APPENDIX II
The Churning of the Ocean
Once upon a time the gods, having practised penances according to the prescribed ordinances, assembled in solemn conclave on the golden summit of Mount Meru, to consider how they might obtainAmrita—the water of life. “Seeing the celestial assembly in anxious consultation, Narayana[121]said to Brahma”: “Do thou churn the ocean with the Suras (gods) and the Asuras. By doing so,Amritashall be obtained, together with all drugs and all gems.”
In order to carry out these instructions the gods uprooted from its base the towering mountain named Mandara,[122]and placed it in the sea on the back of the tortoise king. This was their churning pole, and for a cord they used the mighty hooded serpent, Vasuki. The Asuras taking hold of him by the head and the gods by the tail commenced the churning of the ocean. As they laboured in their gigantic task of whirling Mandara round and round in the seething ocean, the serpent’s body became heated by the friction to which it was subjected, and volumes of black vapour, mingled with red flames, issued from his awful mouth. Thesevapours were condensed in the upper regions and fell in refreshing showers upon the tired gods. With the rain came abundance of flowers shaken from the trees of rapidly revolving Mandara.
As the work proceeded with more and more vigour, the inhabitants of the troubled ocean were destroyed in great numbers, and the forests on the sides of rotating Mandara took fire from the friction of the branches of the trees which were driven into conflict with one another. However, this conflagration was extinguished by Indra, and the churning was continued. Then the gums of various trees and many gems began to mingle with the water, but the sought for nectar itself did not appear. Almost spent with their exertions, the gods appealed to Narayana for help, and he, renewing their vigour, directed them again to “insert the mountain and churn the waters.”
Their fresh and vigorous efforts were crowned with success. First of all the moon emerged from the waters, then “Lakshmi”[123]dressed in white, and wine, and the white steed, and then the celestial gem, Kaustuva, which graces the breast of Narayana. Lakshmi, wine, and the steed fleet as the mind, all came before the gods on high. Then arose the divine Dhanvantari himself with the white vessel of nectar in his hand. And, seeing him, the “Asuras set up a loud cry, saying: ‘Ye have taken all,hemust be ours.’”
Although the object of their quest, the nectar of immortality, had been produced, the churning was continued apparently in the hope of further treasures. Airavata, a huge elephant, now emerged from the troubled waters, and was at once appropriated by Indra. But after his appearance a baleful poison, the terrible Kalakuta, “blazing like a flame mixed with fumes,” began to overspread the earth and to threaten the destruction of the universe.
At this perilous juncture, Mahadeva, at Brahma’s solicitation, “swallowed the poison and held it in his throat,” which acquired and ever after retained a blue colour. Hence Mahadeva is often known by the name Nilakantha, the blue-throated.
The Churning of the Ocean.
(Reduced from Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon.”)
The Asuras having got possession of Dhanvantari with the vessel of nectar, were preparing to defend their acquisition by force of arms, but Narayana, assuming the bewitching form of lovelyMaya, easily induced the Daityas, ravished with her charms, to part with their treasure.
As soon as the deception practised upon them became apparent, the Daityas and Danavas pursued the gods, who, in the meantime, had been hurriedly taking draughts of this wonderful elixir of immortality.
Along with them a Danava, named Rahu, in the disguise of a god, was also slyly partaking of theAmrita, but, before the nectar had gone beyond his throat, he was detected by the sun and moon and had his head severed from his body by the discus of Narayana.
The severed head of Rahu was, of course, immortal, and ascended into the sky with loud cries. And ever since that eventful day it has pursued the sun and moon with revengeful feelings, swallowing them up periodically, as is evident in the solar and lunar eclipses which have attracted the awed attention of mankind through the ages.
To these events succeeded the commencement of a terrible battle between the gods on one side, and the Asuras, Daityas and the Danavas on the other. The gods, being victorious, carried theAmritato heaven, and, “offering due respect to Mandara, placed him on his own base.”
Such, in brief, is the wonderfully grand old myth which could have been conceived by no common mind,which is still believed in, and gives rise to practices and ceremonies still observed by two hundred millions of the Indian people, for whom even now it is the malignant Rahu that periodically threatens the destruction of the greater and lesser lights of the firmament. On these dire occasions the Hindus beat their drums and blow their conchs to terrify away the demon. They throw away their earthen cooking-pots, observe a rigid fast during the period of obstruction, and crowd the bathing-places for a purifying plunge as soon as the light of sun or moon is once again fully restored to the delighted eyes of mankind.