Ksheersagar

In Hindu cosmology, the ''Kshira Sagara'' (, ; ; ; Telugu: Pala Samudram) or Ocean of Milk is the fifth from the centre of the seven oceans. It surrounds the continent known as Krauncha. According to Hindu scriptures, the devas and asuras worked together for a millennium to churn this ocean in order to acquire amrita, the nectar of immortality. The episode is mentioned in the ''Samudra Manthana'' chapter of the Puranas, a body of ancient Hindu legends. The Kshira Sagara is described as the place where the deity Vishnu reclines over his serpent-mount Shesha, accompanied by his consort, Lakshmi.

Etymology

The "Ocean of Milk" is the English translation of the Sanskrit terms ', ' or ', from '' kṣīra'' "milk" and ', ' "water, ocean" or ' "ocean."

The term varies across Indic languages, referred to as ''Khir Shaagor'' in Bengali, ''Tiruppāṟkaṭal'' in Tamil, and ''Pāla Samudram'' in Telugu.

The Churning of the Ocean

The Kshira Sagara is the site of the legend of the Samudra Manthana, the churning of the cosmic ocean. At the suggestion of Vishnu, the devas and asuras churned the primeval ocean in order to obtain amrita, the elixir of immortality. To churn the ocean, they used the serpent-king, Vasuki as the churning rope. They used Mount Mandara as a churning pole and placed it on the back of Kurma, an avatar of Vishnu. As the devas and asuras churned the ocean, the poison ''halahala'' emerged from its depth and enveloped the universe with its poisonous fumes. The devas and asuras asked Shiva for help and he swallowed the poison into his throat. His consort, the goddess Parvati, tried to prevent the poison from spreading to the rest of his body and the strength of the poison turned Shiva's neck blue, thereby earning him the epithet of ''Nilakantha'' (the blue-throated one).

According to the Mahabharata, a number of ''ratnas'' (treasures) emerged during the churning of Kshira Sagara: Kamadhenu, the cow of plenty, Varuni, the goddess of wine, the tree Parijata, the apsaras, the crescent moon, the poison ''halahala,'' and Dhanvantari (the physician of the devas), holding a cup of amrita in his hand. He was followed by Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, the horse Uchchaishravas, the gemstone Kaustubha, the elephant Airavata, the wish-granting tree Kalpavriksha, and the conch Panchajanya. The Puranas include the emergence of Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune, Riddhi and Siddhi, Pushkara, and a number of botanical substances.

When the amrita finally emerged along with several other treasures, the devas and asuras fought over it. However, Vishnu, in his form of the enchantress Mohini, managed to manipulate the asuras into allowing him to be the one to distribute the elixir, upon which he offered it only to the devas. Svarbhanu, an asura, disguised himself as a deva in order to partake of the amrita. Surya (the sun-god) and Chandra (the moon-god) alerted Vishnu of this deception. Vishnu then decapitated Svarbhanu after the asura's consumption of the elixir, leaving his head and decapitated body immortal. Later, his head became known as Rahu and the beheaded part became known as Ketu.

The churning of the ocean is told in several ancient texts, notably in the Valmiki's ''Ramayana'' Canto 45 and in the ''Mahabharata''.

Literature

Vishnu Purana

The Vishnu Purana describes the origin of Lakshmi from the Sea of Milk:

Tiruvaymoli

The Ocean of Milk (Tiruppāṟkaṭal) is mentioned in Tiruvaymoli, a Vaishnava work of Tamil literature:

Devi Bhagavata Purana

The Devi Bhagavata Purana also refers to the Ocean of Milk in its verses:

Abodes

*Vaikuntha, covered with water in the material world, which is an inestimable distance away in the direction of the ''Makara Rashi'' (Shravana Zodiac) or the Capricorn Constellation. Upon this realm is a place called Vedavati, where Vishnu resides.
*On the island known as Svetadvipa, there is an Ocean of Milk, and in the midst of that ocean, is a place called Airavatipura, where Aniruddha lies on Ananta.

Cosmologically, the dvipas (islands) and sagaras (seas) depict the entire cosmos, though in cosmography, all the dvipas and sagaras are shown to lie in the Southern Hemisphere. In some of the satvata-tantras there is a description of the nine varshas and the predominating deity worshipped in each:

#Vasudeva
#Sankarshana
#Pradyumna
#Aniruddha
#Narayana
#Narasimha
#Hayagriva
#Varaha
#Parashurama

Paramatma, the Supersoul, in the heart of all avatars that exist in the material universe live in the Kshira Sagara. According to some Vaishnava traditions, the Paramatma is Ksirodakasayi Vishnu – who is in every atom and heart of all 8 400 000 kinds of material bodies, as the soul in each heart called atma, which in essence is the same as Paramatma.

In the '' Garga Samhita'', the Kshira Sagara is personified as Nagalakshmi, the consort of Shesha.

See also

*Vaikuntha
*Narayana
*Ksirodakasayi Vishnu
*Paramatma

References

External links

The story of the churning
as told in the epic ''Mahabharata'', here in the online English translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli at sacred-texts.com.
The story of the churning
as told in the epic ''Ramayana'', here in the online English verse translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith at sacred-texts.com.
The story of the churning
as told in the Vishnu Purana, here in the online English translation by Horace Hayman Wilson at sacred-texts.com.

{{Hindu deities and texts

Places in Hindu mythology
Milk in culture
Divya Desams