With his arrows drawn to the ear, pure and gleaming with gold and silver, the demon skillfully struck, his shafts resolving the confusion of battle like the clarity that follows doubt in the study of sacred treatises. In a furious assault, he shot Śakra with a hundred arrows, Nārāyaṇa with seventy, and Agni with ninety. Māruta was struck on the head with ten arrows, as was Yama; Kubera received seventy, and Varuṇa eight. Nirṛti was pierced with twenty arrows, then again with eight, and once more the demon struck each god with ten arrows apiece. In the same relentless manner, he struck Mātali with three swift arrows and Garuḍa with ten feathered shafts. The demon’s arrows, bent at the joints, shattered the gods’ armor and cut their bows, leaving them exposed and vulnerable, deprived of their protection and weapons. Yet, undaunted, the guardians of the worlds seized new bows in anger and surrounded the demon lord, wounding him with inexhaustible arrows. The demon’s eyes burned red with rage. He unleashed a rain of arrows upon the immortals, like fire descending from the heavens. Then, seizing an arrow blazing like the final fire, he struck mighty Indra in the chest, causing Mahendra to tremble upon his chariot seat. Seeing the thousand-sunned orb shining in the sky, the demon struck Vishnu, whose power had arisen, with two arrows at the base of the shoulder; then, the arrow of Keśava fell before the Śārṅga bow. Tāraka, lord of the dead, recalling the lowly nature of Vasu, pierced him on the left with arrows. With fire-like shafts, the unconquerable king of demons dried up the body of Jaleśa in battle. With fiery arrows, the demon attacked swiftly, and the terrified rākṣasas fled in all directions. With harsh, distorted arrows, the lord of asuras playfully stirred up a great wind. Then, bending his bow, Hari struck the demon king’s charioteer with sharp arrows in the heart. Dhūmaketu struck the demon’s banner, Mahendra the crown, Dhanesha the gold-adorned bow, Yama the arm, Vayu the chariot parts, and even the armor of the lord of night-walkers. Witnessing this battle, filled with genuine valor and performed by the gods, the demon lord fought back fiercely, joined by his own arms and kinsmen. He hurled a mighty mace at the thousand-eyed Indra. Seeing the irresistible mace descending from the sky, Pākaśāsana leapt from his chariot and reached the ground, as the mace crashed onto the chariot’s seat with a harsh sound. The chariot was crushed, but Mātali survived. The demon seized a spear and struck Keśava in the chest, causing him to collapse, unconscious, upon Garuda’s shoulder. With a sword, he cut down the vehicle of the king of rākṣasas. The demon struck Yama to the ground with a club and Agni on the head with a sling. He lifted Vayu with his arms and hurled him to the earth; in anger, he struck Dhanesha with the tip of his bow. In battle, the demon king of boundless valor slew each of the hosts of gods with countless weapons. Regaining consciousness, Vishnu seized his difficult-to-hold discus, now stained with the demon king’s blood and turned toward flesh-eaters. Keśava hurled it firmly at the demon king’s chest; the discus, radiant as the sun, struck the demon’s heart, but shattered upon his body like a blue lotus upon a stone. After this, Mahendra released his long-cherished thunderbolt. In that battle, where Indra’s hope of victory rested on the demon king, Tāraka was struck, and his body was attained. The thunderbolt shattered, its flames scattered, broken into a hundred pieces; released, it met destruction upon the demon’s chest by Vayu. The blazing, fire-like goad, like a thunderbolt, was destroyed; seeing the goad’s destruction in battle, Vayu too was angered. Vayu uprooted a mountain, its caves filled with blossoming trees, and hurled it at the lord of the Dānavas, its breadth spanning five yojanas. As the mountain approached, the demon, smiling, caught it in his left hand as easily as a child’s ball. Then, Death himself, overcome with wrath, raised his staff and, spinning it with force, hurled it at the demon king’s head, invincible in might. The staff struck the demon’s head, but he was unaware, for his body shone with the light of the fire that ends an age, unconquerable and blazing forth. He hurled a mighty spear at the lord of the Dānavas in battle, which, like a fresh śirīṣa flower, struck and shone upon his chest. Then Nirṛti, guardian of the world, drew his sword from its spotless sheath, its brilliance illuminating the darkened quarters of the sky. He hurled it at the lord of the Dānavas, and it fell upon his head; but as it struck, the sword shattered into a hundred pieces. The lord of waters, fierce and irresistible, released a noose blazing with the terror of poison-fire, intending to bind the demon’s arms. The serpent-noose reached the demon’s arm, but perished instantly, its jaws and rows of sharp, saw-like teeth shattering apart. Then the Aśvins, the Maruts, the Sādhyas, great serpents, Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, and Gandharvas, all bearing divine and varied weapons, assembled with immense strength and struck at the lord of demons. Yet none of their weapons could pierce his body, as hard as a thunderbolt mountain. Tāraka, lord of the Dānavas, leapt down from his chariot and slew the gods by the millions, using only his fists and heels. The remnants of the gods’ armies, defeated, fled in all directions, abandoning their weapons in terror. Then, the demon bound the guardians of the worlds, beginning with Indra, tying their hair with strong nooses as a slaughterer binds cattle, victorious in the field of battle.