The Slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha

(I sketched and colored a picture of Jaganmohini specially for this story.)

     During the creation of the universe, Mahakali, the bloodthirsty goddess of time, entered Lord Vishnu's consciousness, and put him in a deep state of yoga-nidra, which is sleep meditation. While he slept, some matter floated out from his ears and turned into two demons named Madhu and Kaitabha. They decided to become very powerful by praying to Goddess Yogamaya. Soon, Goddess Yogamaya appeared before them. They asked her to grant them a boon, by which they can die only when they wish to die. She granted it and vanished.
     Thinking themselves to be very powerful, they went to attack Lord Brahma. They chased Brahma away from his lotus flower and stole the Vedas from him. They hid the Vedas in an ocean, Rasatala-Loka, which is a planetary system in the underworld. Brahma didn't know how to fight and he couldn't call Lord Vishnu for help. So, he prayed to Goddess Mahamaya to help him. The moment she appeared, Lord Vishnu woke up from his Yoga-nidra. Lord Vishnu knew about everything and agreed to fight Madhu and Kaitabha. Madhu and Kaitabha took turns to fight him. The battle lasted for 5 hundred years. Vishnu knew it would be impossible to kill them since they were protected by Yogamaya's boon.
     He asked Madhu and Kaitabha for some time to rest. He explained that they were fresh since they had taken time to fight him, while he was fighting them constantly. So they allowed him to rest for a while. In the time given to him, He prayed to goddess Yogamaya for some help. She told him that she would distract the demons so that they would lose interest in the battle.
     So, Lord Vishnu arrived to continue fight again. Then, Goddess Shakti appeared as Jaganmohini, a beautiful woman. Madhu and Kaitabha forgot about fighting Vishnu and instead, became entranced by Jaganmohini. Vishnu praised them for the fact that they had given up fighting, and so offered them a boon. They then claimed that since they had spared his life, Vishnu should ask them for a boon. Vishnu had them right where he wanted them. He asked for them to die at his hands. Madhu and Kaitabha were shocked. They looked all around them and could only see water and the sky everywhere. So, they told Vishnu that he should kill them in a place where there is no water or sky.
     So, Vishnu became a giant horse incarnation named Lord Hayagriva. He then lifted them out of the water and chopped their body into many pieces. He then went to Rasatala-Loka,  jumped into the ocean, retrieved the Vedas, and returned them to Brahma. He thanked Goddess Jaganmohini for her help and Madhu and Kaitabha's body parts became the seismic plates of the earth, giving land to live on. Since they were killed by the Lord, they attained Moksha, and were reborn as Jaya and Vijaya, the fearsome doorkeepers of Vishnu.
     Because of this story, Goddess Shakti is also known as Kaitabhi, which means "the slayer of Kaitabha". Lord Vishnu, as well as his incarnation Lord Krishna, are both known as Madhusudan, which means "the slayer of the demon Madhu".