Raktabīja

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Raktabīja
Durga slays Raktabīja as Kali drinks his spilt blood.
AffiliationAsura
TextsPuranas
Personal information
SiblingsMahishasura

Raktabīja (

IAST: Raktabīja) is an asura in Hinduism. According to the Puranas, he fought with Shumbha and Nishumbha against the goddesses Kali and Chandi, both forms of Durga. Raktabīja secured from Shiva a boon according to which if one drop of blood from his body fell on the battlefield, many Raktabījas would arise from the blood and fight the enemies. Each of these Raktabījas would also be like the others in the matter of strength, form, and weapons.[1]

Durga fights the army of Raktabīja.

Legend

Origin

According to the

Vāyu, exceptionally handsome and skilled in archery. Agni blessed Rambha that he would have, as desired, a son by the woman whom he coveted. On his way back home, he saw a beautiful she-buffalo, called Mahiṣī, which he married. He took the buffalo which got pregnant by him, to Patala to protect it from the attack by other buffaloes. One day another buffalo felt a passion for Rambha's wife and in the fight that Rambha was killed by impaling him with his horns. Later, the water buffalo was killed by Rambha's soldiers. Rambha's wife died in his funeral pyre by jumping into it. It was from the centre of the fire that the very powerful Mahishasura was born. Rambha also rose from the fire under the name Raktabīja along with his brother, Mahishasura. Raktabīja secured from Shiva a boon according to which if one drop of blood from his body fell on the battlefield, many Raktabījas would arise from the blood and fight the enemies. Each of these Raktabījas would also be like the others in the matter of strength, form, and weapons.[2]

Battle

The eighth chapter of the Devi Mahatmya narrates Durga's battle with Raktabīja as a part of her battle against the asuras Shumbha and Nishumbha, who had disenfranchised the devas from Svarga. After the deaths of Dhumralochana, Chanda and Munda, Shumbha sent Raktabīja to fight. Raktabīja was wounded, but his drops of blood falling on the ground created innumerable other Raktabījas, and hence Durga and the Matrikas struggled to defeat them. Durga issued the following instruction to Kali:[3]

O Cāmuṇḍā! Open out your mouth quickly, and no sooner I strike Raktabīja with weapons, you would drink off the blood as fast as it runs out of his body. Instantly I will kill those Dānavas sprung from the blood with sharpened arrows, clubs, swords and Muṣalas; and you would then be able to devour them all at your will, and, then, roam in this field as you like. O Large-eyed One! You would drink off all the jets of blood in such a way that not a drop of it escapes and falls on the ground.

— Devi Bhagavata Purana, Book 5, Chapter 29

Ultimately, even as every drop of the blood that streamed from the asura was consumed by Kali, Raktabīja was beheaded by Durga and her axe.

According to popular folklore, after killing Raktabīja and most of his entire army, the goddess Kali went on to kill all creatures in a fury, but was timely intervened by Shiva who laid himself in her path. Striking his body, Kali was shaken and embarrassed, and took out her tongue. This act has been depicted in many Hindu paintings and portraits.

There are references of Kali not being created, but having sprung from Durga's forehead, as they were all the same goddess in different forms.

See also

References

  1. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (28 January 2019). "Story of Raktabīja". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  2. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (28 January 2019). "Story of Mahiṣa". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  3. ^ www.wisdomlib.org (15 May 2013). "On the killing of Raktabīja [Chapter 29]". www.wisdomlib.org. Retrieved 7 November 2022.

External links