Ramayana Simplified: Part 13: The Churning of the Palazhi ocean

Maharishi Vishwamitra continues his story about maharishi Durvasa. Once Maharishi Durvasa was gifted with a garland which was made of flowers that flowered only once in thousand years. Maharishi Durvasa thought of giving it to Indra deva as he thought Indra may find it useful. Indra once put this garland on his vahana (carrier), Airavat, the white elephant. The elephant got disturbed due to the bees that were surrounding the garland. Thus the elephant put the garland down and crushed the beautiful garland with its legs.

Maharishi Durvasa got very angry on seeing this. The maharishi being a very short-tempered person, cursed the whole community of devas that they will become old suddenly. Generally, devas don't grow old, for maintaining life in the universe. If they grow old, the devas may die and that will cause the destruction of the entire world (just imagine the situation if there is no sun, rain, etc.). The devaloka slowly started going through a state of devastation as a result of maharishi Durvasa’s curse.

The devas approached Lord Brahma, who in turn approached Lord Vishnu to find a solution to the problem. Lord Vishnu suggested that the Amruth Kumbh (a pot full of Amruth) will have to be taken through the churning of the Palazhi ocean. He also suggested that the devas may have to take the amruth, so that they can go back to their original forms. It was a very daunting task and thus devas decided to take the help of asuras also in the venture.

The asura guru (teacher of the asuras), maharishi Shukracharyar agreed to help the devas in taking the Amruth kumbh under one condition that the asuras should also get a part of the amruth. But if the asuras had a part of the amruth, they won’t die and thus they can destroy the world. But for the time being, devas agreed to this as they wanted to take the amruth kumbha.

The churning of the Palazhi ocean

Vasuki, the king of serpents was made the rope to churn Palazhi. Vasuki’s head was held by the asuras, and the tail was held by the devas. Mandhara mountain was made the base to churn Palazhi. To prevent the drowning of Mandhara mountain into the Palazhi ocean, Lord Vishnu took the avatar (incarnation)of the tortoise (Koormavathara) to hold the mountain. When the process of churning speeded up, Vasuki started to emit a poison called Kalakooda which could kill the whole world. Lord Shiva on realizing this, swallowed the poison. To prevent the death of Lord Shiva, Parvathy devi held Lord Shiva’s neck tightly so that the poison does not go inside. Lord Vishnu closed Lord Shiva’s mouth to ensure that the poison is not emitted to the outside world. Lord Shiva fainted and it is believed that people prayed for the life of Lord Shiva without even sleeping. This came to be known as Shivarathri which is celebrated even today.

As a result of the churning, the beautiful Lakshmi Devi came up with the Amruth Kumbha. The devas got enamored by the beauty of Lakshmi Devi, and they lost attention over the amruth kumbha. The asuras took away the amruth kumbha. To solve the situation and to take the amruth kumbha from the asuras, Lord Vishnu became Mayamohini (this does not mean that Lord Vishnu was disguised in the form of a woman, Mayamohini was a real woman with the Shakthi or power of Lord Vishnu, she can be considered as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu). Asuras got attracted by the beauty of Mayamohini. She requested the asuras to close their eyes and said that she will marry the person who keeps their eyes closed for the longest period of time. They closed their eyes and Mohini took away the Amruth Kumbha while they closed their eyes. Thus amruth was taken by the devas and they got back to their original forms.

The killing of the asura, Mahishi

Mahishi was an asura. Once she performed a tapas and her wish was that she can only be killed out of the son born with Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu, knowing that this was not going to happen as both were men. When Lord Vishnu takes the avatar of Mayamohini, Lord Shiva takes this opportunity to make a child out of her, who came to be known as Lord Ayyappa. Thus Lord Ayyappa kills Mahishi. The Sabarimala temple in the state of Kerala is a famous temple of Lord Ayyappa.

Few Insights…

• Here we see that when devas had a problem, they immediately try to find the solution. As mentioned in my previous stories, we come across situations where people commit suicide or put the blame on gods for not getting their problem solved. Many of us see gods as an external entity who is there to solve problems for us. But we are gifted with a brain having immense potential and the chaithanya of the supreme, to find solutions. Through these stories, we see how devas are encountering problems and how they find solutions. Even in the present time, we can take this as a model when it comes to solving problems.
• Did Mohini do the right thing here? Since the asuras also helped in getting the amruth kumbha, why a share of the amruth was not given to them? Can devas' intention be considered selfish?

Here we need to note the intention behind the Mohini avatara. Here the ultimate intention was to protect Dharma. The intention of devas cannot be considered selfish here as they took the amruth in order to maintain life on earth and not for their personal gains. If the asuras had taken a part of the amruth, they would have become immortal and they might have started killing innocent people thus creating an imbalance in the world.

• Some people compare devas to those belonging to high castes and asuras to those who belong to the low castes. Readers should note that such caste references do not exist in Ramayana. Asuras can be simply considered to be demons and devas can be considered to be the forces that help us lead our lives forward.