Verse 29

²⁴Saying this, the elephant among the Daityas fell upon the man-lion with his mace, roaring; and then that demon was lost to sight in the man-lion's blaze, as a moth is lost falling into fire. ²⁵That is nothing to wonder at in the home of clarity, who long ago drank up the dark with his own light. Then the great demon came at the man-lion and struck him in his fury with the mace, which went with huge speed. ²⁶As he came on with the mace, the bearer of the mace took him as the son of Tarksya takes a great serpent. Then the demon slipped out of his hand, as a snake slips from Garuda's when he is playing with it. ²⁷Bharata, the immortals whose homes were taken, hidden in the clouds, and all the keepers of the stations, thought this ill done. The great demon took his slipping free for doubt of the man-lion's own strength; his weariness beaten, he snatched up sword and shield and closed with him again at speed.

²⁸He moved with a hawk's speed and left no opening, above and below, along the paths of his hundred-mooned shield. Hari laughed his harsh laugh aloud, terrible in its noise, so that the other closed his eyes; and being very swift, he seized him. ²⁹The demon struggled every way and sickened at being held. In the doorway Hari laid him across his thighs, as a snake lays a mouse, and easily tore open with his nails the skin the thunderbolt had never cut, as Garuda tears a snake of great poison.