Viṣṇu Slays Madhu and Kaiṭabha

Classical

In the Dhundhumāra story, Mārkaṇḍeya takes Yudhiṣṭhira back to the beginning. After the dissolution the world is a single sheet of water. The eternal Viṣṇu sleeps in yoga on the broad hood of the serpent Śeṣa. From his navel rises a lotus bright as the sun, and on it is born Brahmā, the four-faced grandsire, who is made of the four Vedas. Viṣṇu lies stretched over the serpent for many yojanas, wearing his crown, the Kaustubha jewel and purple silk, and shining like a thousand suns in one.

After a time two mighty Dānavas, Madhu and Kaiṭabha, came upon the scene. They saw Viṣṇu asleep and Brahmā seated on the lotus, and began to wander about frightening Brahmā, who trembled on his seat. The shaking passed down the stalk of the lotus and woke Keśava. Awake, Govinda saw the two Dānavas and greeted them warmly. He said he was pleased with them and would give them any boon. The two laughed. They were proud, and said they would grant him a boon instead, and invited him to ask. Viṣṇu replied that he wanted them to agree to be slain by him, since no other male being was their equal in strength.

Madhu and Kaiṭabha said that they had never spoken a lie even in jest, and were firm in truth, virtue and dharma. They acknowledged that great danger had come upon them, and that no one can prevail over Time. They asked for two things: that he kill them at a spot that was completely uncovered, and that they become his sons. Viṣṇu agreed to both.

He looked for an uncovered place on the earth and in the sky and found none, since all was water. Then he saw that his own thighs were bare. There the god cut off the heads of Madhu and Kaiṭabha with his sharp discus. The story is retold in Mārkaṇḍeya's account of Dhundhu, their son: Dhundhu performed harsh penance, won a boon from Brahmā that no god, demon or serpent could kill him, and went after Viṣṇu because Viṣṇu had caused his father's death. That led to the king Kuvalāśva being filled with Viṣṇu's energy and winning the name Dhundhumāra.

Told by Mārkaṇḍeya → Yudhiṣṭhira

Who: Viṣṇu, Madhu, Kaiṭabha, Brahmā, Dhundhu

Bound to

Dhundhumāra origin

Uttanka, Dhundhu and Dhundhumara origin

The Yugas and the Dissolution of the World origin

Places: Primeval ocean

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Vana Parva, Section CCI (Utaṅka and Dhundhu's origin)
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Vana Parva, Section CCII (Madhu and Kaiṭabha slain)
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Vana Parva, Section CCIII (Dhundhu's death)

See it on the tree · All stories

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