There was a force, all-conquering and relentless, that crept quietly, avoiding the ears and shunning the highest, like a royal disease marked by waste and disorder. This force, a stain upon the world, was drawn out and expelled, as if milked away, even as it threatened to sever the very head from the body. In its wake, chaos reigned: seats were overturned and those who stood fought against one another, each touch sparking conflict. Arrows were pressed to mouths, orders struck down, and the poisonous darkness descended, casting all into shadow and confusion. Following the very breaths of life, this force drew near the sacred cow of the Brahmin-slayer, a symbol of the gravest transgression. Enmity itself was transformed and divided, inheritance split among descendants, as if the roots of kinship were being torn apart. The divine missile was seized and carried away, taking with it the increase and prosperity of the land. Sin was set down, harshness was slain, poison was hurled away, and fever was cast down. Yet evil, destruction, and bad dreams only ripened, growing more potent. The earth, uprooted at its very roots, was overturned, its fragrance lost as venomous snakes were lifted out, leaving it insensible and bare. Loss was carried away, defeat removed, but the rage of Śarva crushed all flesh. Nirṛti, the devourer, consumed and was consumed. She who devours cut off whole worlds, even the sacred cow of Brahman, the wife of the Brahmin, from every direction. Her destruction was wrought by witchcraft, bound tightly by the command of Menirā. She was deprived of her own, abandoned and alone. Then Agni, transformed into a flesh-eater, entered and consumed the cow of Brahman, the Brahman-wife. He cut all her limbs, joints, and roots, severed her paternal kin, and drove away her maternal kin. All marriages and familial ties were destroyed, for the sacred cow, the Brahman-wife, had not been returned by the Kṣatriya. The Kṣatriya who, knowing all this, took the cow from the Brāhmaṇa, became himself homeless, without kin, without offspring, without refuge, diminished and alone. At her killing, vultures descended swiftly, making carrion of what remained. At her burning, wild-haired women danced around, striking the evil remains upon her chest. In her dwelling, wolves made carrion of her. Those who witnessed these events questioned what had happened, seeking to understand the cause of such destruction. A cry arose: "Cut, cut, cut forth! Destroy, destroy completely!" Angirasa was called upon to take up the Brahma-slayer and deliver it up. The force was named Vaisvadevi, bound with the ritual cord, she who burns and burns together, the thunderbolt of Brahman. "Become death, O razor-edged one, and run forth," was the command. "You grant victory, brilliance, desired offerings, fulfilled wishes. Having seized victory, bestow it in this world upon the victor. O sinless one, become the path, leading away from the curse of the Brahmin. Become the target for arrows, become the destroyer of the destroyer. O sinless one, strike off the head of the Brahma-slayer, the wrongdoer, the god-hated, the evildoer. Let Agni burn up the evil deed that has been crushed and trampled by you." Thus, through destruction and purification, the world was called to restore balance, to honor the sacred, and to burn away the evil that had taken root.