Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.55.21
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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māyām
—
the magic of the Daityas
Compound: māyām (illusion) + daiteyīm (belonging to the Daityas, demons descended from Diti). A specific tradition of dark mantra. The Bhāgavatam names the lineage to keep the contest concrete.
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maya-darśitam
—
shown by Maya
Compound: maya (Maya Dānava) + darśitam (shown, taught). The verb darśita literalizes the transmission — Maya 'showed' the techniques. Asura paramparā is real and traceable; it is not a fog.
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astra-mayam-varṣam
—
a rainfall consisting of weapons
Compound: astra (weapons) + mayam (consisting of) + varṣam (rain). Same -maya suffix as in cin-maya, ānanda-maya — '-stuff.' Śambara's rain is weapons-stuff, the way Vaikuṇṭha is ānanda-stuff. The grammar parodies the higher register.
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vaihāyasaḥ
—
standing in the sky
Adjective from vihāyas (the heavens). The asura takes to the air to escape ground-rules. Cf. Naraka, Bali, and other asuras whose strategy is altitude. Bhagavān's response is always to bring the contest back to His own terrain.
Sambara, moving in the sky (vaihayasah), released weapons on Kamadeva.
The word ca means “but.” But then Śambara took shelter of demonic power first used by Maya. He took complete shelter (sam—āśritya) by performing acts like disappearing etc. He went into the sky to escape Pradyumna’s club. He showered down a profusion of iron rocks. Bhasmībhute vṛkṣavarṣe śilāsaṅghān avarṣayad: when Pradyumna turned the shower of trees into ashes, he showered down a host of rocks. (Hari-vaṁṣa) The version astra-mayam instead of aśma-mayam is unacceptable.
The word ca means “but.” He used magic, revealed by Maya, to counter Pradyumna’s club. Thus it was powerful. He took complete shelter of that magic, even disappearing. Then he appeared in the sky and showered countless rocks. Bhasmībhute vṛkṣavarṣe śilāsaṅghān avarṣayad: when Pradyumna turned the shower of trees into ashes, he showered down a host of rocks. (Hari-vaṁṣa) The shower of rocks was actually illusory.
- Where does an opponent in your life escalate to 'magical' means — manipulation, deception?
- What counter-knowledge would you need to match?
Cheated of victory by the club, Śambara takes to the sky and rains weapons — Maya Dānava's black magic, taught long ago to the Daityas. The asura's last move is always to abandon the agreed terrain. From this point Pradyumna must answer with non-physical resources: the chapter is about to pivot to Mahā-māyā.
Maya Dānava is the asura-engineer who built palaces for both demons and (in the Mahābhārata) for the Pāṇḍavas. Across the Bhāgavatam and the epics he is the source-teacher of daiteyī-māyā — the asura-line of illusion-craft.
Gauḍīya hearing: there is a real, transmissible black-magic paramparā among the asuras (cf. Tripurāsura, Vṛkāsura), matched and overmastered by the Vaiṣṇava paramparā of mantra and Mahā-māyā. Bhakti is not gullible about the dark side; it simply has a stronger source.
My note
Source: vedabase.io