Kuvalashva Slays Dhundhu with Brahmastra

The sage Utanka had suffered enough. Dhundhu's fiery breath had been scorching his hermitage, threatening his austerities, making the very ground around him unlivable. He summoned King Kuvalashva. The king came. He brought his twenty-one thousand sons — all of them destroyers of enemies — along with his servants, his soldiers, and his mounts. It was an army. Before they set out, Vishnu acted. On Utanka's request, the illustrious god injected the king with his own energy — pouring divine power into a mortal frame for the welfare of the worlds. When the invincible one started out, a loud voice was heard from heaven: "This handsome one will become Dhundhumara." The gods showered celestial flowers in all directions. The kettledrums of the gods began to sound on their own. A cool wind began to blow, removing dust from the earth. Above the spot where the great asura lay buried, the vimanas (celestial chariots) of the gods appeared in the sky. The gods, together with the gandharvas and the great rishis, assembled — curious to witness what would happen. Kuvalashva reached the ocean of sand. He ordered it dug up. For seven days, his sons dug. They shoveled sand. They excavated dunes. On the seventh day, they found him. Dhundhu's terrible body was buried in the sand, blazing like the energy of the sun. He was asleep — covering the western direction with an effulgence like the fire of destruction. Surrounded by his sons, Kuvalashva assaulted him with everything they had: sharp arrows, clubs, maces, battleaxes, bludgeons, swords that were sharp and bright. The weapons struck Dhundhu's sleeping body. The asura awoke. He was angry. He swallowed the weapons — every single one of them — as if they were nothing. Then he vomited flames from his mouth, like the fire of destruction. The flames consumed the king's sons. In an instant, all twenty-one thousand of them were burnt to ash. Kuvalashva stood alone. Dhundhu was about to consume the worlds themselves with the flames issuing from his mouth — just as the lord Kapila had done earlier, when he had angrily burnt down the sons of Sagara. But Kuvalashva did not flee. A great flow of water issued from his body — the divine energy that Vishnu had placed within him — and this water doused the flames. Just as a practitioner of yoga uses yoga, the water pacified the fire. Then the king raised his brahmastra (the ultimate divine weapon). He burnt down the cruel and powerful daitya (demon) with that weapon and ensured the welfare of all the worlds. Rajarshi (royal sage) Kuvalashva consumed the great asura with the brahmastra. The destroyer of enemies killed the enemy of the gods and became like the lord of the three worlds. From that day, he was known as Dhundhumara.