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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS KURMA (TORTOISE) AVATARA
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5n1 Kurraan Temple
"In Kurma Avatara, Lord Vishnu is incarnated as a tortoise. Lord Vishnu is said to have helped the gods in churning of the ocean for nectar. ... The Devas approached Vishnu for help. Vishnu then asked them to churn the ocean of milk after adding medicines into the ocean. Mount Mandara could be used a the churning stick he said. He requested them to ask the help of asuras in lifting the mountain in exchange for offer of the share of nectar of immortality that would ensue from the churning. Both the devas and the asuras churned the ocean using the serpent Vasuki as the rope. As the churning was proceeding the mountain was sinking and then Lord Vishnu took the form of the tortoise Kurma and kept the mountain afloat. As soon as the bowl of amrita, the nectar of immortality was out, the asuras grabbed it. Then Lord Vishnu took the form of an apsara, a beautiful maiden, and seduced the asuras into letting her distribute the nectar and also to abide by her order of distribution. As soon as the devas were served the maiden disappeared thus totally deceiving the asuras and making them totally weak." http://www.ssvt.org/home/Dasavatara.asp#Varaha%20Avatara
The whole nation of Devas were falling apart both physically and mentally. So as usual they approached Brahma for help. (In the older versons of ths Avatar, it was Brahama who took the form of the Tortoise). Brahma knew he was not strong enough against the mighty Asuras and advised them to seek the help of Vishnu.. When all the efforts to revive them using the Sanjivini medicine failed Vishnu realized that the only way for the Devas to survive was the procurement of Amirtham - the Elixir of Immortality contained in the Milky Way. All the power of the Devas added to the power of Vishnu were not able to churn the Milky Way long enough to obtain the elixir. The only people who could do that was the Asuras. So Vishnu enlisted their help with promises of part of the Elixir while he promised Devas that he will ensure that Asuras did not get any chance of getting the elixir.
For a churning rod they selected the Mandara Mountain and used Vasuki the serpent as the rope. Cunningly Vishnu suggested that the Asuras should take up the head of the serpent while the Devas
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