Stories 2
All kinds
Origin
Legend
Local story
Folk tale
From the epics
Festival story
Temple legend
In stone and bronze
How a tradition frames it
Everywhere
Pan-India 95
South India 67
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ supremacy
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Tradition: Shakta · clear
How a tradition frames it · 1 telling · contested
Vishnu cannot wake until the Goddess withdraws
In the Devi Mahatmya Vishnu lies in yogic sleep on the waters while Madhu and Kaitabha threaten Brahma; only when Brahma praises Mahamaya and she leaves Vishnu's body can he rise and fight.
How a tradition frames it · 1 telling · contested
Who made whom: the Devi Bhagavata's frame
The Goddess creates the three gods to do the work of creation, preservation and destruction, carries them to her island Manidvipa, turns them into women for a hundred years, and returns them with their consorts to their tasks.