Sunda and Upasunda

Ashish Joshi
ON rare occasions, gods have been challenged and even defeated by demons. Two such demons were the brothers Sunda and Upasunda. Massively built, with a strength to match, their demon army chased the gods out of Amarpuri, the heavenly capital. Indra, king of the gods, sought refuge on a barren mountain, depressed and defeated. He decided to approach Brahma to find a way of driving the two demon brothers out of Amarpuri. Brahma listened attentively and said though the two demon brothers were too powerful to tackle together, if the gods somehow succeeded in creating enmity between them, they could be ousted from the heavenly abode. Suddenly, Indra had an idea. He asked Visvakarma, the supreme architect and designer of the universe, to create a beautiful woman who would lure Sunda and Upasunda to their doom. The architect sat down in mediation and with the power of his thoughts, he created a ravishing woman called Tillottoma, which means, ‘bit by bit’. Her face was chiseled out from the moon and the rolling clouds became her luxuriant hair. Her eyes were composed of two stars while her lips were made from the bimba fruit. The many lovely flowers on earth were her clothes and gems and the koel gave her his voice. The gods applauded heartily at this magnificent creation, for who on earth could resist such a beauty!

The gods sent Tillottoma to Mount Kailasa, where the two demons sat lolling about, satiated for the moment after they had wreaked havoc everywhere. They had destroyed half of heaven; gold plates were thrown about unwashed while silk sheets and cushions lay soiled and tattered. But as soon as the two drunken demons saw Tillotoma, they both rushed towards her, maddened by lust. They caught hold of her arms and would have torn her asunder but realized that she no longer would be theirs to enjoy. So they turned on each other, each being determined to alone possess her. They fought maniacally with each other, tearing each other’s limbs, while the whole universe trembled with the fury of their battle. Soon, they lay dead and their demon army fled back to the underworld with its tails between its legs. The gods made a triumphant return to Mount Kailasa, and all peace and order was restored. As for Tillottoma, her angelic features returned to where they came from, so we can now observe her everywhere-in the stars of the sky, the flowers of the earth, and the grace of the animals on the earth.