Chapter XI
On the killing of Madhu Kaitabha
1-2. The king Suratha spoke :– “O Best of the twice born! Who is that Devî that you spoke just now? Why the Devî deludes all these beings? What for does She do so? Whence is the Devî born? What is Her Form? and what are Her qualities? O Brâhmin! Kindly describe all these to me.”
3-9. The Muni spoke :– O King! I will now describe the nature of the Devî Bhagavatî and why does She take Her Form in due time. Listen. In ancient days, when Bhagavân Nârâyana, the king of the Yogis, was lying in deep sleep on the ocean on the bed of Ananta, after He had destroyed the Universe, there came out of the wax of his ear the two Dânavas, Madhu and Kaitabha, of monstrous appearances. They wanted to kill Brahmâ, who was lying on the lotus coming out of the navel of Bhagavân. Seeing the two Daityas Madhu and Kaitabha and seeing also Hari asleep the Lotus-born Brahmâ became very anxious and thought :– Now Bhagavân is asleep; and these two indomitable Daityas are ready to kill me. Now what am I to do? Where to go? How shall I get ease? O Child! Thus thinking, the high souled Lotus born suddenly came to a practical conclusion. He said :– “Let me now take refuge to the Goddess Sleep, Nidrâ, the Mother of all and under Whose power Bhagavân Hari is now asleep.”
10-24. Brahmâ then began to praise Her thus :– “O Devî of the Devas! O Upholdress of the world! Thou grantest desires of Thy devotees. O Thou auspicious! Thou art Para Brahmâ! By Thy Command all are doing respectively their works in their proper spheres! Thou art the Night of Destruction (Kâla Râtri); Thou art the Great Night (Mahâ Râtri). Thou art the greatly terrible Night of Delusion (Moha Râtri); Thou art omnipresent; omniscient; of the nature of the Supreme Bliss. Thou art regarded as the Great. Thou art highly worshipped; Thou art alone in this world as highly intoxicated; Thou art submissive to Bhakti only; Thou art the Best of all the things; Thou art sung as the Highest; Thou art modesty; Thou art Pusti (nourishment); Thou art forgiveness (Ksamâ); Thou art Beauty (Kânti); Thou art the embodiment of mercy; Thou art liked by all; Thou art adorned by the whole world; Thou art of the nature of wakefulness, dream and deep sleep; Thou art the Highest; Thou art alone Highest Deity; Thou art highly attached to the Supreme Bliss. There is no other thing than Thee. There is One only and that is Thee. Hence Thou art denominated as One; Thou becomest again the two by contact with Thy Mâyâ. Thou art the refuge of Dharma, Artha and Kâma; hence Thou Thou art Three; Thou art the Turîya (the fourth state of consciousness) hence Thou art Four. Thou art the God of the five elements; hence Thou art Panchamî (five); Thou presidest over the six passions Kâma, anger, etc.; hence Thou art Sasthî; Thou presidest over the seven days of the week and Thou grantest boons seven by seven; hence Thou art Seven. Thou art the God of the eight Vasus; hence Thou art Astamî; Thou art full of the nine Râgas and nine parts and Thou art the Goddess of nine planets; hence Thou art Navamî. Thou pervadest the ten quarters and Thou art worshipped by the ten quarters; hence Thou art named Das’amî (the tenth day of the fortnight); Thou art served by the Eleven Rudras, the Goddesses of eleven Ganas and Thou art fond of Ekâdas’î Tithi; hence Thou art denominated Ekâdas’î; Thou art twelve armed and the Mother of the twelve Âdityas; hence Thou art Dvâdas’î; Thou art dear to the thirteen Ganas; Thou art the presiding Deity of Visve Devas and Thou art the thirteen months including the Malas Mâsa (dirty month), hence Thou art Trayodas’î. Thou did grant boons to the fourteen Indras and Thou gavest birth to the fourteen Manus; hence Thou art Chaturdas’î. Thou art knowable by the Pañchadas’î. Thou art sixteen armed and on Thy forehead the sixteen digits of the Moon are always shining; Thou art the sixteenth digit (ray) of the Moon named Amâ; hence Thou art Sodas’î. O Deves’î! Thou, though attributeless and formless, appearest in these forms and attributes. Thou hast now enveloped in Moha and Darkness the Lord of Ramâ, the Bhagavân, the Deva of the Devas. These Daityas, Madhu and Kaitabha are indomitable and very powerful. So to kill them, Thou better dost awake the Lord of the Devas.”
25-34. The Muni said :– Thus praised by the Lotus-born, the Tâmasi Bhagavatî (the Goddess of sleep and ignorance), the Beloved of Bhagavân, left Visnu and enchanted the two Daityas.
On being awakened, the Supreme Spirit Visnu, the Lord of the world, the Bhagavân, the Deva of the Devas, saw the two Daityas. Those two monstrous Dânavas, beholding Madhu Sûdana, came up before Him, ready to fight. The hand-to-hand fight lasted amongst them for five thousand years. Then the two Dânavas, maddened by their great strength, were enchanted by the Mâyâ of Bhagavatî and told the Supreme Deity, “Ask boon from us.” Hearing this, the Bhagavân Âdi Purusa, (the Prime Man) asked the boon that both of them would be killed that day by Him. Those two very powerful Dânavas spoke to Hari again, “Very well. Kill us on that part of the earth which is not under water.” O King! Bhagavân Visnu, the Holder of the conch and club, spoke :– “All right. Indeed! Let that be so.”
Saying this He placed their heads on His thigh and severed them with His disc (chakra). O King! Thus Mahâ Kâlî, the Queen of all the Yogas arose on this occasion when the praise was offered Her by Brahmâ. O King! Now I will describe another account how this Mahâ Laksmî appeared on another occasion. Listen.
Here ends the Eleventh Chapter of the Tenth Book on the killing of Madhu Kaitabha in the Mahâ Purânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Mahârsi Veda Vyâsa.
Chapter XII
On the anecdote of Sâvarni Manu
1-6. The Muni said :– O King! The powerful Asura Mahisa, born of a she-buffalo, defeated all the Devas and became the Lord of the whole universe. That indomitable Dânava seized forcibly all the rights of the Devas and began to enjoy the pleasures of the kingdom over the three worlds. The Devas, thus defeated, were expelled from their abodes in Heavens. They took Brahmâ as their Leader and went to the excellent regions where Mahâ Deva and Visnu resided and informed them of all that had been done by that vicious Asura Mahisa. They said :– “O Deva of the Devas! The insolent Mahisâsura has become unbearable and he has taken possessions of the rights and properties of the whole host of the Devas and he is now enjoying them. Both of you are quite capable to destroy the Asura. So why do you not devise means to annihilate him in no time!”
7-10. Hearing these pitiful words of the Devas, Bahagavân Visnu became quite indignant. S’ankara, Brahmâ and the other Devas all were inflamed with anger. O King! From the face of the angry Hari, then emanated an Unusual Fire, brilliant like thousand Suns. Then by and by emanated fires also from the bodies of all the Devas who were filled then with joy. From the mass of fire thus emanated there came out a beautiful Female Figure. The face of this figure was formed out of the fire that emanated from the body of Mahâ Deva. Her hairs were formed out of the fire of Yama and Her arms were formed out of the fire that emanated from Visnu.
11-21. O King! From the fire of the Moon came out two breasts; from the fire of Indra came out Her middle portion; from the fire of Varuna, appeared Her loins and thighs; from the fire of Earth, Her hips were formed; from the fire of Brahmâ, Her feet were formed; from the fire of the Sun, Her toes were formed; from the fire of the Vasus, Her fingers were formed; from Kuvera’s fire, Her nose came out; from the excellent tejas of Prajâpati, teeth; from the fire of Agni, Her three eyes; from the fire of the twilights, Her eye-brows and from the fire of Vâyu, Her ears appeared.
O Lord of men! Thus Bhagavatî Mahisamardinî was born of the Tejas (fiery substances) of the Devas. Next S’iva gave Her the S’ûla (weapon spear); Visnu gave Sudars’ana (Chakra); Varuna gave the conchshell; Fire gave S’akti (weapon); Vâyu gave Her bows and arrows; Indra gave Her thunder bolt and the bell of the elephant Airâvata; Yama gave Her the Destruction Staff (Kâla Danda); Brâmâ gave Her the Rudrâksa, rosary and Kamandalu; the Sun gave Her, in every pore the wonderful rays; the Time (Kâla) gave Her sharp axe and shield; the oceans gave Her the beautiful necklace and new clothes (two in number); Vis’vakarmâ gladly gave Her the crown, ear-rings, kataka, Angada, Chandrârdha, tinklets; and the Himâlayâs gave Her the Lion as Her Vehicle and various gems and jewels.
22-30. Kuvera, the Lord of wealth gave Her the cup filled with the drink; Bhagavân Ananta Deva gave Her a necklace of snakes (Nâghâra). Thus the World Mother, the Devî, became honoured by all the Devas. The Devas, very much oppressed by Mahisâsura, then, chanted various hymns of praise to the World Mother Mâhes’varî Mahâ Devî.
Hearing their Stotras, the Deves’î, worshipped by the Devas, shouted aloud the War-Cry. O King! Mahisâsura, startled at that War-Cry, came to Bhagavatî with all his army corps. Then that great Asura Mahisa hurled various weapons in the air and overcast the sky with them and began to fight with great skill. The several generals Chiksura, Durdhara, Durmukha, Vâskala, Tâmraka, Vidâlâksa and various other innumerable generals as if Death incarnate, accompanied Mahisa, the chief Dânava. A fierce fight then ensued. Then the Devî Who enchants all the beings, became red-eyed with anger and began to kill the generals of the against party. When the generals were killed one by one Mahisâsura, skilled in the science of magic, came up quickly to the front of the Devî.
31-40. The Lord of the Dânavas, then, by his magic power, began to assume various forms. Bhagavatî, too, began to destroy his those forms. Then the Daitya, the crusher of the Devas, assumed the form of a buffalo and began to fight. The Devî then fastened the animal, the Asura, the Death of the Devas, tightly and cut off his head by Her axe. The remainder of his forces, then, fled away in terror and disorder with a loud cry. The Devas became very glad and began to chant hymns to the Devî. O King! Thus the Laksmî Devî appeared to kill Mahisâsura. Now I will describe how Sarasvatî appeared. Listen. Once on a time the two very powerful Daityas S’umbha and Nis’umbha were born. They attacked the Devas, oppressed them and seized their houses and rights. The Devas became dispossessed of their kingdoms and went to the Himâlayâs and offered stotras to the Devî with the greatest devotion :– “O Deves’î! O Thou, skilled in removing the difficulties of the Bhaktas! Victory to Thee! O Thou, the Sinless One! Old age and death cannot touch Thee. O Thou! Death incarnate to the Dânavas! O Deves’î! O Thou, of mighty valour and prowess! O Thou, the embodiment of Brahmâ, Visnu and Mahes’a! Unbounded is Thy might; Thou canst be easily reached by the power of devotion. O Thou, the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer! O Mâdhavî! O Thou, the Giver of Bliss! Thou dancest with great joy at the time of the dissolution of all the things (Pralaya).
41-50. O Thou, full of mercy! O Deva Deves’î! Be gracious unto us. O Thou, the Remover of the sufferings of the refugees! We now come unto Thy protection. The terror of S’umbha and Nis’umbha is like an endless ocean unto us. Save, save us from their fast clutches. O Devî! save us O King! verily.” When the Devas praised thus, the daughter of the Himâlayâs, Bhagavatî became pleased and asked “What is the matter?” In the meanwhile, there emitted from the physical sheath of the Devî another Devî Kaus’ikî who gladly spoke to the Devas :– “O Suras! I am pleased with Thy Stotra. Now ask the boon that you desire.” The Devas then asked for the following boon :– “O Devî! The two famous Daityas S’umbha and Nis’umbha have attacked forcibly the three worlds. The wicked Lord of the Dânavas, S’umbha, has overcome us by the power of his arm and is now tormenting us without any break. Kindly devise some means to kill him.” The Devî said :– “O Devas! Be patient. I will kill these two Daityas, S’umbha and Nis’umbha and thus remove the thorn on your way. At an early date I will do good to you.” Thus saying to Indra and the other Devas the merciful Devî disappeared at once before their eyes. The Deva with their hearts delighted went to the beautiful Sumeru Mountain and dwelt there in the caves thereof.
Here the servants of S’umbha and Nis’umbha Chanda and Munda, while they were making their circuits, saw the exquisitely beautiful Devî, the Enchantress of the world, and came back to S’umbha their King and said :–
51-60. “O Destroyer of enemies! O Giver of honour! O Greal King! You are the Lord of all the Daityas and are fit to enjoy all the gems and jewels. To-day we have seen an extraordinary beautiful woman jewel. She is fit to be enjoyed by you. So now you would better bring that perfectly beautiful woman and enjoy. No such enchanting women can be seen amongst the Asura women Nâga Kanyâs Gandharbha women, Dânavîs or men.” Hearing thus the words of the servant, S’umbha, the tormentor of the foes, sent a Daitya named Sugrîva as a messenger to Her. The messenger went to the Devî as early as possible and spoke to Her all that S’umbha had told him. “O Devî! The Asura S’umbha is now the conqueror of the three worlds and respected by the Devas. O Devî! He is now enjoying all that is best, the gems and jewels; O Devî! I am his messenger sent here to convey to you his message as follows :– O Devî! I am the sole enjoyer of all the jewels. O Beautiful-eyed! You are a gem; so you would worship me. O Fair One! All the gems and jewels that are in the Deva loka, in the Daitya loka, or amongst the regions of men, are under my control. So you would lovingly worship me.” The Devî said :– “O Messenger! True that you are speaking for your King; but I made a promise before, how can I act against it? O Messenger! Hear what I promised.
61-70. Whoever in the three worlds will conquer Me by sheer force and thus crush My vanity, whoever will be as strong as Myself, He can enjoy Me. So the King of Daityas can prove My promise true and by sheer force can marry Me. What is there with him that he cannot do? So, Messenger! Go back to your master and tell him all this so that the powerful S’umbha may fulfil My promise.” Hearing thus the words of the Great Devî, the messenger went back to S’umbba and informed him everything regarding the Devî’s sayings. The very powerful Lord of the Daityas, S’umbha became very angry at the unpleasant words of the messenger and commanded the Daitya named Dhumrâksa :– “O Dhumrâksa! Listen to my words with great attention. Go and catch hold of that wicked woman by her hairs and bring her to me. Go quickly; do not delay.” Thus commanded, the very powerful and the best of the Daityas, Dhumrâksa, went at once to the Devî with sixty thousand Daityas and cried aloud to Her :–
“O Auspicious One! You would better worship quickly our Lord S’umbha, who is very powerful and mighty; you will then acquire all sorts of pleasures; else I will hold you by your hairs and take you to the Lord of the Daityas.”
71-80. Thus addressd by Dhumrâksa Daitya, the enemy of the Devas, the Devî said :– “O Powerful One! O Daitya! What you have spoken is perfectly right, but tell me first what you or your king S’umbha can do to Me?” When the Devî said thus, the Daitya Dhûmralochana rushed on Her at once with arms and weapons. With one loud noise, Mâhes’varî burnt him immediately to ashes. O King! The other forces were partly crushed by the Lion, the vehicle of the Devî and partly fled away in disorder to all the quarters; some became senseless out of fear. S’umbba , the Lord of the Daityas, became very angry to hear this. His face assumed a terrible form with eyebrows contracted. Then he became impatient with anger and sent in order Chanda, Munda and Raktabîja.
The three powerful Daityas went to the battle and tried their might to capture the Devî. The Devî Jagaddhâtrî, of violent prowess, seeing that these three Daityas were coming to Her, killed them by Her trident and laid them prostrate on the ground. Hearing their death with all their army, S’umbha and Nis’umbha came in their own persons arrogantly to the battlefield. S’umbha and Nis’umbha fought for a time with the Devî a terrible fight and became tired, when the Devî killed them outright. When the Bhagavatî, Who is all this world, killed S’umbba and Nis’umbha, the Devas began to praise Bhagavatî the Supreme Deity of Vâk (Word) incarnate.
81-93. O King! Thus I have spoken to you in due order the manner in which the beautiful Kâlî, Mahâ Laksmî and Sarasvatî incarnated themselves on the earth. That Supreme Deity, the Devî Parames’varî thus creates, preserves, and destroys the Universe. You better take refuge of that highly adored Devî, that causes the distinction and the delusion of this Universe. Then only you will attain success. Nârâyana said :– The king Suratha, hearing these beautiful words of the Muni, took refuge of the Devî, that yields all desired objects. He built an earthen image of the Devî and, with concentrated attention, thought wholly of the Devî and began to worship Her with devotion. When the worship was over, he offered sacrifices of the blood of his body to the Devî. Then the World-Mother, the Deity of the Devas, became pleased and appeared before him and asked him :– Accept the boon that you desire. When the Devî said thus, the king asked from the Mahes’varî that excellent knowledge whereby the ignorance is destroyed and as well the kingdom free from any dangers or difficulties. The Devî said :– “O King! By My boon, you will get your foeless kingdom in this very birth as well as the Jñânam that removes ignorance. O King! I will tell you also what you will be in the next birth. Hear. In your next birth, you will be the son of the Sun and be famous as Sâvarni Manu. By My boon you will be the Lord of the Manvantara, become very powerful and you will get good many sons.” Thus granting him this boon, the Devî disappeared. By the Grace of the Devî, Suratha became the Lord of the Manvantara. O Sâdhu! Thus I have described to you the birth and deeds of Sâvarni. He who hears or reads this anecdote with devotion, will be a favourite of the Devî.
Here ends the Twelfth Chapter of the Tenth Book on the anecdote of Sâvarni Manu in the Mahâpurânam S’rî Mad Devî Bhâgavatam of 18,000 verses by Mahârsi Veda Vyâsa.
