Madhusudana
{{Short description|Epithet of Vishnu}}
File:Vishnu Vanquishing the Demons Madhu and Kaitabha LACMA M.83.72 (1 of 5).jpg and Kaitabha]]
File:Sheshsayi Vishnu and Lakshmi enjoying festivity, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg)|260x260px]]
Madhusudana ({{langx|sa|मधुसूदन|Madhusūdana|translit-std=IAST}}) is an epithet of Vishnu or Krishna{{cite web | url=https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/csl-apidev/servepdf.php?dict=CAE&page=393 | title=CAE Cologne Scan }} and is the 73rd[http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/vishnu-sahasranamam-meanings.htm Vishnu Sahasranamam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110073014/http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/vishnu-sahasranamam-meanings.htm |date=2008-01-10 }} name in the Vishnu Sahasranama.
According to Adi Sankara's commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranama, Madhusudana means the "destroyer of Madhu".
Literature
{{Main articles|Madhu-Kaitabha}}
The death of Madhu and the origin of the epithet is described in the Padma Purana:{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2019-08-23 |title=The Slaying of Madhu [Chapter 72] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-padma-purana/d/doc364195.html |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}
{{Blockquote|text=Then Madhu, screened with darkness, quickly disappeared. Through his illusion he dropped a hundred mountains on (the body of) Viṣṇu. Then in the battle, getting into the darkness, he cut off the mountains, and angrily cut off his head with his (disc called) Sudarśana. Then gods like Brahmā and Śiva made him known as ‘Madhusūdana’ in the worlds.|title=Padma Purana|source=Section 1, Chapter 72}}
References
{{Vaishnavism}}Cited from Sri Vishnu Sahasranama, commentary by Sri Sankaracharya, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, available at Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai;
available at an [https://web.archive.org/web/19990417172835/http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/ Indian web site] and a [http://www.vedanta.com US site].