mighty tortoise, made a pivot for the stick. The Devas seized the tail of the serpent and the Asuras the head—and the churning began.
The first product of the churning was the divine cow, Surabhi, the fountain of milk, a metaphor often used in the Vedas for the rain-cloud which dispelled drought; then Vārunī, Vishnu's own embodied radiance[1]; next the tree, Pārijāta, which bears all kinds of celestial fruits; then the moon rose and was seized by Siva as his own. At this point fires and poisonous fumes engendered by the churning overspread the earth and threatened the whole universe, so the Creator, Brahmā, intervened and begged Siva to use his power. The latter then swallowed the poison and so became Nila-kantha, blue-necked.
The climax is the appearance of the physician of the Gods, Dhanwantāri, bearing the treasure sought for, the precious cup of amrita, in his hands, followed by the goddess Lakshmi herself, radiant with beauty and attended by a choir of celestial nymphs, while the elephants of the skies, the rain-clouds, pour water over her from golden vases. The Devas and Asuras began now to struggle for the possession of the amrita, but the demons were quickly vanquished and driven down to Pātāla below the earth. So the cosmic drama ends with the return of prosperity to all the three worlds, and the general rejoicing of gods and men.
The myth has been given a spiritual interpretation as the struggle which takes place within the soul of man between the powers of good and evil; but it has not been observed by Oriental scholars that the
- ↑ See Tantra of the Great Liberation, translated by A. Avalon, p. xxxviii. Vārunī has been incorrectly translated as the "God of Wine."
