The Demons Born of Sleep
Between one creation and the next, the universe lay dissolved into a single causal ocean, and on that ocean, coiled on the serpent Ananta, slept. From the lotus that grew out of his navel sat , preparing the work of creation that was his alone to do. But the sleep slept was no ordinary rest — it had a form, and the Puranas name it: Yoganidra, mystic sleep, the Goddess herself pervading his eyes, his limbs, his stillness, so that the Preserver of worlds could be at peace even while the cosmos waited to be reborn. Out of the wax of 's own ears, two demons took shape — Madhu and Kaitabha, vast and drunk on their own new strength. They saw alone on his lotus, undefended, and resolved at once to kill him. 's prayers rose to , but did not stir. understood, with a dread that was also a kind of recognition, why: the one being whose leave could wake the Preserver was not at all, but the power seated inside his sleep. There was only one thing left to do — not to command her, but to ask.
✦ Visual cue — Vishnu asleep on the coiled serpent Ananta atop a boundless dark ocean, a lotus rising from his navel bearing Brahma, while two shadowy demon forms rise threateningly from the water nearby.