Book 4 · Sthiti स्थिति · chapters 25–30 · 6 chapters
The demon king Shambara, who rules from a cave in Patala; the gods (led in counsel by Brahma); and the three demons he creates, Dama, Vyala and Kata.
Vasishtha tells Rama of Shambara, a demon king of Patala whose army the gods keep destroying whenever he leaves it unguarded. After losing successive commanders, Shambara conjures by illusion three terrible demons for its protection. They are pure automatons: without ego, memory, or impressions, moved only by a bare inner impulse, unaware of victory, defeat, life or death, so nothing can frighten or tempt them into weakness. Named Dama, Vyala and Kata, they lead his forces into a war with the gods that drags on for years. Unable to defeat them by weapons, the gods go to Brahma, who tells them the three cannot be beaten by force but only by time and habit: repeated practice of battle will slowly breed in them a sense of doership and ego, and once ego appears, desire follows, and desire is what makes any being conquerable. The gods keep up the long war on this advice. In time the three demons do develop a sense of 'I' and 'mine', begin to crave safety, wealth and pleasure, grow afraid of death, and lose their former fearlessness. Weakened by this new attachment, their army is routed and they are slain and scattered across the world. Their wives flee to the underworld; the three demons themselves, having failed to bow to Yama, are later cast into hell, and pass afterward through many low rebirths, ending as fish, still driven by the same clinging desire.
दामो व्यालः कटश्चेति नामभिः परिलाञ्छिताः | यथाप्राप्तैककर्तारश्चेतनामात्रधर्मिणः || ३६ ||
They are adorned with names such as Dama, Vyala, and Kata. They are the sole doers according to their nature, possessing only the attribute of consciousness.
वे दाम, व्याल और कट जैसे नामों से सुशोभित हैं | वे अपनी प्रकृति के अनुसार एकमात्र कर्ता हैं, जिनमें केवल चेतना का गुण है ||
यदा तेऽत्यज्ञपुरुषाः शम्बरेण विनिर्मिताः | वासनामाश्रयिष्यन्ति तदा यास्यन्ति जेयताम् || ३८ ||
When those ignorant men, created by Shambara, take refuge in desire, then they will go to be conquered.
जब वे अज्ञानी पुरुष, शम्बर द्वारा बनाए गए, इच्छा में शरण लेंगे, तब वे पराजित होने के लिए जाएँगे।
तेषु द्रवत्सु भीतेषु सर्वतो दानवादिषु | दामव्यालकटाख्येषु विख्यातेषु सुरालये || २२ ||
As those terrified demons fled in all directions, they were known by various names such as Dāmavyālakaṭā in the abode of the gods.
जब वे भयभीत असुर सभी दिशाओं में भागे, तो उन्हें देवताओं के निवास स्थान में विभिन्न नामों से जाना जाता था जैसे कि दामव्यालकटा।
The story occupies chapters 25–30 of Book 4. Each link opens that chapter complete — Sanskrit in Devanagari and IAST, with a plain English and Hindi translation of every verse. The number under each link is its verse count.