Madhu-Kaiṭabha Vadha (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa)

Madhu and Kaiṭabha are two asuras. They were born from the ear-wax of Bhagavān Vishṇu while he slept during the mahāpralaya (the great dissolution). They threatened Brahmā on his lotus. Devī, present as Yoganidrā (the cosmic sleep of Bhagavān Vishṇu), was honoured with a stotra and let go of her hold on him. Bhagavān Vishṇu woke and slew the two asuras. Their marrow (medas) dissolved into the cosmic waters and became the earth, Medinī.

The account below follows the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. After it come the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa account and the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa account. This episode is the first of the three great caritas (deeds) of the Devī Māhātmya.

The mahāpralaya

At the end of a kalpa, creation has run its full course and dissolution overtakes the three worlds. Bhagavān Vishṇu withdraws into his yoga-nidrā, the great cosmic sleep. He rests on the back of Śesha, floating on the shoreless first waters. Nothing exists but those dark, deep waters and the sleeping Bhagavān Vishṇu.

A lotus rises from the navel of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Brahmā sits on that lotus and thinks about the creation that is yet to be born.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 80, tells this.

The birth of Madhu and Kaiṭabha

While Bhagavān Vishṇu slept, two mighty asuras arose from the wax of his ears. They were Madhu and Kaiṭabha. They were born of darkness and tamas, children of the unconscious depths of the pralaya. They were very strong and drunk with pride. They looked at Brahmā on the lotus above them and threatened to eat him.

Brahmā was helpless in the cosmic waters and had nowhere to run. He could not wake Bhagavān Vishṇu. The very śakti that held Bhagavān Vishṇu in his cosmic sleep was Devī herself, present as Yoganidrā in his eyes.

Brahmā’s prayer to Yoganidrā

Brahmā saw that only Devī could free Bhagavān Vishṇu. He turned to Yoganidrā and praised her with a great stotra. He called her Mahāmāyā, the cause of all creation and dissolution. He called her the supreme Śakti. She is neither separate from Bhagavān Vishṇu nor the same as him, but fills all things as their inner force.

He praised her as:

  • the sleep that rests in the eyes of all living beings
  • sandhyā (twilight)
  • the highest vidyā (knowledge)
  • beauty
  • Mahālakshmī, who lives forever in the heart of Bhagavān Vishṇu

He said she holds up creation when Bhagavān Vishṇu wills it and draws it back when the time of dissolution comes.

He prayed: “O Devī, rise now. Free this sleeping Vishṇu, so that he may wake and slay these asuras who threaten to destroy Brahmā and all creation to come.”

Bhagavān Vishṇu awakes

Devī Yoganidrā was pleased with the prayer and devotion of Brahmā. She withdrew from the body of Bhagavān Vishṇu and entered the cosmos as a presence that fills it. The moment she left, the eyes of Bhagavān Vishṇu opened. He saw at once that the two asuras were threatening Brahmā, and he went into battle with Madhu and Kaiṭabha.

The battle was huge. For five thousand divine years Bhagavān Vishṇu and the two asuras fought over the waters of the pralaya. Neither side could win. The asuras were strong and did not tire.

The slaying

Then Devī worked through her māyā and clouded the minds of Madhu and Kaiṭabha. Though they were fierce asuras, a sudden and strange generosity rose in them. They felt that they could not be beaten and that nothing in the world could harm them. In this state they came to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Proud of their courage, they offered him a vara (a boon) of his choice. This was the grace of Devī at the moment of need.

Bhagavān Vishṇu chose at exactly the right time. He asked for the vara of slaying them. Madhu and Kaiṭabha were bound by their own generous offer, and they agreed to be slain. They set one condition: “Do not slay us on wet ground.” They looked at the vast waters of the pralaya that covered everything. They believed no dry ground existed anywhere, so they thought they were safe even in granting the vara.

But Bhagavān Vishṇu knew all and acted at once. He made his own thighs grow very large and raised them above the flood. He laid Madhu and Kaiṭabha on his raised thighs, which were dry, and slew them both there. He kept the words of their condition and still reached his aim.

The making of the earth, Medinī

The bodies of Madhu and Kaiṭabha were huge. As they were slain and their forms dissolved, the marrow (medas) of their bodies poured into the cosmic ocean. The medas mixed with the first waters and set hard. It became the earth, the solid ground that would be the base of all later creation. This is why the earth has the holy name Medinī: she who was born from medas, the marrow of the two slain asuras.

The Devī Bhāgavata account

In the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Madhu and Kaiṭabha also arise during the mahāpralaya from the wax of the ears of Bhagavān Vishṇu, while he rests in yoga-nidrā on the cosmic waters. This Purāṇa says that the two asuras performed intense tapas to Devī Mahāmāyā herself. Pleased with their austerities, she appeared before them and gave them a vara.

They chose icchā-mṛtyu: the power to die only at a time and place of their own choosing. No being could slay them unless they agreed. With this protection, Madhu and Kaiṭabha became very proud. They went to Brahmā, who sat on the cosmic lotus above the waters, and threatened to eat him. Brahmā had no way to escape. He turned to Devī Yoganidrā in deep prayer. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 6)

The stotra of Brahmā to Yoganidrā fills a whole adhyāya, Chapter 7. In it he calls Devī:

  • the force that fills the eyes of Bhagavān Vishṇu as sleep
  • the supreme Mahāmāyā, who is the cause of both bondage and liberation
  • Mahālakshmī, Mahākālī and Sarasvatī
  • twilight
  • the great rati (cosmic delight)
  • the sovereign who gives the Trimūrtis their tasks

He says: “You are the cause of all creation. You are the dissolution. You are the supreme yoga-nidrā that holds even Hari himself in sleep.” Moved by the strength of his prayer, Devī Yoganidrā left the body of Bhagavān Vishṇu and became visible in the cosmos. The eyes of Bhagavān Vishṇu opened. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 7)

Chapter 8 holds a dialogue on the nature of Sarvaśakti as the root of all divine powers. It says that the Trimūrtis act only through the śakti of Devī and that all victories finally belong to her. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 8)

Bhagavān Vishṇu, now awake, fought Madhu and Kaiṭabha for five thousand years. Because of their icchā-mṛtyu vara he could not kill them. They were too strong, and the moment was not of their choosing.

Then Devī herself smiled at the two asuras. Through her māyā a light delusion rose in them: a sudden proud generosity mixed with moha (confusion). They felt unbeatable and wished to show their generosity. They went to Bhagavān Vishṇu and said: “Ask of us any vara.” He answered wisely: “Grant me the vara of slaying you both.”

They were bound by their own offer and agreed, with one condition: “Kill us on dry ground where there is no water.” They looked at the endless ocean of the pralaya around them and believed no such ground existed. But Bhagavān Vishṇu stretched his thighs, as wide as a mountain, above the flood. He laid them there on that dry place. Then the Sudarśana Cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu came down and cut off their heads.

As the huge bodies dissolved, the medas of Madhu and Kaiṭabha poured into the ocean of the pralaya and set hard, forming the solid earth. This is why the earth is called Medinī, she who arose from medas. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 9)

The Matsya Purāṇa account

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa tells this episode in its section on the creation of the Pādma Kalpa. In this account the two dānavas arose from the ears of Nārāyaṇa during his first yoga-nidrā. They found Brahmā sitting on the cosmic lotus, challenged him and threatened him. Brahmā called on Nārāyaṇa to wake. Bhagavān Vishṇu rose and fought the two dānavas for five thousand years with no clear result.

Then Bhagavān Vishṇu used his Māyā-Śakti to make a moment of proud, confused generosity in the two dānavas. After that they offered him a vara of his choice. He asked to slay them. They agreed on the condition that they must not be killed on ground covered by water. They believed there was no dry ground anywhere in the ocean of the pralaya. Bhagavān Vishṇu raised his thighs above the water and slew them on that dry place.

The Matsya Purāṇa adds this. Madhu and Kaiṭabha were given a vara because of their unusual death, killed by Bhagavān Vishṇu himself on his own lap. They were promised that a noble name would honour them in later kalpas. This is why one of the best-known and most often recited names of Bhagavān Vishṇu is Madhusūdana, the slayer of Madhu. (Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 169)

Sources

  • Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapter 80
  • Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 169
  • Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 6–9
  • Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, dākshiṇātya pratī, Chapter 38