Canto 4 - Chapter 5: Vīrabhadra wrecks Dakṣa's sacrifice and beheads him ...

Discourse V

Virabhadra wrecks Dakṣa's sacrifice and beheads him

Maitreya continued : Lord Śiva's fury knew no bounds when He learnt from Nārada that Satī (His spouse) had burnt herself to death on being slighted by Dakṣa (a lord of created beings) and that the host of His own attendants had been driven away by the Rbhus, who had appeared from Dakṣa's sacrifice. (1)
Sharply biting His lips in rage, Lord Śiva (who bore a heavy burden of matted locks on His head) pulled up one of those clotted locks, which shone brightly like a flash of lightning or as a flame of fire and, springing on His feet all at once, laughed with a deep roar and dashed the lock against the ground. (2)
From that lock sprang a colossal being (Virabhadra by name) whose (tall) figure touched the skies, who was possessed of a thousand arms and, dark like a cloud, had three eyes bright as the sun, fierce teeth and matted hair shining like flaming fire, wore a garland of skulls and was armed with various uplifted weapons. (3)
When he prayed with joined palms, "(Command me) what to do!" Lord Śiva (the lord of the spirits) said, "You being My part manifestations, O valiant Rudra, lead My warriors (against Dakṣa) and dispose of Dakṣa and his sacrifice." (4)
Enjoined thus by the wrathful Rudra (who is anger personified), he went round (as a mark of respect) the all-pervading Lord, the adored of (all) the gods (and departed). At that time he thought himself, by virtue of his irresistible force, as capable of braving the might of the most powerful, O dear Vidura. (5)
He thundered most terribly and, lifting his trident, which was capable of destroying even Death (the destroyer of the universe), ran (towards Dakṣa's abode), followed by the attendants of Śrī Rudra—who were (all) roaring violently—the anklets about his ankles making a jingling sound (even as he trod on the earth). (6)

Seeing dust in the northern quarter, the priests officiating at the sacrifice, the sacrificer (Daksa), those assembled there and all the (other) Brāhmanas and their wives thought on the other side: "What can this darkness be? Whence has this dust come? (7)
Winds are not blowing and there are certainly no robbers; for (king) Prācinabarhi, who rules with an iron rod is (still) alive. Nor is it the time for cows being hurriedly taken back (from the pastures). Whence is this (cloud of) dust (then)? Is the world preparing for its doom (just) now?" (8)
Troubled in mind, Prasūti (Daksa's wife) and the other ladies observed, "This is nothing but the (evil) consequence of the wrong perpetrated by Dakṣa (the lord of created beings), who before the very eyes of his (other) daughters slighted his innocent daughter, Satī! (9)
(Or it may be the fruit of the offence committed against Śrī Rudra, the god of destruction) who dances at the time of (universal) destruction, throwing about the tuft of His matted hair and extending His banner-like arms equipped with uplifted weapons, when the lords of elephants presiding over the quarters are pierced by the prongs of His trident and the quarters rent with His thunder-like peals of laughter. (10)
Nay, possessed of a dazzling splendour and filled with anger, He assumes an unbearable aspect by His knit brows, and the whole group of constellations is scattered by His frightful teeth. Having angered Him can any one fare well even if the individual provoking Him is the creator himself?" (11)

While the people were saying many such things with perturbation in their eyes, there appeared on all sides in the heavens as well as on earth again and again thousands of ill-omens of the worst type, causing fear even to the strong-minded Dakṣa. (12)
By this time, O Vidura, the followers of Rudra, who were (all) armed with various uplifted weapons and were dwarfish in stature, some red-brown and other tawny of hue, and had bellies and faces resembling those of an alligator, ran up in all directions and surrounded that spacious sacrificial ground. (13)
Some broke the beam resting on the eastern and western pillars (of the sacrificial hall), while others destroyed the apartment reserved for the wives of the sacrificer and the priests (to the west of the sacrificial hall) as well as the assembly-hall (in front of the sacrificial hall), the cottage (in front of the assembly-hall) where clarified butter and other substances poured into the sacrificial fire are stored, the hut occupied by the sacrificer himself and the kitchen. (14)
Some smashed the sacrificial vessels and extinguished the sacred fires, while others urinated in the sacrificial pits and snapped the cotton threads marking the boundaries of the sacrificial dais (in the north). (15)
Some molested the hermits, while others threatened the wives (of the sacrificer and the priests) and still others seized the divinities who were sitting close to them, even though they tried to run away. (16)
Maṇimān bound the sage Bhr̥gu; Virabhadra, Dakṣa (the lord of created beings) himself; Caṇḍiśa, the god Pūṣā (one of the twelve sons of Aditi who preside over the sun month by month) and Nandiśwara seized Bhaga (another god presiding over the sun). (17)

Seeing this (outrage) and being most severely pelted with stones by these (attendants of Śiva), all the priests officiating at the sacrifice as well as those assembled there, including the heavenly beings, ran in various directions. (18)
The worshipful Virabhadra (a part manifestation of Lord Bhava) pulled up the moustaches and beard of Bhr̥gu, who was pouring oblations into the sacrificial fire, holding the sacrificial ladle in his hand, and who had laughed (at Lord Śiva) in open assembly, (proudly) displaying his moustaches. (19)
Lord Virabhadra angrily knocked down Bhaga to the ground and plucked his eyes inasmuch as he had in the assembly (of the lords of created beings) countenanced Dakṣa in his calumniation of Lord Śiva by blinking. (20)
Even as Lord Balarāma knocked * down the teeth of the king of the Kaliṅgas (during the wedding of Aniruddha, Śrī Kṛṣṇa's grandson), so Virabhadra dashed off the teeth of Pūṣā, who had laughed showing his teeth while Śiva (the most adorable) was being vilified (by Dakṣa). (21)
Setting his foot on Dakṣa's breast (after knocking him down), the three-eyed Virabhadra proceeded to cut off his head with a sharp-edged weapon but failed to sever it then. (22)
Virabhadra, who was no other than Lord Śiva (the Destroyer of the universe), was filled with great wonder when he found that no weapon or missile could even cut Dakṣa's skin that way, and pondered for a long time. (23)
Observing the way in which animals were being slaughtered for the sacrifice, Vīrabhadra severed the head of Dakṣa from his body in the same way, treating the sacrificer as an animal to be sacrificed. (24)
There arose a shout of applause from the ghosts, spirits and fiends, who extolled that achievement of Vīrabhadra; while others (those belonging to Dakṣa's party) raised and outcry against the same. (25)
Full of anger, Vīrabhadra threw Dakṣa's head as an offering into the sacrificial fire called Dakṣināgni; and, setting fire to that sacrificial edifice, left for Mount Kailāsa (the abode of the Yakṣas, Kubera's attendants). (26)

Thus ends the fifth discourse entitled "The Destruction of Dakṣa's sacrifice" in Book Four of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahārṣa-Sarhhitā.
* Vide verse 37 of Discourse LXI of Book X.