tremendous battle began between the gods and the demons and the gods clearly had the worst of it. Shiva pierced Andhaka with a trident. But as blood started to flow out of Andhaka’s wound, numerous other Andhakas were born out of these drops of blood and they continued to fight with the gods. Shiva raised his trident up into the sky and Vishnu tried to decapitate Andhaka, who was transfixed to the trident, with his sudarshana chakra. But the demon did not die.

Shiva now opened his mouth in anger. Flames issued from his mouth and took the form of terrible goddesses known as the matrikas. The fire that issued out of the matrikas dried up Andhaka’s blood and thus made it possible for the gods to kill Andhaka.

Since Andhaka’s destruction took place on ashtami, this is a day that is set aside for the worship of the matrikas.

(The Andhaka story is yet another illustration of a divergence between the Varaha Purana and the other Puranas and the Harivamsha. According to the other accounts, Andhaka was the son of Shiva and Parvati and was born blind. He performed tapasya and gained his eyesight. The demon Hiranyaksha did not have any sons and he adopted Andhaka as a son. In the fight with Shiva, Andhaka did not get killed. He lost all his evil traits when he was transfixed on Shiva’s trident. He prayed to Shiva and obtained the boon that he would be Shiva’s constant companion. His new name became Bhringi.)