The Churning of the Ocean of Milk

The devas, the shining gods, had grown weak, and their old rivals the asuras pressed hard against them. To win the amrita — the nectar of immortality — the two enemies struck an uneasy truce.

For a churning-rod they uprooted Mount Mandara. For a rope they took the great serpent Vasuki, coiling him around the mountain. Gods pulled at the tail, demons at the head, and the vast Ocean of Milk began to turn.

But the mountain, having no base, sank. So Vishnu took the form of a colossal turtle, Kurma, and bore the peak upon his shell. Round and round the ocean churned for a thousand years.

First came poison, a black tide that threatened all creation — until Shiva drank it down, and it stained his throat forever blue. Then rose treasures: the moon, the wish-cow, the goddess Lakshmi, and at last the physician of the gods, holding the pot of amrita.

The demons seized it — but Vishnu, disguised as the enchantress Mohini, beguiled them and returned the nectar to the gods. So the devas were renewed, and the balance of the cosmos was, for an age, restored.