Overview

In Hinduism, Samudra manthan or The churning of the ocean of milk is one of the most famous episodes in the Puranas and is celebrated in a major way every twelve years in the festival known as Kumbha Mela. The story is related in the Srimad Bhagavatam, a major work that describes the avataras in great detail.

Samudra manthan is also known as —

• Samudra manthanam — Manthanam is the Sanskrit equivalent of Manthan meaning 'to churn'.
• Sagar manthan — Sagar is another word for Samudra, both meaning an ocean or large water body.
• Ksheersagar manthan — Ksheersagar literally means the ocean of milk. Ksheersagar = Ksheer (milk) + Sagar (ocean).

The story of Samudra manthan

The great leader of the Devas, Indra was riding on his elephant when he came across Durvasa Muni. Seeing Indra, Durvasa offered him a special garland (mala). Indra accepted this garland and put it on the trunk of the elephant. The elephant threw the garland onto the floor, thus enraging Durvasa Muni. In a fit of anger, the sage explained that the garland was the dwelling of Sri (fortune) and was therefore to be treated as prasada. He therefore cursed Indra and all the Devas to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune.

In the ensuing battles, the Devas were defeated in battle and the asuras (demons) headed by Bali gained control of the universe. The Devas sought out the help of Lord Vishnu, who instructed them in the art of diplomacy. The Devas then entered into an alliance with the asuras to jointly churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality and to share it among them. Of course, the Devas were told by Vishnu that He would arrange for them alone to obtain the nectar, which would empower them to defeat the asuras.

All kinds of herbs were cast into the milk ocean. Many great beings and objects were produced

For the task of churning the milk ocean, mount Mandhara (also called Mandara) was used as the churning rod, and Vasuki, the king of serpents, became the rope for churning. The churning was so arduous that Lord Vishnu Himself interceded in so many ways to aid the Devas. He was present as Lord Ajita pulling on the side of the gods, as Lord Kurma (the tortoise) who supported the great Mandara mountain which was in danger of sinking, and Lord Vishnu Himself sat atop the Mountain infusing the Devas and the serpent Vasuki with energy. With the Devas at Vasuki’s tail and the asuras at his head, they churned the milk ocean for one thousand years.

The churning of the milk ocean first produced a deadly poison halahala which Lord Shiva swallowed. Only he could swallow it without being affected by it. However, Parvati pressed his neck so that the poison does not reach his stomach. Thus, it stayed in his throat neither going up, nor down. The poison was so potent that it changed the colour of Shiva's neck to blue. For this, Shiva is also called Neelakantha (the blue-necked one). Neela means blue and Kantha means neck or throat.

Then came Kamadhenu (the wish fulfilling cow), Ucchaisrava (the white horse), Airavata (the white elephant), Kaustubhamani (a rare diamond), Kalpavriksha (the wish fulfilling tree), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth), Sura or Varuni (the goddess of wine). Next came the apsaras, beautiful dancing girls, and a host of other wonderful things appeared from the milk ocean. At last, Dhanvantari (the divine physician) appeared with a pot of amrita (nectar of immortality) in his skilful hands. These objects except the amrita were divided equally amongst everyone.

Seeing Dhanvantari with the pot of nectar, both the Devas and asuras became anxious. The Devas, being fearful of what would happen if the asuras drank all the amrit, forcibly seized the pot. Wherever the Devas went with the pot of amrit, fierce fighting ensued. In an endeavour to keep the nectar from

Eventually, Vishnu took the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini, and approached the asuras. When the asuras saw the charming beauty of Mohini, they lost all composure. Seeing her the asuras completely forgot about drinking the nectar of immortality. While the asuras were thus bewildered by her beauty, Mohini seized the nectar and returned it to the Devas, who drank it immediately.

It is believed that to save the amrit from the asuras, the Devas had to hide it at different places - Swargalok, Mrutyulok and Patallok. The Devas were on Mrutyulok (earth) for twelve days. As 12 days of the Gods are equal to 12 years for Mrutyulok, Gods were on earth for 12 years with amrit. Hence, every 12 years Kumbha Mela is celebrated at the four places, where drops of amrit had fallen.

Symbolism of Samudra manthan

The story represents the spiritual endeavor of a person to achieve self-realisation through concentration of mind, withdrawal of senses, control of desires and practice of austerities and asceticism.

• The Devas and Asuras represent the positives and negatives respectively of one's personality. The participation of both the Devas and the Asuras signifies that when one is seeking bliss through spiritual practice, one has to integrate and harmonise both the positive and negative aspects and put both the energies to work for the common goal.

• The ocean of milk is the mind or the human consciousness. The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean.

• Mandhara, the mountain symbolises concentration. The word Mandhara is made up of two words Mana (mind) and Dhara (a single line) which means holding the mind in one line. This is possible only by concentration.

• Mount Mandhara was upheld by Lord Vishnu as a Kurma (tortoise). The tortoise here symbolises the withdrawal of the senses into oneself (just as a tortoise withdraws its head into its shell) as one practices mental concentration and meditation or contemplation.

• Vasuki symbolises desire. Vasuki used in the churning of the ocean denotes that the Devas and the demons held desire (to seek immortality) as a rope and churned the mind with the help of concentration and withdrawal of the senses. Desire, if not controlled will overpower and destroy an individual.

• The Halahala poison symbolises suffering and pain (counter-reaction of the mind and body) that one undergoes at the beginning of spiritual sadhana (practice). When the mind is subjected to intense concentration, the first thing that comes out of the process is intense suffering and great inner turmoil. These must be resolved otherwise further progress is not possible.

• Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle. His role in this story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, austerity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism.

• The various precious objects that come out of the ocean during the churning stand for the psychic or spiritual powers (Siddhis) which one gains as s/he progresses spiritually from stage to stage. The seeker should be careful about these powers as they can hamper her/his progress unless s/he uses them judiciously, not for selfish gains but for others' welfare. This is the reason why the Gods and demons distributed these objects as they did not want to lose sight of their original aim which was to gain immortality.

• Dhanvantari symbolises health and signifies that immortality (longevity, to be correct) or spiritual success can be achieved only when the body and the mind are in a perfect state of health.

• Mohini symbolises delusion of the mind in the form of (or originating from) pride. It is the pride of achievement to which the asuras or the demons succumbed and thus lost sight of their goal. Pride and egoism are the last hurdles one has to overcome in spiritual life before experiencing self-realisation.

• The Amrit symbolises the ultimate achievement of the goal of self-realistion.

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