
There was a monster named Vritrasura, who was born by Prajapati Tvastha to defeat Indra to avenge the death of his son Trishira. Vritrasura meditated on Brahma and by getting a boon from him, he became very powerful and arrogant. He got a boon from Brahma ji that, he will not die by weapons made of metal or wood, by dried and soaked items and apart from this, he could not die from any kind of weapons. He fought the gods and drove the gods out of heaven and became Indra himself. The deities who came out of heaven now started living in the caves of the mountains. Due to their departure from heaven, now he had stopped getting part of the yajna.
Thus, the deities who were defeated by Vritrasura went to Kailash mountain, where Lord Shankar was meditating. The gods said, god of gods,Vritrasur defeated us in the war. Please kindly, protect us from this painful situation. That Vritrasura is very powerful, he took away heaven from us and is doing the work of Indra himself. Now we are living our lives by staying in the mountains. Slaughter that Vritrasura and please take away our sorrow. Hearing such plea of the Gods, Mahadev said, now all of us should go to Lord Vishnu, only he can give a solution to this problem. By saying like this, all the gods including Mahadev and Brahma went to Vishnulok.
Lord Vishnu is omnipresent and omnipotent. He solves all the problems. The Gods told him all their problems and also asked him for the solution. Vishnu ji says, Vritrasura is strong at this time, so it is difficult to kill him. One should try to win by any one of these measures namely Material, price, punishment, distinction. At this time, Devraj Indra should befriend him, because he cannot be killed until his lifespan ends. After the lifespan is over, Devraj will be definitely able to kill him when his time of death comes.
Saying this, Vishnu told the gods, to establish friendship with Vritrasura, you people should take shelter of Goddess Yogamaya. She is the goddess who is the intelligence of all living beings. Yogmaya will make Vrittrasur favorable towards you. That is why you now praise her and please her, as a result of which she will surely help you. On hearing these words of Vishnu, all the gods praised Goddess Yogamaya. Gods said, in the past you had protected us from the demons like Mahishasura. At this time the demon named Vritrasura is haunting us a lot. He has driven us out of heaven, so we are living our lives in the caves of the mountains. You are the master of wisdom. You make Vritrasura’s intellect favorable to us and make him our friend.
When the Gods are praised like this, the Goddess appears and gives them a boon that she will help them. After this, some of the principal gods go to Vritrasura, and establish friendship between him andIndra. Now Indra and Vritrasura make a peace agreement and the two become good friends. Both started to roam in the gardens of heaven together, they started traveling in many places together. Vritrasura believed Indra to be his true friend and had great faith in him, but Indra was only acting to be his best friend.
Vritrasura’s father Tvastha called his son and said, “son, who was once a enemy, such a friend should never be fully truste” Indra is very skilled in taking advantage of the situation. He can harm you if he gets an opportunity. That’s why you should be careful with him. Do not trust him completely. He had also cheated your brother Vishwaroop in the past. My son Vishwaroop was very religious and knew all the Vedas. Yet Indra killed him without any lapse. That’s why you don’t trust him.
one day that Indra and Vritrasura were walking on the sea shore. It was evening time and there was no one on the beach. Then Indra’s intellect got corrupted and he started thinking that , I should kill Vritrasura at this time. Vritrasura believed in Indra completely and that is why he was relaxed. At the same time Indra praised Goddess Adishakti in his mind, to help him to end Vritrasura.
At that time sea foam was produced on the coast of the sea. Which was neither of iron nor made of wood. Foam is neither considered dry nor wet. Indra hid his thunderbolt in that sea foam and the goddess infused her power in it. Indra struck Vritrasura with a thunderbolt hidden by that sea foam.
Vritrasasura’s head was cut off by Indra’s attack and his body fell on the earth. Twastha felt very sad to hear that Vritrasura died. Twastha cursed Indra that he must bear the consequences of this work. Twastha burns his son’s funeral pyre and goes himself do penance on Mount Sumeru. Indra got the sin of killing Brahman by killing Vritrasura. He had killed a friend who had faith in him , so he could not stay anywhere peacefly and stayed in the lotus flower stick at Mansarovar.
The goddess thus killed Vritrasura through Indra. That is why it spread in the world that Indra killed Vritrasura. But in reality he was killed by the power of Goddess. Indra was just an instrument.
Categories: Devi Bhagwat Puran, Stories of Goddess Durga
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