The
celestials and the gandharvas sang and the apsaras danced.
Well-pleased (with these attentions) Skanda granted a boon unto all the
gods, saying, 'I shall slay all your foes,' then, that is, that desire to
slay you. Having obtained this boon from that best of gods, the
illustrious celestials regarded their foes to be already slain. After
Skanda had granted that boon, a loud sound arose from all those creatures
inspired with joy, filling the three worlds.
Accompanied by that vast host, Skanda then set out for the destruction of
the daityas and the protection of the denizens of heaven. Exertion, and
Victory, and Righteousness, and Success, and Prosperity, and Courage, and
the Scriptures (in their embodied forms) proceeded in the van of
Kartikeya's army, O king! With that terrible force, which was armed with
lances, mallets, blazing brands, maces, heavy clubs, arrows, darts and
spears, and which was decked with beautiful ornaments and armour, and
which uttered roars like those of a proud lion, the divine Guha set out.
Beholding him, all the daityas, rakshasas and danavas, anxious with fear,
fled away on all sides. Armed with diverse weapons, the celestials
pursued them. Seeing (the foe flying away), Skanda, endued with energy
and might, became inflamed with wrath. He repeatedly hurled his terrible
weapon, the dart (he had received from Agni). The energy that he then
displayed resembled a fire fed with libations of clarified butter. While
the dart was repeatedly hurled by Skanda of immeasurable energy, meteoric
flashes, O king, fell upon the Earth.
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