Mount Meru rises in the very middle of the earth. Its peaks, inaccessible to people even in their thoughts, rest against the vault of heaven and reflect the brilliance of the sun. It stands, covering the sky, and from its slopes, on which marvelous trees and grass grow, fast rivers run down, and its highest cliffs are decorated with precious stones sparkling like the sun’s rays. There are magnificent palaces of the gods there. Gods, asuras, gandharvas and apsaras visit her beautiful groves, resounding with the singing of sweet-voiced birds; there and on the surrounding mountains they indulge in carefree games and entertainment.
Once upon a time, the gods gathered on Mount Meru and indulged in sad reflections about illnesses and old age, which haunt even the celestials. The duration of earthly life immeasurably exceeds their existence, but there is a limit to it. “How to get rid of illnesses and old age forever and become immortal and forever young?” - they said.
The gods thought for a long time and consulted among themselves on what to do, and finally Vishnu told them: “Go together with the asuras to the great ocean and there, all together, knock down the ocean in order to get amrita from it - the drink of immortality.” And the gods approved of Vishnu’s words. They made peace with the asuras and, together with them, began to prepare for churning the ocean, promising them an equal share of the drink of immortality when they got it.
Instead of a rope, they decided to take the king of snakes, Vasuki, and make Mount Mandara as a whorl. This mountain rose eleven thousand yojanas above the earth and went into the depths of the earth by the same amount. The gods and asuras tried to tear out Mount Mandara from the bowels of the earth, but they failed. Then they went for advice to Brahma and Vishnu, and they sent them to help the huge and powerful serpent Shesha, brother of the ruler of the nagas. Possessing immeasurable strength, Shesha wrapped his rings around the unshakable mountain and tore it out of the earth along with forests and rivers and all the wild animals living on it.
With Mount Mandara and the serpent Vasuki, the gods and asuras came to the Ocean and asked him for permission to knock down its waters in order to obtain amrita. The Lord of the Waters gave them his consent, but in return he asked for a share of amrita for himself.
The king of turtles, the one who holds the world on his back, was asked by the gods and asuras to descend to the bottom of the ocean to serve as a support for Mount Mandara - their whorl. The gigantic turtle agreed to their request. She exposed her back, and the gods, together with the asuras, placed the foot of Mandara on her, and wrapped the serpent Vasuki around that mountain like a rope. And the asuras grabbed the head of the great serpent, and the gods grabbed the tail - as Vishnu advised them - and began to churn the ocean for the sake of amrita, and that churning lasted for many hundreds of years.
The asuras and gods alternately pulled the body of the snake towards them with jerks, and with each jerk, smoke and flames burst out of its mouth; the fire exhausted the demons with heat, depriving them of strength, and the smoke gathered into clouds sparkling with lightning, which crawled along the body of the serpent to its tail and shed refreshing rains on the gods.
With a great noise, like thunder, Mount Mandara rotated, and from its peak and slopes, huge trees with birds nesting on them and animals inhabiting the mountain forests fell into the waters of the ocean, colliding in flight. Both the peak and the slopes of the mountain were enveloped in flames that arose from friction, and in that flame trees and grass, animals and birds perished. Then the rains extinguished the fire, and the juices of the trees and herbs growing on Mount Mandara poured into the ocean to give amrita its healing power.
The asuras, scorched by the flames, and the gods, refreshed by showers from the clouds, tirelessly rotated the whorl. First, the waters of the ocean, mixed with the juices of herbs and trees, turned into milk, then the milk began to churn into butter. But Amrita still did not appear. And finally, when both the asuras and the gods were already exhausted from hard work, a clear Moon appeared from the waters of the ocean and rose into the sky, shining with cold light. Meanwhile, the gods and asuras continued to rotate the whorl. And following the month, Lakshmi, the goddess of beauty and happiness, emerged from the ocean in a white robe, and appeared before the amazed gods and asuras. She approached Vishnu and clung to his chest; She turned her gaze to the rejoicing gods and turned away from the asuras, who were greatly indignant. And after her, the lovely maiden Rambha emerged from the waters of the ocean; Blinded by her beauty, neither the gods nor the asuras accepted her, but the Gandharvas took her to themselves, and she became the head of the Apsaras, the most beautiful of all. Then the brilliant Sura, the deity of wine and hops, emerged from the ocean of milk; the gods accepted her, but the sons Diti and Danu rejected her; They say that is why they have since been called asuras, and the gods - suras. Then the wonderful white horse Uchchaikhshravas, swift as thought, rose from the waves of the ocean; Indra, the king of the gods, took him for himself. Following him, Kaustubha, a magical stone sparkling like the sun, appeared on the surface of the waters; he adorned the chest of the great Vishnu. Next to appear was the huge white elephant Airavata, like a cloud; and Indra took him for himself. Then Parijata appeared - a wonderful tree that filled the world with the fragrance of its flowers; Indra also took him to his heavenly kingdom; there it became the delight of the beautiful apsaras. And finally, Dhanvantari, the god of healing and healing, emerged from the sea, carrying in his hands a precious cup with the drink of immortality - amrita.
But after all these treasures that emerged from the sea waters, when the churning was already coming to an end, the terrible poison kalakuta appeared on the surface of the ocean. He poisoned the worlds with his fumes and threatened to burn the universe. The gods, and asuras, and all living beings became confused and cried out to the great god Shiva for salvation. And for the sake of saving the universe, Shiva swallowed a destructive poison. His neck turned blue from this terrible poison; it remained blue forever; and since then Shiva has been called Pilakantha - Blue Neck.
When the asuras saw the vessel with amrita, they went into a frenzy and made a terrifying noise. With shouts of “This is mine!” they rushed to the precious cup, and each of them sought to take possession of the amrita only for themselves. Then Vishnu turned into a woman of extraordinary beauty, with a wondrous face and a lovely figure, and entered the crowd of asuras. Seeing the wonderful maiden in front of them, the delighted asuras stopped fighting for the drink of immortality; their minds darkened, and, embarrassed by her beauty, they gave her the cup of amrita.
When the asuras came to their senses and saw that amrita had disappeared, they were overcome with confusion. But the gods, led by Vishnu, were already far from them and had already begun to take turns drinking the desired moisture. Only one of the asuras - the dragon Rahu, the son of Viprachitti, the lord of the Danavas - managed to taste the drink of immortality. Having assumed the form of a god, he secretly approached the amrita and was already kissing the cup, but then the Sun and the Moon recognized Rahu and, wishing the good of the gods, exposed him. In anger, Vishnu cut off Rahu's head with his weapon - a sharp sparkling disk. Amrita, meanwhile, managed to reach Rahu’s throat. Therefore, his head remained immortal. She ascended into the sky, and the body fell down, and the earth shook from its fall.
Since then, Rahu's head remains in the sky; having an insatiable hatred for the Sun and the Moon, she always pursues them to take revenge for their exposure, and from time to time grabs them with her mouth, although she cannot swallow them at all - this is why solar and lunar eclipses occur. And Rahu's tail sometimes appears in the heavens in the form of a comet.
Meanwhile, the asuras overtook the gods who had stolen the drink of immortality, and on the shores of the great ocean a fierce battle took place between the asura gods over amrita. The enemies threw sharp darts and spears at each other, and struck with heavy clubs and swords. The formidable disk of Vishnu, like an all-destroying flame, terrified his sons Diti and Dana. They died in thousands under his blows, the bodies of defeated asuras, huge as mountains, covered in blood, littered the ocean shore. But the asuras did not want to give up and, having climbed into heaven, from there they brought down thousands of huge stone blocks and entire rocks and mountains on the gods, thirsty for victory, shaking the earth in their fall. But even in the skies, the asuras were overtaken by the arrows of the gods and the destructive disk of Vishnu. And, unable to withstand the onslaught of the gods, the asuras retreated from the battlefield and went underground and to the bottom of the ocean.
The gods, having won the victory, placed Mount Mandara in its former place, released the serpent Vasuki into his kingdom and, rejoicing, dispersed to their abodes, entrusting Nara, the son of Dharma; storing a vessel with amrita.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru