A war between the Devas and the Asuras was fought for 16,000 divine years! At the end, under the leadership of Vishnu Himself, the Devas were victorious.

To celebrate, a huge yajna was arranged. And the greatest of the warriors from the Devas were called forth for sacrifice...

Vishnu came, with Sharanga in His hands, & an akhshaya tuneer containing 3 arrows on his back. He was made to wait, & wait He did.

But the fatigue of the prolonged war was on Him, and standing where He was supposed to, He rested His head on the tip of the bow, and fell asleep...

YogaNidraa held His eyes, and deeper and deeper He went into the sleep.

The time of yajna was afoot. Gods were getting worried - thinking if He is going to wake up on time or not! They looked at each other, not knowing what to do...

As usual, they looked at Prajapati Brahma for counsel.

And for the briefest of trice, MahaMaya played Her part when Brahma's tongue uttered, "Indra, among all your creatures, get one of the tiniest ones - the ants - to cut through Sharanga's bowstring..."

"Once the bowstring is cut from the bottom, the bow will snap straight, and that commotion will wake Him up. Even though waking up someone in deep sleep is a great sin, but desperate times call for desperate measures!"

Indra obliged. The ants did their part...

The bowstring snapped!

With a thunderous clap, the bow became taut. The sound was like nothing anyone had heard before - it shook the cosmos in all directions. The sun set ahead of time... all creatures of the world lost their bearings... it was like an ill omen had befallen!

Devas looked at Vishnu.. & saw something unimaginable.

The snap of the Sharanga was so powerful that it had beheaded Vishnu! His head had flown away to the sky, and replaced the Sun that had set in an untimely fashion, and His body stood there lifeless, still clutching the bow!

They were dumbstruck! If the Paalanhaar of the world is no longer there, how would the cosmos function?

No answer was coming from the direction where Prajapati was sat.

In desperation, they all started to pray to Maata Aadi ParaShakti.

The primordial force behind All of Existence and Inexistence, the Moola of Consciousness, the One that Empowers the All, was prayed at in earnest.

Devi was pleased and manifested. The voice divine said, "Everything that happens, happens for a reason."

"And for this chain of events, the reason is the Asura Hayagreeva. The boon he had received allows only a creature similar to him the ability to destroy him. Thus it was time for Vishnu take the necessary form. Replace His head with head of a horse. Brahma should do the needful."

Thus came into being Vishnu-avatar Hayagreeva.

The Like destroyed the like. The job was done.

But apart from just destroying the mighty asura, Vishnu took one more thing from him that was rightfully His. The asura had it in his possession for far too long!

The battle took place in the Chakravan mountain, which was under siege by the asura, and it was the place where the object was made by Vishwakarma eons ago.

As the asura fell, Vishnu stood up, holding it in his right hand, atop a finger.

The AayudhaPurusha was realised, and he looked beautiful. Brighter like the shining sun, with a thousand points of energy in constant circling motion, Sudharsana found his Prabhu.

AadiShakti was pleased, and restored the shape of Hari.

With the fall of the asura, Prajapati regained the lost control on Vaak. Shabda Brahma was enabled once again, allowing the propagation of creation.

Thus was a day recorded in the Akashic Records, partially told in Shatapatha Brahmana and in Devi Bhagavatam.

Kalyanamastu!

Statutory Disclaimer: Please ignore the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. It was written on the browser, impromptu, in 15 mins.