Seated upon the lotus that sprang from Viṣṇu’s navel, Brahmā, the lord of all creatures, beheld a troubling sight: fierce demons roamed, and Viṣṇu himself lay deep in slumber. With a mind focused and intent, Brahmā began to praise the mysterious Yogic Sleep—she who dwelt in the eyes of Hari—hoping to awaken him. He extolled the Lady of the Universe, the Sustainer of the world, the one who brings forth creation and destruction, the divine Sleep of Viṣṇu, the Lord’s incomparable power. “You are Svāhā, you are Svadhā, you are the Vaṣaṭ call, the very essence of sound. You are the immortal nectar, imperishable and eternal, established as the threefold measure of speech. You are the eternal, unuttered half-syllable, especially beyond articulation; you alone are the twilight, the Savitri hymn, and you, O Goddess, are the supreme Mother. By you alone is all this sustained; by you this universe is created; by you, O Goddess, it is protected, and you always bring about its dissolution. At creation, you are the form of creation; in preservation, you are the form of sustenance; likewise, at the end you are the form of dissolution of this universe, O embodiment of the world. You are the great knowledge, the great illusion, the great wisdom, the great memory; you are also the great delusion, the great Goddess, the supreme Lady. You are the primal nature of all, manifesting the three qualities; you are the night of time, the great night, and the dreadful night of delusion. You are prosperity, you are sovereignty, you are modesty, you are intelligence marked by understanding; you are bashfulness, nourishment, contentment, peace, and forbearance. Wielder of sword and spear, fearsome, bearing mace and discus, conch-holder, archer, armed with arrows, slings, and iron club. Yet you are gentle, more gentle than all that is gentle, supremely beautiful; you alone are the highest among all that is high and low, O Supreme Lady. Whatever exists anywhere, whether real or unreal, O essence of all, the power of all that—indeed, you are she; so how can you be praised? By you, even the creator, protector, and devourer of the world is overcome by sleep; who then, O Lady, is able to praise you here? Vishnu, the one who takes form, and the great Lord Ishana, are made to act by you; therefore, who could be capable of praising you? Thus, O Goddess, praised by your own noble powers, bewilder these two unconquerable demons, Madhu and Kaitabha. Let the Lord of the universe, Achyuta, be quickly awakened, and let awareness be brought to him, so that he may slay these two great demons.” Having been thus praised by the Creator, the Tamasic Goddess was present to awaken Viṣṇu and destroy Madhu and Kaitabha. She emerged from the eyes, mouth, nose, arms, heart, and chest of Brahmā, the one of unmanifest birth, and stood visible before him. Freed by her, Janardana, the Lord of the universe, arose from his serpent-bed in the single ocean and saw those two demons. Madhu and Kaitabha, evil-minded and possessed of immense strength and valor, their eyes red with anger, were intent on killing Brahmā. Then, rising up, the Blessed Hari fought with those two, wielding his arms as weapons, for five thousand years. Those two, exceedingly strong and intoxicated, deluded by the great Māyā, said to Keśava, “Choose a boon from us.” Viṣṇu replied, “You two are now pleased with me; though both of you are to be slain by me, what other boon is needed here? For this alone is my wish.” Realizing they had been deceived, and seeing the whole world composed of water, the lotus-eyed Lord spoke to them, “Slay us both where the earth is not covered with water; we are pleased with your battle—your valor is praiseworthy, and death comes to us by you.” Saying “So be it,” the Lord, bearer of conch, discus, and mace, struck off their heads at their hips with his discus. Thus, she arose, praised by Brahmā himself. Now, listen again to the power of this goddess. Long ago, a great war broke out between the gods and the asuras, lasting a hundred years. Mahisha, lord of the asuras, and Purandara, lord of the gods, led their armies. In that war, the gods’ army was defeated by the mighty asuras; Mahishasura conquered all the gods and became Indra. The defeated gods, led by the Lotus-born Prajapati, went to the place where the lord with the Garuda-banner was present. They described everything that had happened, the deeds of Mahishasura and the extent of his domination over the gods. He himself took over the authority of the Sun, Moon, Fire, Wind, Yama, Varuna, and the other deities. Driven out of heaven by that wicked Mahisha, all the hosts of gods wandered the earth like mortals. “All this that has been done by the enemy of the gods has been told to you,” they said. “We have taken refuge with you—let his destruction be considered.” Hearing these words, Madhusudana and Shambhu both became angry, their faces frowning with furrowed brows. Then, from the face of the discus-wielder, filled with intense wrath, emerged a great radiance, as also from Brahma and Shankara. From the bodies of the other gods, beginning with Indra, a supremely great radiance came forth, and all that radiance united together. The gods saw a mass of exceedingly brilliant light, blazing like a mountain, with flames filling all the quarters of space. That incomparable radiance, born from the bodies of all the gods, became unified in one place as a woman, whose brilliance pervaded the three worlds.