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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
could use the tail part. During the churning process Vasuki breathed out poisonous vapor which made the Asuras weak. This made sure that if a war ensued Asuras will not be able to stand. During the churning the mountain Mandara began to sink in the Ocean. As a result Vishnu became the Tortoise to hold it up. That is the first part of the story.
The churning produced several things. What first emerged was the eternal poison. The myth is honest enough to admit that even Vishnu could not deal with this calamity. If it fell in the cosmos it will destroy it. At this point Siva graciously gulped it down taking the poison on himself and saving the world. He alone could do that as Mahadeva. This was followed by the Poison Halahala, Varuni (Goddess of Wine and Intoxicants), the Cow Surabhi, Parijatha (the divine tree), the Apsaras (the celestial nymphs), the Moon, the goddess Laxmi (Goddess of fortune - whom Vishnu took as his wife) and Dhanvantari (the God of Medicine). When the Amrit itself came out at last it came to the Asuras. As a result Vishnu had to cheat them out of it. To do this Vishnu appeared in the second form as Mohini the enchantress and offered to serve the Amrit to both the Suras and the Asuras. "She offered to arbitrate, and in the grand tradition of all Tricksters proceeded to rob the trustful demons." For this, she ordered the Devas to form one row and the asuras another. Then the maiden Mohini began serving. The gods received their portion first and as soon as she had served them Mohini disappeared, bowl and all! Mohini had tricked the Asuras!!! The asuras who got nothing for their efforts now realized that they had been tricked and this time by a young, beautiful woman, who was none other than Lord Vishnu in Mohini's disguise!! The demons, deprived of the drink, remained dark and gloomy asuras. Feeling betrayed, they attacked the gods. Vishnu picked up Sharanga, the bow that had emerged from the cosmic sea, and shot deadly missiles at the asuras, helping the devas
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