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Death By Six-Legged Creatures

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There once was a demon who went by the name of Arunasura, who lived in the nether regions, the hometown of the demons and devils. Arunasura hated the Lords and was a hypocrite, who'd wanted above all else to conquer the Gods. He went to the banks of the Ganges in the Himalayas and practiced a very strict penance to Lord Brahmadev in the hopes that he will be pleased with him. As he began meditating and practicing his austerities, for the first ten thousand years, he lived by eating only dried leaves, for the second, he lived by drinking only tiny drops of water, for the third, he lived by breathing in air alone. For the fourth, he didn't ingest a thing and continued on with his penance. Over the course of Arunasur's penance, his stomach had dried, his body withered, and the nerves of his body had become almost visible, and his life or vital breath just kept on lingering there. Arunasur performed his long, extensive penances for 40,000 years straight. Lord Brahma saw fit to bless him.

Lord Brahma rewarded Arunasura with the boon that he will be protected from all one, two, three or four-legged creatures. Fueled up by arrogance with this blessing, the vain demon returned home to the lower regions and by his call, he summoned all the other demons to come round for a meeting, who quickly came to his front, and saluted him as their leader and king. Arunasur decided to capture Indra and the elemental deities of heaven and their respective consorts, to forcefully bring them before him and keep the deities as hostages. Upon making this choice, Arunasur and his band of demons ascended to the celestial territories of the heavens. There, utilizing the powers of his austerity, Arunasur took various forms and dislodged the elemental deities from their stations. No matter how hard and difficult Indra and the Lords fought against the foul devil, they just couldn't seem to overcome him by any means that they had deployed, compelling them to taste their sour defeat.

Arunasur bounded Indra, Surya, Agni, Vayu, Varuna, Chandra, Kuber, and Yamdev in the clasp of his shackles tighty wrapped round their bodies, causing the trapped deities to stay in their place, and unable to break free from his hold. Even the wives of the Lords were also taken by the demons of the foul Arunasur to join their husbands again, this time in captivity with each other in his lair. Even the Goddess of Earth, Bhudevi, wasn't immune to Arunasur's demands as she too joined them. Now with all the deities in his home, Arunasur took control of them to his advantage, unaffected by the threats they'd made to him, warning him if he doesn't set them free, then the Devi herself shall arrive personally to give him a strict punishment. Hearing this, the vile demon mocked them. Finding out that the Lords and their wives have been abducted by Arunasur and sent to be as prisoners in his lair, the teacher of the deities, Brihaspati, after discussing the issue with Lord Brahma, went to Vaikuntha.

At Vaikunth, the home of Lord Harinarayan, both Lord Brahmadev and sage Brihaspati talked with Lord Vishnu on how to free the elemental deities from the captivity of the crude devil. But as the situation was out of the reach of Lord Narayan, he spoke about his inability to bring an end Arunasura due to Lord Brahma's blessing protecting him, and proposed that they go to the region of Mt. Kailash and inform Lord Mahadev and Goddess Parvati, the issue that the deities have with Arunasur, as he was certain that they will deal with the troublesome demon. Over at Kailasha, after conferring with Lord Mahadev and with the consent of Goddess Parvati, she'd agreed to allow her husband take along with him, their warrior warlord sons, Gods Kartikeya and Ganesh to battle against the vicious demon, and when the ripe and proper time arrives, she will surely make an appearance to obliterate him until then, as she was the only one who's aware of devil Arunasura's blessing shielding him.

Coming back to Arunasura's lair, where the imprisoned deities still stayed at, they were relieved when they saw their preceptor, the sage Brihaspati attended by Lord Narayan, Lord Mahadeva and his sons Kartikeya and Ganesha, hopeful that the quintet would be able to liberate them from the constraints of the demon. Arunasura was given only 1 chance to change himself, that if he wants to live, then he should let go of the deities and allow them to go back to their home in their celestial residence of Amaravati, but if he refuses to listen, then he should brace himself to meet his fate. Just like all of the other demons before him, the rude demon defied them and challenged them to a war. One after another, Shiva, Vishnu, Kartikeya and Ganesh each tried their best efforts to overcome him but remained unsuccessful. At last, hearing the calls of the imprisoned deities, Devi Parvati appeared to the scene, standing by Narayana, Shiva, her sons, and face-to-face against their enemy, Arunasur.

On seeing Goddess Parvati, Arunasur was amused to see her and challenged her to battle him and end up getting defeated by him, explaining to her that if he defeats her, then he will remain invincible, invisible, and undefeated. Hearing this, Goddess Parvati reminded him of his blessing that no being with one, two, or four creatures wouldn't be able to end him. She also reprimanded him for thinking that he had cheated death, but unfortunately for him, death would always ultimately find a way, either one way or the other. The Goddess tells him that even he'd forgotten, that in Prakriti (Nature) there are beings that exists in the world with six legs that will be able to bring an end to him, and with that explained, she will annihilate him in the form of a six-legged creature. At her direction, her brother Lord Harinarayan, her husband Lord Shiv, and her warrior warlord sons, Kartikey and Ganesh cleared the way for her, especially the teacher of the Lords, Brihaspati, having no idea what she will do.

The prisoned deities themselves and even Arunasura himself, had no idea as to what was about to happen, but only Devi herself knows what she does behind every actions she takes for the betterment of the world. Goddess Parvati began to expand her size, gradually assuming a massive form in the process. This new form of the Devi had six hands, four of them each carrying a mace, trident, longsword and shield while her two other hands were kept as empty. Her three eyes shone like the sun, moon and the fire. She wore black garments and a garland of rosy red flowers around her neck and wore ornaments decorated on her limbs. She is seen levitating mid-air, as she'd possessed the shape of a bee. The eyes of the deities broadened and widened out of amazement while the eyes of Arunasur grew big out of fear. This form that Parvati had attained to bring an end to the demon was none other than the Devi Bhramari herself, the one and only Mistress and Mother of all black bees.

Now in the form of goddess Bhramari, Devi Parvati tells Arunasur she has attained this form of a bee, and as she has six legs, she will bring an end to him. Goddess Bhramari berates the demon for trying to evade from his death by using the blessing that'd been given to him by Lord Brahma, and for trying to test the rule of Prakriti (Mother Nature) which is the undying truth. The demon also thought that Nature had never materialized beings like insects that will be the cause of his doom, and that the Goddess, his death, stands before him. With Arunasur's demon armies present, however, obediently acting on the order of their king, altogether made a run toward Goddess Bhramari, with their weapons raised high. The Devi, closing her eyes in concentration, summoned forward from the skies, large hosts of innumerable bees, hornets, wasps, flies and mosquitoes that came down like locusts. Most of them have surrounded her from all sides. This is the realistic depiction of the Devi Bhramari.

This Devi then started to send out all sorts of black bees and hornets, from her sides, front and forepart. Countless lines of black bees then were generated and they united themselves with those that had got out of the palms of the Devi, ultimately blanketing the entire earth. Thus endless bees began to emit from all sides like locusts. The sky was overcast with bees, and the earth was covered with darkness. The sky, mountain peaks, trees, forests all became filled with bees and the spectacle presented a grand dismal sight. Those black bees started to rip and tear open the breasts of the devils. The demons couldn't deploy their weapons against the Goddess, nor could they fight, or exchange any words. There was nothing they could do, they had no help but perish. Those vicious demons thus stayed there in the same state where they were and in that state they died. No one could talk with one another. Thus those principal demons died within an instant while their skin was eaten.

Completing a part of their destruction, they returned to the Devi after emanating forth in a wave over the ranks. The remaining of Arunasur's armies managed to throw their weapons at her, but they ended up getting blocked by her shield. She drew forth from her own trident, a shower of tridents which impaled the chests of some of the demons to their death by its three sharp tips. From her longsword, she drew forth another rain of swords that had beheaded and stabbed another group of demons, and drawing out forth from her own mace, one more rain of clubs that reduced the last group of devils to powder by her powerful swings. By then, the field of battle was splashed in demons' blood, filled with the lifeless corpses of the deceased, piled with the heaps of corpses of slain demon soldiers, butchered in cold blood, all at the hands of Mother Bhramari.

Some of the devils had their arms torn off, most of their bodies had been chopped up in halves, as the upper and lower parts of their bodies were detached, some of them had been so extremely mutilated and bled all over, some of them had been beheaded and some of the others were all reduced to such a state that it even impossible for any one of them to get back up again and fight against the Devi. Upon seeing the warfield in a squalid state and all of his forces fully reduced to nothingness, Arunasur became infuriated, but the battle did not come to a close against his rival. As he enquired her why she took this form, she explained that as she is Prakriti herself, she is the host of infinite bees and as she gave rise to them, she is the one and only, single Queen Bee, who had created the sounds of the blissful humming of the bees. She resides in all of them and they live inside her. Due to that, she took this form of Devi who lives within even the smallest particles of the universe.

Having explained herself thus, the goddess liberated all of the imprisoned deities from the shackles of the demon as they paid her their thankfulness to her. Arunasur tells the six-limbed Goddess that if she wants to kill him, then he won't ask her to spare his life. Now present in the full frontal view of all of the deities, Arunasura surrendered himself to Bhramari Devi. From her body emanated forth more countless bees, hornets, wasps, flies, and mosquitoes that'd been sent out to annihilate the lone demon. They crawled and clung everywhere all over him like tape and glue, as they began ripping and tearing open and apart, each and every single part of his body: his chest, breasts, belly, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet and toes were all torn to shreds, all the while as they ate his skin and flesh, he yelled out in excruciating pain, his last words praising Bhramari Devi. Now, all that was left of Arunasura was his body that was reduced to nothing but that of a skeleton. The demon died in this way.

On witnessing the demise of Arunasur, and the successful decimation of the demonic forces all done and completed by Goddess Bhramari, sage Brihaspati, all of the Lords and their wives expressed their gratitude to Bhramari Devi with a hymn in her honor, and were able to come back home to their houses in the heavenly cities of Amaravari.