Koorma Avatharam 2

 

God's second incarnation was Koorma (turtle) Avatar. The next in evolution from a fish was the amphibian. To illustrate this, the second avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu was as a koorma (turtle). Incidentally, the turtle also happens to be the most sacred living thing in most of the South Asian cultures. For instance, in the South Asian mythology, it is believed that the world is balanced on the back of a giant turtle. The legend of the Koorma Avatar goes that, many ages ago there was a war between the devas(gods) and the daityas(demons). The gods lost this war. Heady with the victory, the demons harassed and oppressed the gods. Unable to tolerate this, the gods prayed to Vishnu for deliverance. Vishnu told the gods that there is the nectar of immortality at the bottom of the ocean, which can be obtained by churning it. However, the task of the churning the ocean is no simple task. This required the strength of the demons as well. As can be imagined, the demons are not going to be willing to help churn the ocean, in order to make the gods immortal. Vishnu devised a plan to get the demons to help churn the ocean, and at the same time, to deprive them of the nectar! Vishnu assembled both the gods and the demons and proposed that both should churn the ocean and share the nectar. The truce was agreed upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and the great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, began to sink into the ocean. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a turtle and balanced the mountain on his back. As the churning continued, Alakala, a terrible poison emerged from the ocean. The gods and the demons were affected by the poison and began to lose their strength. Upon seeing this, Lord Shiva swallowed the poison. Sakti, Siva's consort, stopped the poison at Siva’s throat. Upon which, his throat turned blue. From then on Siva was called Neelakantam (one, whose throat is blue.)The poison was not the only thing to emerge from the ocean. Many wondrous things followed it. Varuni, the goddess of wine (sura), emerged next. The gods readily accepted her and thus they came to be known as suras. But the demons rejected Varuni and were therefore known as asuras. She was followed by the Parijata tree, which came to occupy the pride of place in the garden of Indra, the king of the gods. A jewel named Koustubha emerged and was accepted by Vishnu as his ornament. Three wonderful animals came next - the cow Kamadhenu, the horse Ucchaishravas and the elephant Airavata. Airavata became Indra's mount. They were followed by the apsaras, beautiful women who became the dancers of heaven. The goddess Lakshmi or Sri came out next and was united with Vishnu. Finally, a divine being, Dhanvantari, emerged with a pot of amritam (the nectar of immortality) in his hands.

Dhanvantari, the bearer of the nectar of immortality became the god of healing and was the originator of Ayurveda, the discipline of herbal medicine. The daityas led by Jambha gave half of the amrita to the devas and departed with the other half. Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini, the enchantress. The demons were enchanted and begged her to serve them the nectar. She deceived them and served it to the gods instead. The demons were unaware of this, with the exception of one of them. This demon, Rahu took on the form of the moon and succeeded in drinking some of the amrita. The Sun and the Moon noticed this and reported it to Lord Vishnu. 

Vishnu thereupon cut off Rahu’s head with a sword. He was cursed to become a snake. But Rahu had drunk the amrita and so could not die. Now, he was neither a god, nor a demon. He suffered in a lot and he could not live or to die. He prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu granted him a boon that his two parts (the separated head and the tail)  became two shadow planets, as Rahu and Kethu. There is a belief they will be also cause the eclipse of the  celestial gods Sun and the Moon, the two gods who had caused him to be beheaded. Thus the celestial gods obtained the amritam and the demons did not. With the newly attained immortality, the celestial gods defeated the demons, and regained to the heaven. This is proven the science second theory of amphibians, such as turtles.

     

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