The Kshira Sagara is the site of the legend of the
Samudra Manthana, the churning of the cosmic ocean. At the suggestion of
Vishnu, the
devas and
asuras churned the primeval ocean in order to obtain
amrita, the elixir of immortality. To churn the ocean, they used the
serpent-king,
Vasuki as the churning rope. They used
Mount Mandara as a churning pole and placed it on the back of
Kurma, an avatar of Vishnu. As the devas and asuras churned the ocean, the poison
halahala emerged from its depth and enveloped the universe with its poisonous fumes. The devas and asuras asked
Shiva for help and he swallowed the poison into his throat. His consort, the goddess
Parvati, tried to prevent the poison from spreading to the rest of his body and the strength of the poison turned Shiva's neck blue, thereby earning him the epithet of
Nilakantha (the blue-throated one). According to the
Mahabharata, a number of
ratnas (treasures) emerged during the churning of Kshira Sagara:
Kamadhenu, the cow of plenty,
Varuni, the goddess of wine, the tree
Parijata, the
apsaras, the crescent moon, the poison
halahala, and
Dhanvantari (the physician of the devas), holding a cup of amrita in his hand. He was followed by
Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, the horse
Uchchaishravas, the gemstone
Kaustubha, the elephant
Airavata, the wish-granting tree
Kalpavriksha, and the conch
Panchajanya. The
Puranas include the emergence of
Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune,
Riddhi and Siddhi, Pushkara, and a number of botanical substances. When the amrita finally emerged along with several other treasures, the devas and asuras fought over it. However, Vishnu, in his form of the enchantress
Mohini, managed to manipulate the asuras into allowing him to be the one to distribute the elixir, upon which he offered it only to the devas.
Svarbhanu, an asura, disguised himself as a deva in order to partake of the amrita.
Surya (the sun-god) and
Chandra (the moon-god) alerted Vishnu of this deception. Vishnu then decapitated Svarbhanu after the asura's consumption of the elixir, leaving his head and decapitated body immortal. Later, his head became known as
Rahu and the beheaded part became known as
Ketu. The churning of the ocean is told in several ancient texts, notably in the
Valmiki's Ramayana Canto 45 and in the
Mahabharata. == Literature ==