17-28. Vyâsa said :-- Hearing these words of the Devî, that minister, surrounded by forces, replied in reasonable words thus :-- “O Devî! You are speaking in words befitting a woman and puffed up with pride. You are a woman; the lord of the Daityas is a hero; how can a battle be engaged between you two. It seems to me impossible. Your body is delicate, a girl in full youth; especially you are alone and Mahisa is of huge body and powerful; so the fight comes next to impossibility. He has elephants, horses, chariots, infantry, etc., and countless soldiers all armed with weapons. Therefore, O Beautiful One! He will find no difficulty in killing you in battle as an elephant finds no difficulty in treading over the Mâlati flowers. Rather, if I utter anything harsh to you, that would go against the sentiment of love, with you; therefore I cannot speak rudely to you out of my fear not to interrupt the above feeling. True, that our king is an enemy of the gods; but be has become extremely devoted to you. Therefore it is wise to speak words full of conciliation or generosity. Were it otherwise, I would have shot arrows at you and would have killed you in as much as you have thus boasted in vain and spoken so dire a falsehood, resting merely on the strength of your youthful pride and cleverness. My master has become fascinated on hearing your extraordinary beauty hardly to be seen in this world; it therefore behoves me to speak sweet words to you for the sake of pleasing my master. O Large-eyed! This kingdom and the wealth thereof are all yours; in fact, Mahisa will be your obedient servant; therefore, better forsake your anger, leading to your death; and cultivate friendship with him. O Sweet Smiling One! I am falling at your feet; you better go to him and become at once queen-consort. O Handsome Woman! No sooner you become the queen of Mahisa than you will get at once all the pure wealth of the three worlds and the unbounding happiness of this world.”
29-45. The Devî said :-- “Minister! I now speak what is pregnant with goodness and wisdom to you, according to the rules of the S'âstras, keeping in view also the cleverness that you have shown in using your words. Now I come to understand from your talk, that you are the chief secretary of Mahisa; and therefore your nature and intelligence are like those of a beast. And how can he be intelligent, whose ministership is occupied by a man of your nature! Nature has ordained connection between two persons of like nature. O Stupid One! Did you think a little beforehand the meaning of your words when you told me of my feminine nature? Though I am not apparently a man, yet my nature is that of the Highest Purusa (Man); I shew myself simply in a feminine form. Your master asked before from Brahmâ that he would prefer death, if possible, at the hands of a woman ; therefore, I consider him quite illiterate and ignorant of the sentiment, worthy of a hero. Because to die at the hands of a woman is very painful to one who is a hero; and this is gladly welcome to one who is a hermaphrodite. Now see that your master Mahisa has shown his intelligence, when he courted his death from the hands of a woman. For that very reason, I have come here in the shape of a woman to effect my purpose; why shall I fear, then, to hear your words, contradictory to those of the S'âstras. When Fate goes against any one, a grass comes like a thunderbolt; and when fate goes in favour of anyone, a thunderbolt becomes as soft as a bundle of cotton. What does it avail even when one possesses an extensive army or various weapons in abundance, taking shelter in a wide extending fort? What will his soldiers do to him, whose death has come close at hand? Whenever, in due time, the connection of the Jîva (the human soul) with this body is brought about, then his pleasures, pains and death are written. Know this as certain, very certain, that death will come to him in the manner as written by the hands of Fate; it will never be otherwise. As the birth and death of Brahmâ and other gods are ordained, your death has been similarly ordained; no, there is no need of taking the example further than this. Those who are tied up by the hands of death are surely fools and of extremely blunt intellect, if they think simply on the strength of their getting some boons “that they would never die.” Therefore go quickly to your king and speak to him what I have said; you will then surely obey what he commands you to do. If he wants his life, he, with his retinue, would at once go down to Pâtâla; let Indra and the other Devas get possession of the Heavens and their share of Yajñas. If he holds a contrary opinion, let him be eager to go to the house of Death and come and fight with Me. If he thinks that Visnu and the other Devas have fled from the battle-fields, he has nothing to boast of; for he has not shewn his manliness at all even then; for his victory is solely due to his having got the boon from Brahmâ.”
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