He attacked Devaloka, the haven. Initially it left Indra non­plussed. The encouragement from his Asta Dikpalakas emboldened him and he fought the invaders.-But none could stand the might of And-:tsura, the son of Lord of Kailasct The Devatas had to run for their lives, leaving Devaloka behind. Andasura was halfway through ltis life's mission. His next target was Lord Vishnu and he went in search of him.

Here, in Kailasa, the Divine Trinity-Brahma. Vishnu and Maheshwara were deliberating on how to save the world from the new scourage in the form of Andasura. Indra too joined them. They finally decided to propitiate Mother Goddess who alone had the powers to solve this problem.

The prayer of her three children brought the merciful mother to them. Her very spectacle was awe inspiring and encouraging. She was a divine treat to the eyes-twelve arms VY-lelding weapons, divine light emnating from her person. It filled the heart with devotion and love. Hearing, the woeful story of her children the mother gave them all assurance of safty. She asked them to strengthen he~ arms by offering all their weapons-Shiva's trident, Vishnu's disc, Bfahma's Danda and Devendra's Vajrayudha. Everyone did as wished by her and hailed victory to her. She knew that he); enemy was formidable and she wanted Shiva to merge his all destroying power (Pralaya Shakti) with that of hers and give her the power of the third eye. With these added strength she set out to annihilate Andasura, the scourge of the world.

In the meantime, Andasura, in the course of his wandering in search of Lord Vishnu met Narada chanting Narayana's name. He extracted from him information pertaining to the whereabouts of Vishnu. Narada directed him to a particular direction where according to him the Devatas were living in disguise and there he might stumble on vishnu. Andasura sent two of his men to check the veracity of Narada's words. The two reached the place where they saw Mother Goddess in a bower. Captivating aroma and radiance were emnating from her person while she was sitting on a swing with a charming smile on her face. Seeing her, the demons lost their sense and made overtures to her. When their courting was not respohded the fools. used their force. Within no time the two· were severely dealt with and destroyed.

The news of the death of his followers enraged Andasura. He rushed to the spot with the intention of avenging the insult. But the sight of a strange and woman of captivating beauty left him spell bound. His intention underwent change. He spoke to her very endearingly with an ulterior motive and crossed the bounds of courtesy and hence the mother goddess was waiting for the opportune moment and the demon was challenged to fight. The demon did not take time to realise that he was courting his own death. Mother goddess' . overwhelming appearance-twelve arms wielding weapons

and the lion on which she was riding were too much for him. He bolted towards the sea in order to save his mottallife. He jumped into the sea for cover. The mother taking the form of Rakteshwari also jumped into the s'ea and killed him with the trident. HeI-victor-y over Andasura caused waves of happiness all over the world. The Devatas poured floral showers on her and praised her victory which ushered in the era 'of peace and prosperity.