Madhu and Kaitabha

When Lord Narayana asked Brahma to create the world, Brahma became very proud of himself. To teach him a lesson, the Lord made two asuras — Madhu and Kaitabha — emerge from His ears, said V.S. Karunak

When Lord Narayana asked Brahma to create the world, Brahma became very proud of himself. To teach him a lesson, the Lord made two asuras — Madhu and Kaitabha — emerge from His ears, said V.S. Karunakarachariar in a discourse. The two asuras stole the Vedas from Brahma. Without the Vedas, Brahma could not create. The two asuras had inadvertently uttered a beejakshara in the Durga mantra, and so Durga said they could ask for a boon. They requested that they should die only if they wanted to. Durga granted them their wish. Because of Durga’s boon, it became difficult to destroy them. Lord Narayana fought them for a thousand years, but the fight was inconclusive. Lord Narayana complimented them and said they fought well, and He could give them a boon. But they were so arrogant that they told the Lord that they were powerful enough to grant Him boons! So, the Lord said He wanted them both to die. They had not anticipated this. So, they said that if the Lord’s promise to give them a boon was still on, then they would like to make use of it. The Lord assured them that His offer was still very much there. They then said they wanted to be killed by Him, but this killing had to take place only in a place where there was no water. The world had not taken shape fully, because Brahma had not commenced his job of creation. The world was covered fully with water. So, the asuras had assumed that killing them where there was no water would be impossible. The Lord took the huge form of Hayagriva, placed the two asuras on His thigh, and slapped them hard, crushing them in one blow. His hands became coated with the fat from their bodies. The Lord rubbed this off on the earth. The earth came to be known as Medini, because ‘medas’ in Sanskrit means fat.