Chapter 1: The Slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha
Markandeya said (to his disciple Krasustuki Bhaguri):
There was a king by the name of Suratha who ruled the
kingdom of Kola. He was a good king who protected his people and treated them
as his sons. Some ministers of Kola plotted against king Suratha and deposed
him. Deprived of his kingdom, king Suratha rode alone on horseback into a dense
forest. There he came to the hermitage of sage Medhas, where the sage's
disciples enhanced the atmosphere of the place and the wild animals looked mild
as if influenced by the tranquil vibrations that emanated from the hermitage.
The sage received king Suratha with due hospitality. While
on a walkabout near the hermitage, king Suratha reflected in his own mind.
Overcome with attachment, he thought:
'I do not know whether the capital (which was) well guarded
by my ancestors and recently deserted by me is being guarded righteously or not
by my servants of evil conduct. I do not know what enjoyments (care) my chief
elephant, heroic and always elated, and now fallen into the hands of my foes,
will get. Those who were my constant followers and received favour, riches and
food from me, now certainly pay homage to other kings. The treasures which I
gathered with great care will be squandered by those constant spendthrifts, who
are addicted to improper expenditures.'
The king was continually thinking of these and other things.
Near the hermitage of the sage the king saw a merchant, and
asked him:
‘Who are you? What is the reason for your coming here?
Wherefore do you appear as if afflicted with grief and depressed in mind?'
Hearing this speech of the king, uttered in a friendly
spirit, the merchant bowed respectfully and replied to the king.
The king said: 'Why is your mind affectionately attached to
those covetous folks, your sons, wife and others, who have deprived you of your
wealth?'
The merchant said: 'This very thought has occurred to me,
just as you have uttered it. What can I do? My mind does not leave attachment;
it bears deep affection to those very persons who have driven me out in their
greed for wealth, abandoning love for a father and attachment to one's master
and kinsmen. I do not comprehend although, I know it. O noble hearted king, how
is it that the mind is prone to love even towards worthless kinsmen? On account
of them I heave heavy sighs and feel dejected. What can I do since my mind does
not become hard towards those unloving ones?’
Markandeya said: . Then the merchant Samadhi and the noble
king Suratha together approached the sage (Medhas); and after observing the
etiquette worthy of him and as was proper, they sat down and conversed (with
him).
The king said: 'Sir, I wish to ask you one thing. Be pleased
to reply to it. Without the control of my intellect, my mind is afflicted with
sorrow. Though I have lost the kingdom, like an ignorant man- though I know it-
I have an attachment to all the paraphernalia of my kingdom. How is this, O
best of sages? And this merchant has been disowned by his children, wife and
servants, and forsaken by his own people; still he is inordinately affectionate
towards them. Thus both he and I, drawn by attachment towards objects whose
defects we do know, are exceedingly unhappy. How does this happen, then, sir,
that though we are aware of it, this delusion persists? This delusion besets me
as well as him, blinded as we are in respect of discrimination?'
The Rishi said: ‘Sir, every being has the knowledge of
objects perceivable by the senses. And object of sense reaches it in various
ways. Some beings are blind by day, and others are blind by night; some beings
have equal sight both by day and night. Human beings are certainly endowed with
knowledge, but they are not the only beings (to be so endowed), for cattle,
birds, animals and other creatures also cognise (objects of senses).
The knowledge that men have, birds and beasts too have; and
what they have men also possess; and the rest (like eating and sleeping) is
common to both of them. Look at these birds, which though they possess
knowledge, and are themselves distressed by hunger are yet, because of the
delusion, engaged in feeding grains into the beaks of their young ones. See
with what devotion they put the food grains into the beaks of their young
ones? Men, O king, are full of desires.
Human beings are, O tiger among men, attached to their children because of
greed, expecting rewards in return.
Do you not see this? Even so men are hurled into the
whirlpool of attachment, the pit of delusion, through the power of Mahamaya
(the Great deusion), who makes the existence of the world possible. Marvel not
at this. This Mahamaya is the Yoganidra, of Vishnu, the Lord of the world. It
is by her the world is deluded. Verily she, the Bhagavati, the Mahamaya
forcibly drawing the minds of even the wise, entangles them into delusion. She
creates this entire universe, both moving and unmoving. It is she who, when
propitious, becomes a boon-giver to human beings for their final liberation.
She is the supreme knowledge, the cause of final liberation, and eternal; she
is the cause of the bondage of transmigration and the sovereign over all
lords.’
The king said: . 'Venerable sir, who is that Devi whom you
call Mahamaya? How did she come into being, and what is her sphere of action, O
sage? What constitutes her nature? What is her form? Wherefrom did she originate?
All that I wish to hear from you, O you supreme among the knowers of Brahman.'
The Rishi said:
She is eternal, embodied as the universe. By her all this is
pervaded. Nevertheless she incarnates in manifold ways; hear it from me. When
she manifests herself in order to accomplish the purposes of the devas, she is
said to be born in the world, though she is eternal. At the end of a kalpa when
the universe was one ocean ( with the waters of the deluge) and the adorable
Lord Vishnu stretched out on Sesa and took the mystic slumber, the terrible
asuras (demons) the well-known Madhu and Kaitabha, sprung into being from the
dirt of Vishnu's ears, and sought to slay Brahma.
Brahma said: ‘O great Mother! 'You are Svaha (the energy of
Devas). You are Svadha (the energy of Pitris). You are verily the Vasat (the
emblem of sacrifice). You are the embodiment of Svara (Vedic accent). You are
Sudha (the nectar). O eternal and imperishable One, you are the embodiment of
the threefold mantra. You are Savitri and the supreme Mother of the devas. You
are the goddess of good fortune, the ruler, modesty, intelligence characterized
by knowledge, bashfulness, nourishment, contentment, tranquillity and
forbearance. Armed with sword, spear, club, discus, conch, bow, arrows, slings
and iron mace, you are terrible (and at the same time) you are pleasing, yea
more pleasing than all the pleasing things and exceedingly beautiful. You are
indeed the supreme Isvari, beyond the high and low. O Devi, bewitch these two
unassailable asuras Madhu and Kaitabha with your superior powers. Let Vishnu,
the Master of the world, be quickly awakened from sleep and rouse up his nature
to slay these two great asuras.'
The Rishi said: There, the Devi of delusion extolled thus by
Brahma, the creator, in order to awaken Vishnu for the destruction of Madhu and
Kaitabha, drew herself out from every part of Vishnu’s body, and appeared
before Brahma. Janardana (Vishnu), Lord of the universe, rose up from His couch
on the universal ocean, and saw those two evil (asuras), Madhu and Kaitabha, of
exceeding heroism and power, with eyes red in anger, endeavouring to devour
Brahma. Thereupon the all-pervading Lord Vishnu got up and fought with the
asuras for five thousand years, using his own arms as weapons. And they,
frenzied with their exceeding power, and deluded by Mahamaya, exclaimed to
Vishnu, ' Ask a boon from us.'
Lord Vishnu said: 'If you are satisfied with me, you must
both be slain by me now. What need is there of any other boon here? My choice
is this much indeed.'
The Rishi said: Those two (asuras), thus bewitched (by
Mahamaya), gazing then at the entire world turned into water, told Lord Vishnu
the lotus eyed One, 'Slay us at the spot where the earth is not flooded with
water.' The Rishi said: Saying 'Be it so', Lord Vishnu, the great wielder of
conch, discus and mace, took them on His loins and there severed their heads
with His discus. Thus she (Mahamaya) herself appeared when praised by Brahma.
Now listen again the glory of this Devi that I will tell you. Here ends the
first chapter called 'The slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha' of Devi Mahatmya Sri
Durga Saptashati in Markandeya Purana, during the period of Savarni, the Manu.
