Kshira Sagara

 ( Places In Hindu Mythology ) 

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.D. Dennis Hudson: The body of God: an emperor's palace for Krishna in eighth-century Kanchipuram, Oxford University Press US, 2008, , pp.164-168 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 manthan 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.

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

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

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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 churned the primeval ocean in order to obtain amrita, the elixir of immortality. To churn the ocean, they used the Nagaraja, 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).

Gavin Flood (1996). 9780521438780, Cambridge University Press. . ISBN 9780521438780

, pp. 78.

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 Apsara, the crescent moon, the poison halahala, and Dhanvantari (the physician of the devas),

(2018). 9789353053628, Penguin Random House India Private Limited. . ISBN 9789353053628

holding a cup of amrita in his hand. He was followed by Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, the horse Uchchaihshravas, 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.

Gaṅgā Rām Garg (1992). 9788170223757, Concept Publishing Company. . ISBN 9788170223757

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 Ramayana Canto 45 and in the Mahabharata.

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Literature

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

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

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Devi Bhagavata Purana avatar of Vishnu, below Mount Mandara, with Vasuki wrapped around it, during Samudra manthan, the churning of the Ocean of Milk, c. 1870|280x280px]]The Devi Bhagavata Purana also refers to the Ocean of Milk in its verses:

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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 Shesha.

Cosmologically, the Dvipa (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:

1. Vasudeva
2. Sankarshana
3. Pradyumna
4. Aniruddha
5. Narayana
6. Narasimha
7. Hayagriva
8. Varaha
9. Parashurama

Paramatma, the Supersoul, in the heart of all that exist in the material universe live in the Kshira Sagara. According to some Vaishnavism 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.

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See also

• Vaikuntha
• Narayana
• Ksirodakasayi Vishnu
• Paramatma

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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.

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