The Goddess Bhuvaneshwari and the Goddess Siddhidhatri

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     After the death of Madhu and Kaitabha, the Earth had land as well as water, but they needed energy from the sun to help provide life. So, the goddesses Tara and Kushmanda entered the sun. Kushmanda made the sun very bright and radiant and Tara made the sun radiate with energy and heat. Shakti then took the form of Goddess Shodashi. Goddess Shodashi planted a bamboo tree within the earth and poured water on it from her magical water pot. In this way, all plants on earth began to grow.
     After this, Brahma Vishnu and Rudra, a form of Shiva, didn't know what to do. Suddenly, a magical chariot appeared. The three of them got on the chariot and it flew them to a magical island. They saw a beautiful city and decided to go in there. The moment they entered the city, They turned into women. The reached the main palace where they learned that the island was called Manidvipa, and the ruler was Goddess Bhuvaneshwari, the queen of the universe. She was taken care of by many Yoginis who supplied her every need. She sat on the left thigh of Lord Sadashiva, the cosmic form of Lord Shiva.
     Bhuvaneshwari gave her shaktis in marriage to them. She gave Saraswathi to Brahma, Lakshmi to Vishnu, and Uma or Kali to Rudra. Bhuvaneshwari then created 14 planetary systems in the universe, each one different from the next. Goddess Shakti then took the form of Goddess Siddhidhatri and told them that their power comes from their wives, and that she will also create divine powers for them to use. Hence, she created the 8 main Siddhis, which are special powers one can gain through meditation. They are called Anima, Mahima, Garima, Laghima, Prapti, Prakamya, Ishitva, and Vishitva.
     Anima can make you shrink to the size of an atom, Mahima can make you grow infinitely big, Garima can make you heavy, Prapti can make you teleport to wherever you want, Prakamya can make you know whatever anyone wants, Ishitva allows you to control nature, and Vishitva allows you to control elemental forces. There are 15 secondary siddhis which can allow you to do many things, ranging from shapeshifting and telepathy, to teleportation and seeing the future. Throughout many stories, you see sages, demons, and yogis use these abilities. Goddess Shakti then created the goddess Kamalatmika, who spread prosperity among humanity.
     Once the universe was set in motion, Brahma called all the gods, his mind-born sons and daughters, and some brahmins to conduct the first yagna. Lord Shiva attended the yagna in the form of Bhikshatana, the god of ascetics. He was scary looking, with a corpse stuck on his trident, and he used a skull as a food bowl. He came outside the yagna arena and begged for food. But the brahmins didn't let him in, not wanting to waste their time with a creepy beggar when they had a yagna to conduct. So, Bhikshatana threw his skull bowl into the yagna arena and the brahmins threw it out. But another skull appeared and another, until the whole yagna arena was full of scary skulls, which were de-purifying the atmosphere of the area.
     So, Brahma went to Shiva and promised him that no yagna can be completed without a prayer to Lord Shiva. Hence Lord Shiva is known as Kapaleshwara, the Lord of skulls. After the yagna, Brahma returned to Brahmaloka and Vishnu returned to the milk ocean in Vaikuntha. Shiva felt very hot and so decided to live on Mount Kailash in the Himalayas, where he would be cool and comfortable. This is also why in todays world, people pour cold water and milk products on the lingam, which is a special form of worshipping Shiva.

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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".