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rudra- his agents

vIrabhadra: He emerged from a fragment of the matted locks of rudra for the killing of prajApati dakSha.

He wrought havoc in the midsts of the deva armies and destroyed the demons created by bhR^igu

before going on to behead dakSha. He then revived dakSha with a goats head.

kAla bhairava: Created by rudra for the beheading of the 5th head of brahma which was mocking rudra.

For this he acquired the pApa of brahmahatyA and had to perform the kApAlika vrata. He moved on to

slay vishvaksena, the chief gaNa of viShNu and was finally purified of brahma hatyA after drinking the

blood of viShNu.

nandikeshvara: The bull-headed or ape-headed chief gaNa of rudra. A great warrior and leader of the

armies of rudra in many battles. In the battle against the dakSha he was felled by a blow from the vajra

of indra. In the battle against andhakAsura he captured the bhArgava shukra and handed him over to

rudra.

kShetrapAla: A fierce agent of rudra who emits a fiery meteor from his mouth to counter missiles hurledby the asuras when they do battle against rudra.

kIrtimukha: A fierce gaNa created by rudra for the chastisement of rAhu. In his insatiable hunger he ate

his own body parts and was reduced to a roving head that devoured asuras.

vIraka: A terrible gaNa created by shiva to guard pArvati when he was performing the mahApAshupata

vrata to regain his energies after the dalliance with umA. He fought the army of andhaka and wrought

havoc in its midst.

kumAra: The elder son of rudra, the six-headed god. He was first born for the slaying of demons like

mahiSha and tAraka. He led the deva armies in these battles and subsequently was one of the majorcommanders of rudras armies. Has numerous gaNas of his own.

gaNapati: The younger son of rudra, the elephant headed god. He was created by pArvati as her

personal gaNa, but was beheaded in a battle with rudra and the gods and restored with an elephant

head. He became one of the major commanders of the gaNas and slew asuras like analasura and

sindhUra.

bhadrakAli: The wife of vIrabhadra. She led the shakti senA in the dakshA battle and destroyed the

dakSha army.

mahAmAri: The principal female commander of rudras armies. She lead the pramatha army of shivaalong with kumAra in the battle against the demon sha~NkachUDa and the two of them slaughtered the

commanders of shankachuDas army.

kAlI: The wife of rudra. She lead the forces of the shaktis in the battle against shumbha and nishumbha.

In the battle against sha~NkachUDa, kumAra was struck down by the brahmashakti hurled by

sha~NkachUDa. She rescued kumAra from the battle lines and brought him back to shiva. Thereafter,

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