Mandalam Musings Day 20- The joint Venture - Churning of the Milky Ocean

Mandalam Musings Day 20-

The joint Venture - Churning of the Milky Ocean

Major Gods, Vishnu, and Siva supervised the work and others, arranged everything required to start the project. One side of the rope (the serpent Vasuki) was held by a group of Devas and the other end by the Asuras. It was tied around the Mantara hill. The Head side of the serpent was held by the Asuras and the tail end by the Devas.  Lord Vishnu had suggested the other way round, but the Asuras insisted that they want to hold the head-end of Vasuki. They felt slighted for being asked to hold the tail-end of the serpent. In fact, it was a case of reverse psychology played up by Vishnu. He wanted the head to be held by Asuras as the serpent might spew out flames of fire and Devas wouldn't be able to handle it.

As they started churning in clockwise and anti-clockwise directions alternatively, the churner started sinking into the depth of the ocean bed. Without delay, Lord Vishnu took an incarnation as a tortoise (Kurma Avatar) and went underneath the churner to lift it up and gave a firm base for the churner hill to sit as the stirring continued. Lord Vishnu is known for intervening timely whenever serious and strategic needs arise and he seems to be favoring the Devas in most cases as their conduct is generally righteous in nature. This was one such occasion and the project team resumed their work.

As they proceeded, the mantara hill rotated back and forth and the great serpent Vasuki started to faint and it began vomiting poison. The poison, Halahala was highly potent and it was about to spread in the water. Seeing that this poison is too toxic for the earth to endure, Lord Siva came to the rescue and held it in his hands cupped like a bowl. He foresaw that the poison would even disrupt the universal time cycle itself and so, He drank it up without any hesitation. But the effect of the potion was so strong that it made Siva’s neck blue in color. He is known as Neela Kantha (the one with the blue neck) ever since.

As the churning continued, several special articles started emerging from the ocean and each of those was gifted to Devas and Asuras according to the individual’s needs and dharma. When goddess Mahalakshmi surfaced above the oceanic water as the personification of wealth and prosperity, Lord Vishnu took Her hand in marriage. Then Lord Dhanwanthari emerged from the ocean with a pot full of herbs and medicines. He is the father of India’s medicinal system, Ayurveda, and the pot of medicine became the basis for the practice of medicine. Ayurveda is the Indian science of health and longevity, dates back to at least 10,000 years.  Ayurveda looks at treating the person to better health and lifestyle, rather than treating the symptoms of a disease.

The celestial white elephant, Iravatha came up from the ocean and Indra requested for it and got the beast as his vehicle. A divine horse, Uchaistravas, also emerged and the Asura King Bali took it as his vehicle. Then surfaced the Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling cow, and then the Kalpavrisksha, the wish-fulfilling tree. They were also distributed amicably among the two parties.