Kaiṭabha

Kaiṭabha · kaiṭabha

Kaiṭabha is a rākshasa of great strength who, with his companion Madhu, harmed the Vedas, and was slain by Śrī Hari in the form of Hayagrīva, who brought the Vedas back and gave them to Brahmā. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names him almost always together with Madhu, and Prahlāda calls the two of the nature of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. In the waters of the pralaya (the dissolution of the worlds) Kaiṭabha leapt at Purushottama, and Śuka likens Vṛtra’s leap at Devendra, when Vṛtra chose death in battle over victory, to that leap. Because of this deed Śrī Hari, and Śrī Kṛshṇa in his avatāra, is praised again and again as Madhu-Kaiṭabha-saṃhārī, “the slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha”: by Brahmā, by Prahlāda, by Akrūra, by the kings freed from Jarāsandha, by King Nimi, by the hunter Jara, and by Śuka himself.

Slain by Hayagrīva

Nārada tells Yudhishṭhira of Prahlāda‘s stuti to Bhagavān Narasiṃha. In it Prahlāda says: “The rākshasas called Madhu and Kaiṭabha, of great strength, of the nature of rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, were doing harm to the Vedas. Then you took the Hayagrīva avatāra, slew those rākshasas, brought back the hosts of the Vedas, and handed them over to Brahmā.” The mahātmās say, Prahlāda adds, that sattva-guṇa is his most beloved form.

The same deed is told among the avatāras of Śrī Hari. Akrūra, praising Śrī Kṛshṇa under the waters of the Yamunā, bows to him “who, as Hayagrīva, slew Madhu and Kaiṭabha”, between his bow to Matsya, who moved in the ocean of pralaya to protect the Vedas, and his bow to Kūrma. And one of the nine yogīśvaras, the sons of Ṛshabhadeva, telling King Nimi of the avatāras, says that as Hayagrīva Śrī Hari killed Madhu and Kaiṭabha and brought back the Vedas they had stolen.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 9; Skandha 10, Chapter 40; Skandha 11, Chapter 4

Kaiṭabha’s leap in the pralaya waters

When Vṛtra, best of the rākshasas, chose death in battle over victory, he seized his śūla and leapt at Devendra, Śuka says, as Kaiṭabha leapt at Purushottama in the waters of the pralaya.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 12

The slayer of Kaiṭabha

When Śrī Hari was born as Kapila to Devahūti, Brahmā told her, as Maitreya tells Vidura: “O daughter of Manu, Śrī Hari, who has radiant hair, eyes and feet like lotuses, lines like lotuses on his feet, and who slew the asura Kaiṭabha, has entered your womb and been born as this Kapila.”

Śrī Kṛshṇa is praised by the same deed:

  • The kings set free from Jarāsandha‘s prison say: “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa, all-powerful, you slew the rākshasas Madhu and Kaiṭabha,” and among their names for him is the slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha.
  • King Nimi, greeting the nine yogīśvaras, says: “I think you are the pārshadas (intimate attendants) of Śrī Hari himself, the slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha.”
  • At Dvārakā the elders of the Yādavas listen with śraddhā to the words of Śrī Kṛshṇa, slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, and set out for Prabhāsa.
  • The hunter Jara, who had struck Śrī Kṛshṇa’s foot with his arrow, falls at his feet and says: “Mahātmā, great is your fame as the slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha. In you there is no pāpa. Forgive this deed done by me.”
  • When the sea covers Dvārakā, it spares the dwelling of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and Śuka says that Śrī Hari, slayer of Madhu and Kaiṭabha, is ever present there; remembering that place removes all inauspiciousness.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 24; Skandha 10, Chapter 73; Skandha 11, Chapters 2, 30–31

Sources

  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 24; Skandha 6, Chapter 12; Skandha 7, Chapter 9; Skandha 10, Chapters 40, 73; Skandha 11, Chapters 2, 4, 30–31