Lord Krsna Fights with Banasura 61
with the strokes of his club. Kipakarna was also wounded in this way, and
both he and Kumbhanda fell on the battlefield, the commander-in-chief
being fatally wounded. Without guidance, all of Bandsura’s soldiers scat-
tered here and there.

When Banasura saw that his soldiers and commanders had been defeated,
his anger only increased. He thought it wise to stop fighting with Satyaki,
Krsna’s commander-in-chief, and instead directly attacked Lord Krsna.
Now having the opportunity to use his one thousand hands, he rushed
towards Krsna, simultaneously working 500 bows and 2,000 arrows. Such
a foolish person could never measure Krsna’s strength. Immediately, with-
out any difficulty, Krsna cut each of Banasura’s bows into two pieces and,
to check him from going further, made his chariot horses lay on the
ground. The chariot then broke to pieces. After doing this, Krsna blew His
conchshell, Paficajanya.

There was a demigoddess named Kotara who was worshiped by Banasura,
and their relationship was as mother and son. Mother Kotara was upset
that Bandsura’s life was in danger, so she appeared on the scene. With
naked body and scattered hair, she stood before Lord Krsna. Sri Krsna did
not like the sight of this naked woman, and to avoid seeing her, He turned
His face. Banasura, getting this chance to escape Krsna’s attack, left the
battlefield. All the strings of his bows were broken, and there was no
chariot or driver, so he had no alternative than to return to his city. He lost
everything in the battle.

Being greatly harassed by the arrows of Krsna, all the associates of Lord
Siva, the hobgoblins and ghostly bhiitas, pretas and ksatriyas, left the
battlefield. Lord Siva then took to his last resort. He released his greatest
death weapon, known as Sivajvara, which destroys by excessive tempera-
ture. It is said that at the end of this creation the sun becomes twelve
times more scorching than usual. This twelve-times-hotter temperature is
called Sivajvara. When the Sivajvara personified was released, he had three
heads and three legs, and as he came toward Krsna it appeared that he was
burning everything into ashes. He was so powerful that he made blazing
fire appear in all directions, and Krsna observed that he was specifically
coming toward Him.

As there is a Sivajvara weapon, there is also a Narayanajvara weapon.
Narayanajvara is represented by excessive cold. When there is excessive
heat, one can somehow or other tolerate it, but when there is excessive
cold, everything collapses. This is actually experienced by a person at the
time of death. At the time of death, the temperature of the body first of
all increases to 107 degrees, and then the whole body collapses and
