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Samudra Manthan or the Churning of the Milky Ocean is a story from the Srimad BhagwatPuran story.
The story goes that the Lord of Heavens - Indra traveled the Heavens on his elephant Airavat when he came across the great sage. Durvasa offered him a garland that Lord Shiva had gifted him, and Indra gave it to his elephant. Being ignorant of the value of a gift from a learned person, the elephant crushed the garland by trampling on it. Durvasa then cursed the “Devas” that they would lose their power and wealth as that has caused them to be so arrogant. Indra lost his place in Heaven.
Lord Vishnu, the Preserver of the Universe, offered a solution to the Devatas: The drink of immortality (Amrita) was the only way the Devas could re-obtain immortality. In the meantime, under the leadership of one of their best kings ever (King Bali), the asuras had taken control of Earth and then Heaven. So, obtaining amrita became less a choice, more a compulsion for the Gods!
To obtain the Amrit that can get Devatas their power back, Vishnu proposed making a peace proposal with the Daityas in exchange for something valuable like Amrit. Lord of Daityas, Bali, agreed to this proposal.
Vasuki, the enormous serpent, was summoned to be used as the rope to churn the ocean and Mandara Mountain as the churning rod. Daityas and Devatas moved the mountain of Mandara with the help of Lord Vishnu and placed it in the middle of the ocean. Vasuki was established as a rope and coiled around the mountain Mandara. Daityas held the head portion as they considered the tail part of the snake to be an inauspicious portion. Thus, the sons of Kashyapa - Devatas and Daityas initiated the churning of the ocean of milk.
Despite their strength, the Mandara mountain still lacked support to stay in the middle of the ocean, thus sinking to the bottom. Lord Vishnu then took the Avatar of Koorma or tortoise, dove into the water, and gave the mountain a landing place for churning. Vasuki breathed smoke and blazing fire, which affected the Daityas, gradually decreasing their power.
After churning for years, the first thing to appear was Halahala, the venomous poison. The whole universe was in jeopardy because of its effects. Both Devatas and Daityas started to collapse. Vishnu suggested that they approach Lord Shiva as only he could help them with such a lethal poison.
Devatas and Daityas went to Mount Kailash and sought help from Shiva. Shiva agreed to consume the poison. Devi Parvati offered him the water from the Ganges that stopped the poison right in his throat, and hence he is called Neelakantha ( the one with the blue throat) or Vishakantha (the one who held the poison in his throat).
When the universe was back to its safety as the effect of the poison was neutralized, the churning process resumed. The churning resulted in the invocation of many celestial objects. A cow named Kamadhenu, Ucchaishrava a seven-headed horse, a valuable gem Kaustabha, Kalpvruksha a wish-fulfilling tree, Rambha an apsara - the celestial nymph, Goddess Lakshmi, Varuni representing alcohol, Chandra - Moon representing a calm mind, Parijata flower - the divine flower that never fades or wilts, Panchajanya Shankh or Conch, Tulasi the medicinal plant.
The process went on for years and years, but the Amrit did not appear for a very long time. Finally, an Avatar of Vishnu called Dhanvantari appeared, who went on to be the physician of the Devas and the God of Ayurveda. As soon as he appeared with a pot of Amrit, Asuras snatched the Amrit and started running. To end this struggle, Lord Vishnu took the form of the beautiful damsel, Mohini, who mesmerized the Asuras with her beauty and told the Asuras that she would distribute the Amrit among the Devatas and Daityas in a fair manner. The Daityas were so mesmerized by the beauty of Mohini that they did not realize that they were being fooled. Mohini kept distributing the Amrit to the Devatas. This is how the Devatas attained immortality.
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