thousand
- mahāhanuḥ
- named Mahahanu
- pañcāśadbhiḥ
- with fifty
- niyutaiḥ
- with hundred thousands (Niyuta = 100,000)
- asilomā
- named Asiloma
- mahāsuraḥ
- the great demon
Meaning
The scale of the war becomes astronomically large. Mahahanu commands an army of ten million, and Asiloma commands five million. These numbers are not literal but symbolic, representing an infinite, overwhelming sea of demonic forces that the Goddess must face alone.