One swing and it separated from the body. Like cutting a melon with a sharp knife. Like plucking a rose from a bush. Like breaking a twig away from the branch. There was no pain, there was no moment to internalize. It just happened and it just separated and fell far away.
A few days ago, if someone told me that a woman would kill me, I would have laughed. Although it was the only way I asked Brahma to make me die after my penance. At the time, I wanted immortality and when Brahma refused, I thought I tricked him by asking to die at the hands of a woman. At the hands of a woman, I laughed as I said it. I thought Brahma would refuse saying that it was as good as asking for eternal life and I should have prayed to Shiva instead. But he obliged. I was shocked. I guffawed as soon as he granted me the boon and I proudly announced that that there was none to stop me. He nodded. I added for eternity to make him realize that I tricked him. It was satisfying to rub it in. He shook his head and I asked him loudly, “Do you think a woman, a weak helpless being will be able to destroy me? There is no such woman born on this planet or in the entire universe”. He contemplated for a moment and then added “not yet”. He raised in hand for blessing one last time and departed. What does he mean by not yet? I could have contemplated and averted the disaster that came later, but I was in an exalted mood. Thousands of years of penance and I finally achieved what my race and clan needed. A victor who couldn’t be destroyed by Devas.
I came back to my city and to my palace. I assembled my army and my commanders. Devas were not to be trusted. They might pray to Vishnu and that wily one would do something. It was better to stamp my authority and push them into subservience. With that began my reign of conquering the world. WORLD! NAH, UNIVERSE. Every Loka, Every planet within the ENTIRE UNIVERSE was mine. At the beginning, it was me attacking and leading the army. The battles were intense but the word began to spread that I couldn’t be destroyed and my enemies began to run away from battles as soon as they saw me on the battle field. Slowly, I didn’t even bother to make my presence on the field and my opponents would disperse away at the mere presence of my banner flag and my armies.
I enjoyed the pleasant luxuries of life. But nothing gave me more pleasure than destroying INDRA and his devata army. INDRA was too proud to pay allegiance to me and rule under my banner. I offered him that. It would serve right for the devas to be serving an asura and sitting beneath his feet. For generations upon generations, they destroyed us not through might but through cunning and guile. They made peace when it suited them and they broke it when it suited them. This time, they had someone who would offer them peace but they couldn’t break it because I was INVINSIBLE. But, INDRA was too proud and vain to accept that. Instead he challenged me and the battle was a disaster for them. Many of the devas died, Many of them mutilated and they dispersed away. And that was the last battle for a long time until this.
The devas ran away, but I wanted them vanquished. I gave an edict to stop the poojas that humans and rishis offered to devas and to offer worship to me instead. My spies told me that without the poojas, they became even more weaker and hid inside deep jungles. Imagine, the proud and vain INDRA who wore the finest of the silks, wined and dined with his courtesans and his courtiers hiding like a fox within his burrow and living in filth! Served him right for the wrongs he did to my clan! There was nothing more to worry now. I couldn’t have been more wrong. If I could go back in time, I would have never conquered heaven and would have let INDRA be consumed with his vanity, his avarice and his arrogance. Instead, I gave him the greatest gift that even his best friends would have not given him. I gave him miseries and through those miseries and suffering, he found humility and the desperation to regain his glory that led him to the trinity and once again that wily vishnu found the solution.
I contemplated while it lay there. And a little later, I knew that it was the head of the greatest warrior of the time, the one who couldn’t even be destroyed by the holy trinity and for whose destruction sake, all the devas had to come together and let their essence be manifested in the greatest power the universe had ever seen, DURGA, or a little while later, I would address her as MAA DURGA. And the head that lay there was mine or what the universe would address as MAHISHASURA.
