About four hundred and twenty-eight million years ago, during the reign of Chakshusha Manu, Mantradruma was the Indra of heaven. One day when he was riding Airavata, he met Durvasa Muni. After blessing Indra, the sage placed the garland that Shiva had given him before, around his neck. Some stories say that this garland was provided by a celestial nymph (apsara). Indra removed the necklace and put it on the elephant's trunk. Due to the fragrance of the flowers in that garland, the bees started to sit on it.
Airavata, enraged by this, threw down the garland and trampled it. Sage Durvasa immediately got angry and cursed that all the riches of your heavenly world would melt away and poverty would come. Then the demons, under the leadership of King Bali, attacked heaven and defeated the deities. In Brahma's presence, the devas asked him to give the solution. He took everyone from there to Vaikuntha. The fifth of the seven oceans is Vishnu's Vaikuntha on the white island in the cosmic Ocean.
There, the gods asked their problem to Vishnu named Ajita, who was sleeping on Adisesha. Lord Vishnu told him to get the amrita first; for that, he negotiated with the asuras, threw herbs, vines, vegetables, and medicines into the ocean of milk, made Mandara Parvata a target, and told him to use Vasuki as a rope to prevent the asuras from getting the nectar.
Indra became the leader of the gods. The demon king was made the leader of the Asuras by inducing a desire for Amrita to sacrifice. The Devasuras, together, uprooted the Mandara mountain and carried it a short distance with great difficulty when the mountain fell on them, claiming the lives of many. Then Indra went to Vishnu.
Vishnu restored everyone with just his look, lifted the mountain, put it on Garuda, put it in the cosmic ocean, and left for Vaikuntha. Now the Devasuras tied the giant serpent Vasuki like a rope to Mount Mandara. While the demons held the head, thinking that holding the tail was a disgrace to their dignity, the devas also held the lighter part of the tail.
Both sides started pulling the vasuki back and forth as if pouring the buttermilk from the goblet. After surging the ocean for a while, Mount Mandara began to sink into the ocean's depths. Maha Vishnu immediately assumed the form of a huge tortoise, with a body eight hundred thousand miles wide, carrying Mount Mandara on his back. In this Kurmaavatar, Maha Vishnu did not kill any demons.
Thus, the Devasuras continued to overlook the sea for thousands of years. As Vasuki was pulled back and forth, his stomach churned. The body was on fire. He started spewing fire from his nose and mouth. Many of the demons holding his head were burnt to death by this. Even though the angels did not die, their faces paled. The bodies had lost their lustre.
To quench the fire of Vasuki's body, Ajita Vishnu created a cloud there and showered rain. Punaha Samudra Manthan continued. But no matter how many years passed, the nectar was never found. Then Vishnu appeared there, holding Vasuki in both hands and rapidly fading away.
Because of this, the aquatic creatures, frightened, came up from the water. The colour of the water changed. A poison called Kalakuta or Halahala was produced there. Green smoke from it spread to the world. The Devasuras who had gathered around, fled from there and went to Kailasa.
As soon as Shiva listened to their problem, he came to the place where the churning was taking place. Halahala caught the poison in his bottle and immediately drank it. Goddess Parvati ran in panic and grabbed Lord Shiva by the throat. The poison stayed in the throat without going down, and the neck part turned blue. Since then, Shiva was called Neelkantha.
Then, as the churning continued, a cow named Surabhi came up from the ocean. Sages took her to make milk products. Then a white horse named Ucchaishrava appeared there. Maharaja Bali accepted it.
Then the Airavata elephant was produced. Indra made it his vehicle. According to the Bhagavatam and Mahabharat, this elephant was born in Samudra Mantana. But the Ramayana says that Airavata was the son of a female serpent named Iravati, the daughter of sage Kasyapa and Kadru. Eight elephants, born after this elephant, followed Airavata.
In no time, the gems Kaustubh Mani and Padmaragmani were born. Vishnu took them and wore them on his jewellery. Later, the Parijata plant, which fulfils everyone's desires, arose there. Indra took it to heaven. The most beautiful celestial nymphs appeared in the sea and walked straight towards heaven.
Goddess Lakshmi came up from the ocean with the name Rama. A fight started between the two groups to get her. Later, a Swayamvaram was arranged for her. Leaving the people standing in the rows on either side, she garlanded Vishnu directly. Then the female devta Varuni, who arose, was accepted by Bali. The churning continued.
A man rose from the sea with a golden urn in his hand. He could heal any ailments. The demons grabbed the pot of nectar from his hand and started fighting over who would drink it first. Abandoning the desire for nectar, the demigods sat down in sorrow. To solve this problem, Vishnu took the form of a beautiful woman named Mohini.
She lured away the demons with her dance and received the Amrita Kalash from their hands. Asking the demigods and demons to sit in separate rows, she stood to distribute the amrita. First, Mohini poured nectar into the hands of the deities. No single drop was given to the demons. She was just smiling at him. Swarabhanu, the demon who thought they could not get nectar, slowly came and sat in the row of devtas. Mohini poured amrita into his cupped hands. He immediately drank it. Seeing his fangs, knowing him to be a demon, the lord Sun and Moon informed Mohini.
Vishnu in the form of a lady wielded the disc. The head was separated from the body. But the nectar had gone down the throat. The head became Rahu, the body Ketu. After that, Rahu and Ketu would swallow the Sun and Moon whenever there was a chance. It is called an eclipse. But they got the status of demigods due to their contact with celestial nectar.
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