rudra and his agents

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Asterisks mine.

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rudra- his agents

vIrabhadra: He emerged from a fragment of the matted locks of rudra

for the killing of prajApati dakSha. He wrought havoc in the midsts

of the deva armies and destroyed the demons created by bhR^igu

before going on to behead dakSha. He then revived dakSha with a

goat's head.

kAla bhairava: Created by rudra for the beheading of the 5th head of

brahma which was mocking rudra. For this he acquired the pApa of

brahmahatyA and had to perform the kApAlika vrata. He moved on to

slay vishvaksena, the chief gaNa of viShNu and was finally purified

of brahma hatyA after drinking the blood of viShNu.

 

nandikeshvara: The bull-headed chief gaNa of rudra. A great warrior

and leader of the armies of rudra in many battles. In the battle

against the dakSha he was felled by a blow from the vajra of indra.

In the battle against andhakAsura he captured the bhArgava shukra

and handed him over to rudra.

 

kShetrapAla: A fierce agent of rudra who emits a fiery meteor from

his mouth to counter missiles hurled by the asuras when they do

battle against rudra.

 

kIrtimukha: A fierce gaNa created by rudra for the chastisement of

rAhu. In his insatiable hunger he ate his own body parts and was

reduced to a roving head that devoured asuras.

 

vIraka: A terrible gaNa created by shiva to guard paravati when he

was performing the ***mahApaashupata vrata*** to regain his energies

after the dalliance with umA. He fought the army of andhaka and

wrought havoc in its midst.

 

kumAra: The elder son of rudra, the six-headed god. He was first

born for the slaying of demons like mahiSha and tAraka. He led the

deva armies in these battles and subsequently was one of the major

commanders of rudra's armies. Has numerous gaNas of his own.

 

gaNapati: The younger son of rudra, the elephant headed god. He was

created by pAravati as her personal gaNa, but was beheaded in a

battle with rudra and the gods and restored with an elephant head.

He became one of the major commanders of the gaNas and slew asuras

like analasura and sindhUra.

 

bhadrakAli: The wife of vIrabhadra. She led the shakti senA in the

dakshA battle and destroyed the dakSha army.

 

mahAmAri: The principal female commander of rudra's armies. She lead

the pramatha army of shiva along with kumAra in the battle against

the demon shankachuDa and the two of them slaughtered the commanders

of shankachuDa's army.

 

kAli: The wife of rudra. She lead the forces of the shaktis in the

battle against shumbha and nishumbha. In the battle against

shankachUDa, kumAra was struck down by the brahmashakti hurled by

shankachUDa. She rescued kumAra from the battle lines and brought

him back to shiva. Thereafter, when vIrabhadra fell unconcious

struck by he missile of shankachUDa she took over the command of the

gaNa armies and marched against the asuras. She decimated the asura

army and in a fierce battle with shankachuDA struck him down with

the mAheshvara missile.

 

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