The child on the banyan leaf (Markandeya's vision)

Markandeya asks to see Vishnu's maya and finds himself alone in the world-flood. On a banyan he sees a child on a leaf sucking his toe, is breathed into the child's body and sees the whole world there, then wakes at his hermitage. Prayag's undying banyan, the Akshayavat beside the Kumbh confluence, is told as that tree.

The story, beat by beat

1. Markandeya asks Nara-Narayana to show him Vishnu's maya.
2. A flood covers the world and he wanders alone for ages.
3. On a banyan he sees a child on a leaf sucking his toe.
4. He is drawn into the child's body and sees the whole world inside.
5. He finds himself back at his hermitage; the flood was maya.

illusion time devotion festival