Stories 3
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 94
South India 66
West India 30
East India 22
North India 15
The Himalaya 12
Northeast India 5
Southeast Asia 4
Central India 4
✕ creation
devotionboondisguisesupremacycursemarriagepenancepridetestdancepilgrimagesacrificebirthemanationfirebeheadingdemon slayingdesireiconographyausteritychurningcombined formcosmogonyhomecominglingapoisonrebirthriveratonement
Tradition: Shakta · clear
Legend · 3 tellings · contested
Madhu and Kaitabha
Two demons born from Vishnu's ear-wax threaten Brahma and steal the Vedas; who saves the day depends on the sect — Vishnu as Hayagriva in the epic line, or the Goddess who must first leave Vishnu's body in the Devi Mahatmya.
Origin · 6 tellings · contested
Saraswati: daughter, consort, or both
Brahma's body splits into a male and a female half.
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.