In the midst of the fierce battle, the mighty slayer of Vṛtra—Indra, the lord of the gods—acted with swift decisiveness. With a single, powerful stroke, he severed the bow and arrow of Jambha, the delight of the demons. Unshaken, Jambha cast aside his broken weapon and seized another bow, one both formidable and swift. He readied arrows anointed with oil, straight as the path of fate and deadly as venomous serpents. With this new arsenal, Jambha unleashed his fury upon Śakra, striking him with ten arrows at the collarbone, three at the heart, and two at the shoulders. But Śakra, undaunted, responded with a torrent of arrows, raining them upon the lord of the demons. Yet Jambha, king among the asuras, displayed his mastery—cutting down Śakra’s arrows in midair, again and again, ten times over, with shafts that blazed like tongues of fire. Still, the lord of the gods pressed on, covering Jambha with a relentless shower of arrows, as clouds cover the sky with rain. But the demon, too, scattered that storm with his own sharp arrows, dispersing the barrage like the wind scatters clouds in all directions. In the confusion, Śakra, agitated and filled with rage, could no longer distinguish friend from foe. At that critical moment, Śakra invoked the wondrous Gandharva weapon against Jambha. Its energy surged, filling the entire space and making it inaccessible. Suddenly, the sky was adorned with visions of Gandharva cities, ramparts, and gateways, all marvels of form, and from all directions, a rain of weapons poured down. Assailed by this celestial downpour, the demon army was thrown into disarray and, seeking refuge, gathered around Jambha, whose valor knew no bounds. Though afflicted himself by the thousand-eyed one’s weapons, Jambha remembered righteousness and resolved to protect his fearful followers. Then, the son of Diti unleashed the Mausala weapon. Instantly, the world was filled with iron clubs, which struck the Gandharva city conjured by the earlier weapon, battering it from all sides with irresistible force. Not stopping there, Jambha set another Gandharva weapon upon the gods’ army, swiftly slaying their elephants, horses, and great charioteers by the hundreds and thousands. Seeing his forces suffer, the lord of the gods invoked the Tvaṣṭra weapon. As it was summoned, flames of fire erupted, and divine machines—impossible to withstand—appeared, forming a canopy in the sky. This mechanical canopy subdued the Mausala weapon, causing its onslaught to cease. Undaunted, Jambha released the mountain weapon, striking the assembly of machines. A hail of stones, each the size of a man’s span, rained down, shattering the machines fashioned by Tvaṣṭṛ into mere atoms. The mountain-missile crashed upon the highest peaks, splitting the very earth. In response, the thousand-eyed Purandara fashioned the thunderbolt-missile. With its release, a great shower of hailstones burst forth in all directions, subduing the mountain-missile. But Jambha, unafraid and immense as a mountain himself, created the reed-missile. This weapon destroyed Śakra’s beloved thunderbolt-missile, and as the supreme reed-missile expanded, the armies of the gods, with their chariots and elephants, were enveloped in blazing fire. The battle lines were consumed, and the gods themselves shone with a fierce radiance. Then, the mighty lord of the gods fashioned the fire-missile, which immediately dispelled the reed-missile. As the fire-missile blazed forth, it scorched Jambha’s body, his chariot, and his charioteer. Repulsed but resolute, the wise lord of the Daityas released the Varuṇa-missile, and its waters quenched the raging flames. The sky darkened as clouds gathered, flashing with lightning and echoing with thunder, as if the heavens themselves were overflowing. Torrents of water, thick as elephant trunks, poured down, filling and illuminating the world. Seeing his fire-missile subdued, Śakra fashioned the wind-missile, which swept away the masses of clouds, clearing the sky to a brilliance like the petals of a blue lotus. The wind was so fierce that even the strongest Dānavas could not stand their ground. To shield his followers, Jambha transformed himself into a mountain ten yojanas wide, withstanding the wind’s force and removing the fear of the Dānavas. Flaming with the brilliance of released weapons and blazing trees, he stood firm in mountain form as the wind subsided. Śakra, the hundred-sacrificed one, then hurled a great thunderbolt made of adamant. When it struck the demon in his mountain form, the surrounding caves and waterfalls shattered, and the mountain illusion of the lord of the Dānavas was dispelled. Still filled with fierce arrogance, the lord of the Daityas assumed the terrifying form of a colossal elephant, vast as a mountain. He crushed the army of the gods, gored deities with his tusks, and seized others with his trunk, breaking their ranks. As Jambha wreaked havoc among the gods, the slayer of Vṛtra released the unconquerable Nārasiṃha weapon. By the power of mantra, thousands of lions sprang forth from the weapon, their fangs black, their laughter roaring, and their claws sharp as saws—ready to turn the tide of battle.