Kurma Avatar

(The Divine Tortoise)

Kurma Avatar - The Second Avatar of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu
Matsya Avatar of Lord Vishnu
The Devas were harassed by Asuras (Demons). They could not stand before the
strength of the demons. The Asuras formed two-thirds of the population, whereas the
Suras (Devas) formed only one-third. Naturally the Asuras has the upper hand
always. So, the Devas went to Brahma and told him about their plight. Brahma took
all of them to the adobe of Sri Maha Vishnu.

Maha Vishnu was in his meditative slumber (Yoganidra) and actually was thinking
about the plight of the Devas and in fact, wanted to find a permanent solution for
this sorry state of affairs. Just then, Brahma was introduced to the audience of
Sriman Narayana who was lying on his cosmic bed Anantha.

Brahma after obeisance told Maha Vishnu of what all the Devas had told him. Maha
Vishnu said, 'I see your pitiable plight. I will give you a solution. Act
accordingly. Be friendly with the Asuras first. With their co-operation, get the
ocean of milk churned and you will get, from the ocean many precious things, you
will also get Amirtha (nectar). If you take a dose of Amirtha, you become immortal.
Then the question will be solved because you would have conquered death. Brahma
said, 'Lord, alone the Devas cannot get the work done. They have to elicit the co-
operation of the Asuras as you have directed. If the Asuras come to know of
Amirtha, I fear, Lord, how things will take shape'.

Maha Vishnu replied, 'My children, you don't worry about it. Leave that to me and I
shall manage. Note that the demons shall toll and you shall reap the fruit'.

With the mountain Mandara as the churning rod and the great serpent Vaasuki as the
rope; the churning of the ocean began.

As they were churning, the mountain began to sink slowly and at a stage the
churning stopped. The Lord of the Universe saw this and took form of a wonderful
huge tortoise (Koorma) dived into the waters and gave his strong shell on his back
as a support to the mountain. Now the mountain became steady and again the churning
began.

The first that came out of the ocean was Kamadhenu, the divine cow. Maha Vishnu
gave this divine animal to sage Vasishta. Then came Paarijatha tree. Devendra took
it and it adorned his park(Nandavana). This was followed by the Moon and then the
precious diamond Kaustubha. This Moon had its place on the head of Lord Shiva.
Kaustubha was appropriated by Maha Vishnu himself.

As the Moon adorned the head of Lord Shiva, the latter came to be known as
Sasidhara. Then came Iravatha (White Elephant). Indra took it for his use.

After some time the deadly poison Haalahala (terribly destructive poison) came and
scorched the whole universe. All ran helter-skelter. They fell at the feet of Lord
Shiva who saved the universe by drinking the poison. As Lord Shiva swallowed the
poison saying Sriman Narayana Preethyartham (to the pleasure and satisfaction of
Sriman Narayana) the poison got stuck in his throat and could not go down the
alimentary canal, making his neck dark-blue. So He was known as Neelakanta.

Lord Shiva Neelakanta

Next to appear from the Milky Ocean were Sri Mahalakshmi, Amirtha and several other
precious things. Lord Vishnu accepts Goddess Lakshmi as his wife.

Goddess Sri Mahalakshmi

The Devas and Asuras continued the churning. Finally Dhanvantari emerged from the
sea. Dhanvantari is the divine physician. He had a Kalasha (sacred pot) contained
Amirtha. The demons are the first ones to notice the Kalasha and they snatch it
away from Dhanvantari. Immediately the Devas ran to Lord Vishnu, and requested Him
to devise a plan to retrieve the Kalash for them.

Lord Vishnu changes into his 'Mohini' form of a beautiful woman. As she was so
graceful and beautiful, the demons could not stop looking at her.

Vishnu's Mohini Avatar

Mohini successfully obtained the Amrutha Kalash from the demons assuring them that
she would fairly distribute the Amrutha among the Devas and the Demons.