Mahākālī Prādurbhāva

This narrative comes from the Umā Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa. It tells how Mahākālī, the first power of Parabrahman, appeared at the start of a kalpa (a day of Brahmā). Brahmā prayed to her to save him from the two asuras Madhu and Kaiṭabha. The ṛshi Medhasa tells it to two grieving men, King Suratha and the vaiśya (merchant) Samādhi, who ask him why even wise people cannot let go of their attachments.

The frame: Suratha and Samādhi

In the Svārocisa Manvantara there ruled a king named Suratha, the son of Viratha, of the Caitra dynasty. He was a good man. He was generous in dāna (giving), truthful in speech, skilled in rājadharma (the duty of a king) and deeply devoted to Devī. His people prospered under his gentle rule. But bad fortune came to him quickly.

Nine powerful kings joined together and laid siege to his capital, Kolānagara. Suratha fought with all his strength, but the combined armies overwhelmed him. His kingdom was taken. He went back to his capital, only to find that his own ministers had turned against him. They had secretly sided with the enemy and robbed his treasury. He had no realm, no allies and no wealth. Suratha rode out into the forest on the excuse of a hunt, and he never came back as king.

Deep in the wilderness he found a splendid āśrama. Flower gardens surrounded it on every side. It echoed with the chanting of the Veda. It was so peaceful that even great beasts of prey lived without threat beside smaller animals. This was the āśrama of Medhasa, a ṛshi of great power and wisdom. Medhasa welcomed the wandering king with honour, gave him a seat and food, and asked him to stay.

Yet the king’s mind was not at rest. He brooded all the time. My kingdom, built by my forefathers over many generations, is now in the hands of my enemies. My loyal soldiers serve another king. My treasury is robbed. What happened to my elephants and horses? What are the ministers who betrayed me doing now? The grief would not leave him, and he could not explain it even to himself, for he knew well that these attachments were the cause of his suffering.

At about the same time a vaiśya named Samādhi came to the āśrama. He came from a family of means. But his wife and sons, driven by greed, had thrown him out of his own house and taken away all his wealth. Even so, Samādhi still worried about them. Are my sons well? Is my wife looked after? Are my grandchildren healthy? He could not let go of his attachment, although he knew that those who threw him out had done it out of greed.

Suratha saw this and was struck by it. He asked Samādhi directly: “Those who drove you out so selfishly, why do you still care for them?” Samādhi answered: “I know that what you say is true. Yet my mind, tied by the cord of affection, is overcome by moha and cannot stop grieving.” (Moha is delusion.)

Together the two men went to Medhasa and told him how bewildered they were. They were not ignorant men. Suratha was a learned king and Samādhi a thoughtful vaiśya. Yet their minds stayed gripped by attachment to people and things that had brought them nothing but loss. They asked: “What is this force that bewilders even the wise? What is this Mahāmāyā? How did she arise?”

Medhasa’s teaching on Mahāmāyā

Medhasa answered that the root of their confusion was Mahāmāyā, the first Śakti, who is the very ground of all existence. She is not a mere spell or trick. She is the living power of Parabrahman itself. She works through the guṇas. She creates, keeps and withdraws all that is manifest. Even Brahmā, the creator, is under her. She draws the minds of all beings toward the world, toward their ties with others and toward the dream of owning things for ever. Only the one to whom she herself gives her grace can go beyond her. There is no other way.

The first appearance of Mahākālī

To explain where this great Śakti came from, Medhasa told of the first event. At the start of a kalpa, the universe had dissolved into the first ocean. Bhagavān Vishṇu lay in yoga-nidrā (yoga-sleep) on the coils of Ādiśesha. Two asuras were born from the dirt that had gathered in his ears. Their names became famous in all the worlds: Madhu and Kaiṭabha. They were huge. Their faces were like the sun at the dissolution of the worlds. Their mouths were open as if to swallow the cosmos. Their tejas (radiance) blazed like the fire at the end of a yuga.

Brahmā was seated on the lotus that had grown from Vishṇu’s navel. Madhu and Kaiṭabha saw him and came at him in fierce contempt to destroy him. Brahmā saw Vishṇu asleep in yoga-nidrā and the two terrible beings rushing at him, and in despair he turned to the first Śakti. He made a prayer to Mahāmāyā. He called her Yoganidrā-svarūpī (the form of yoga-sleep itself), Mahāpralaya-svarūpā (the form of the great dissolution), Moha-rātrī (the night of delusion), Jagat-kāraṇa (the cause of the cosmos) and Jagad-ambā (the mother of all worlds). He begged her to take her yoga-sleep away from Vishṇu so that Vishṇu could rise and fight.

Brahmā’s prayer said:

“You are svāhā for the devas at their yajñas*. You are* svadhā for the pitṛs at their śrāddhas*. You are humility. You are the pure* buddhi of the jñānīs*. Joy, Pushṭi, Śānti, Kshamā, hunger and compassion, all these are your own form, O Mātā. You are Vishṇumāyā. You are Caitanya itself.”*

On Phālguna Śukla Daśamī, in answer to Brahmā’s prayer, Mahākālī appeared. She is the first Śakti, both the form of vidyā (knowledge) and the root of all Māyā. She came out of Vishṇu’s eyes, face and all his limbs. The voice of Devī rang out from the sky: “Brahmā, do not fear. I will slay Madhu and Kaiṭabha in this battle and take away your distress.”

As her power left Vishṇu, he woke from yoga-nidrā. He saw Madhu and Kaiṭabha in front of him and fought them. The fight lasted five thousand years. The two asuras fought Vishṇu with their bare hands, with a fury that had no equal. Then, by the power of Mahāmāyā herself, moha came over Madhu and Kaiṭabha, and they said to Vishṇu: “We are pleased with you. Ask any vara (boon) you wish.”

Vishṇu answered: “If you are pleased with me, grant me this: die at my hands. I ask for no other vara*.”*

The two asuras looked around and saw the whole earth under water. They said: “Then slay us where the earth is not under water.” Vishṇu said, “So be it.” He placed their heads on his thighs, which were as vast as the world, and cut them off with his blazing cakra. So Madhu and Kaiṭabha fell, slain on dry land as he had promised.

This is the prādurbhāva (appearance) of Mahākālī, the first appearance of Devī in this cosmic cycle. It happened on Phālguna Śukla Daśamī. Her name Kālī here stands for the first darkness of yoga-nidrā itself. Through it she kept Vishṇu withdrawn from the world, and then, by taking that sleep away, she made it possible for the world to be kept.

Phālguna Śukla Daśamī is the day of Mahākālī’s appearance (prādurbhāva tithi) in the Umā Saṃhitā’s account of this narrative.

Medhasa goes on to tell of Devī’s later appearances, Mahālakshmī and the slaying of Mahishāsura, in the chapters that follow.

Sources

• Śiva Purāṇa, Umā Saṃhitā, Chapter 45