AMṚTAM . (See PRĀMṚTAM).
AMṚTAM . A delicious and precious food obtained from
the ocean of Milk when the Devas and Asuras churned
it. In Chapter 152 of Agni Purāṇa, the word “Mṛtam”
is defined as wealth received by begging and “Amṛtam”
as wealth received without begging, and “Prāmṛtam”
as another kind of wealth obtained without begging.
1)
Cause of Kṣīrābdhi-mathanam. (Churning of the Sea
of Milk)—Once when Maharṣi Durvāsas was travelling
through a forest, he met the Apsarā woman, Menakā,
with a garland of Kalpaka flowers in her hand. The
fragrance of the flowers filled the whole forest. Durvāsas
approached Menakā and requested her to give the gar-
land to him. The Vidyādharī (Apsarā woman) prostrat-
ed before the Maharṣi with reverence and presented
the garland to him. Wearing that garland on his hair,
Durvāsas went to devaloka.
There he saw Indra riding on his elephant, Airāvata,
accompanied by his retinue of Devas. The Maharṣi took
the rare garland from his head and presented it to
Indra, the King of Devas. Indra received the garland
and placed it on Airāvata's head. The elephant was
attracted by the fragrance of the garland and took it in
its trunk, examined it by smelling it and then threw it
on the ground.
Durvāsas, who became angry at the way in which his
garland was slighted by Indra said to him: “Since
you have treated my garland with disrespect, the glory
and prosperity of devaloka will perish!” On hearing
the curse, Indra alighted from the elephant, frightened.
He begged pardon of the Maharṣi. The furious Muni
continued: “I am not soft-hearted; nor am I of a for-
giving nature. Other Munis may forgive. Remember, I
am Durvāsas. You have become so haughty because
other Munis like Vasiṣṭha and Gautama have been flat-
tering you too much.” Having said this Durvāsas went
his way. Indra returned to Amarāvatī.
From that day the glory of devaloka began to decline.
The three worlds became dull. Even the plants and
shrubs began to wither. The performance of yāgas came
to an end. The Devas began to be affected by the
infirmities of old age. Taking advantage of this situation,
the Asuras started preparations for opposing the Devas.
Under the oppression of the Asuras, the Devas groaned
in distress. Led by Agni Deva they sought refuge under
Brahmā. Brahmā led them to Mahāviṣṇu. They all join-
ed in praising Viṣṇu who appeared and told them like
this: “O Gods! I shall enhance your glory. Do as I
tell you. Along with the Asuras bring all kinds of medi-
cinal herbs and deposit them in the ocean of Milk.
Obtain Amṛtam from it by churning it with Mahāmeru
as the churning staff and Vāsuki as the rope. The
Amṛtam (Amṛta) which will be produced by churning
the Milk sea, will make you strong and deathless. I
shall see that the Asuras will share in your troubles but
not in enjoying Amṛtam.”
2)
Churning of the Milk Sea. After Viṣṇu had vanished,
the Devas made a treaty with the Asuras and began to
work for getting Amṛtam. All of them joined together
in bringing various kinds of medicinal herbs and after
putting them in the Milk sea which was as clear as the
cloudless sky, began to churn it, using Manthara Moun-
tain as the churning staff and snake Vāsuki as the rope.
The party of Devas was posted at the tail-end of Vāsuki
while the Asuras took their stand at the head. The
Asuras became enervated by the fiery breath coming out
of Vāsuki's mouth. The clouds which were blown by
that breath invigorated the Devas.
Mahāviṣṇu transformed himself into a tortoise, and
sitting in the middle of the Milk Sea served as the
foundation for the Manthara Mountain, the churning
staff. Assuming another form, invisible both to Devas
and Asuras, Mahāviṣṇu pressed down the Manthara
Mountain from above.
While churning the Milk Sea like this, the first object
that rose to the surface was Kāmadhenu. Both Devas
and Asuras were strongly attracted towards Kāmadhenu
While all were standing spellbound, Vāruṇīdevī with
her enchanting dreamy eyes next appeared on the sur-
face. Pārijātam was the third to appear. Fourth, a group
of Apsarā women of marvellous beauty floated up. The
Moon appeared as the fifth. Śiva received the Moon.
The venom which came out of the Milk Sea as the
sixth item, was absorbed by Nāgas. After that arose
Bhagavān Dhanvantari, dressed in pure white robes
and carrying a Kamaṇḍalu in his hand filled with
Amṛtam. All were delighted at this sight. Next Mahā-
lakṣmī made her appearance in all her glory with a
lotus in her hand and seated in an open lotus flower.
Gandharvas sang celestial songs in her presence;
Apsarā women danced. For her bath, the Gaṅgā river
arrived there with her tributaries. The Milk Sea itself
took on physical form and offered her a garland of ever-
fresh lotus flowers. Brahmā bedecked her with orna-
ments. After that Lakṣmīdevī, fully adorned in all her
magnificent jewels, in the presence of all Devas, joined
the bosom of Mahāviṣṇu. The Asuras were displeased
at it. They snatched the pot of Amṛtam from Dhan-
vantari and fled away.
3)
How Amṛtam was recovered. With the loss of Amṛtam,
the Devas were in a fix. They began to consider how
the pot of Amṛtam could be recovered. Accordingly
Mahāviṣṇu transformed himself into a celestial virgin,
Mohinī, of extraordinary beauty. She approached the
Asuras as a shy girl. The Asuras were enchanted by
her surpassing beauty. They asked her, “Who are
you?” Looking down on the ground, Mohinī replied:
“I am the little sister of Dhanvantari. By the time I
came out of the Milk Sea, the Devas and Asuras had
already gone. Being lonely I am going about in search
of a suitable mate.”
On hearing her words, the Asuras began to make
friends with her one by one, determined not to waste
this opportunity. They told her that she should distri-
bute Amṛtam to all of them and in the end she should
marry one of them. Mohinī agreed, but added: “All
of you should close your eyes. I shall serve Amṛtam
to all. He who opens his eyes last, must serve Amṛtam
to me and he will marry me”.
All of them accepted this condition. They sat in front
of Mohinī with closed eyes. In a moment Mohinī left
the place with the pot of Amṛtam and went to deva-
loka.
4)
Rāhu's neck is cut. When the Asuras opened their
eyes, Mohinī was not to be seen. Finding that they
were betrayed, they were in great perplexity. All of
them pursued Mohinī to devaloka. Devas had put
the Sun and Moon gods on guard duty at the gates
of devaloka. At the instance of the Asuras, Rāhu in
disguise entered the divine assembly chamber. The
Sun and Moon gods detected him and Viṣṇu with his
weapon, Sudarśana Cakra cut open his neck. Swearing
that he would wreak vengeance on the Sun and Moon
Rāhu returned. In the 8th Skandha of Bhāgavata it is
said that even now from time to time Rāhu swallows
the Sun and Moon, but they escape through the open
gash in his neck and this is known as solar eclipse and
lunar eclipse.
5)
Defeat of the Asuras. Indra and all other gods took
Amṛtam. The enraged Asuras attacked the gods, who
had gained strength and vigour by taking Amṛtam.
The Asuras were driven away in all directions. All the
three worlds began to enjoy glory and prosperity again.
6)
Kalakūṭa. The story of how the deadly poison,
Kālakūṭa arose at the churning of the ocean of Milk,
is given in M.B., Ādi Parva, Chapter 18, Verses 42-45,
as follows: After many precious things had come up
Kālakūṭa poison with fumes and flames, appeared on
the surface of the ocean. Its strong smell caused a
stupor in all the three worlds. Fearing that the world
will perish, Brahmā requested Śiva to swallow that
poison. Śiva gulped it down, but stopped it in his
throat. From that day he became “Nīlakaṇṭha”.
7)
The story of Airāvata. Indra's tusker Airāvata was
responsible for the churning of the ocean of Milk. But
in the Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 18, Verse 42
it is said that a white elephant with four tusks arose
during the churning of the ocean of Milk and that
Devendra caught and tamed it. This is an obvious
contradiction. Besides, in Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya-
kāṇḍa, 14th Sarga, the wounded Jaṭāyu describing his
family history to Śrī Rāma, gives the following account
about the origin of Airāvata:
Kaśyapa, one of the Prajāpatis, married the eight
daughters of Dakṣa. One of them named Krodhavaśā
had ten daughters by Kaśyapa. They were: Mṛgī, Mrga-
madā, Hari, Bhadramadā, Mātaṅgī, Śārdūli, Śvetā,
Surabhi, Surasā and Kadru. Of them Bhadramadā
gave birth to a daughter, Irāvati. The tusker Airāvata
is Irāvatī's son.
An explanation for this discrepancy may be seen in
Viṣṇu Purāṇa, 3rd Section, Chapter 1. Now six
Manvantaras have passed (See ‘MANVANTARA’).
This is the seventh Manvantara. Each Manvantara
has a new Indra. According to this, different Indras
have their own Airāvatas. This is the only explanation
for this apparent contradiction.
8)
Amṛtam and Garuḍa. There is another story about
Amṛtam which says that Garuḍa once went to deva-
loka and brought Amṛtam from there to be given to
the Nāgas, but Devendra came down and took it back.
This story is given in Mahābhārata from Chapter 27
onwards. Vinatā, a wife of Kaśyapa gave birth to
Garuḍa and Kadru and her sister gave birth to the
Nāgas. Once there was a dispute between Vinatā and
Kadru. Vinatā said that the hairs on the tail of Uccai-
śravas, Devendra's horse, were white but Kadru
asserted that they were black. To settle the dispute they
made a bet. The condition was that the loser must
become the servant maid of the winner. As instructed
by Kadru, some of the Nāgas went in advance and
hung down from the tail of Uccaiśśravas, thus giving the
false appearance of a tail with black hairs. By this trick
Vinatā lost the bet and had to become Kadru's servant
maid. As a result of it, the task of looking after Kadru's
children became Garuḍa's duty. Kadru told him that
if he fetched Amṛtam from devaloka and gave it to the
Nāgas, she was prepared to release him from the bond-
age. So Garuḍa flew up to devaloka, fought with the
gods and defeated them. He returned with the pot of
Amṛtam and gave it to the Nāgas. The Nāgas went
to take their bath after placing the pot on darbha grass
spread on the floor. Just then Devendra swooped down
and carried away the pot of Amṛtam to devaloka.
When the Nāgas returned after their purifying bath,
the pot was not to be seen. In their greed they began
to lick the darbha grass on which the pot was placed.
The sharp edge of the grass cut their tongues into two.
This is why the Nāgas (snakes) came to have forked
tongues.
Amṛtam which has been thus recovered after many
such adventures, is still preserved carefully in devaloka.
[(1) M.B., Ādi Parva, Chapter 17. (2) M.B., Ādi
Parva, Chapter 27, verse 16. (3) M.B., Ādī Parva,
Chapter 30, Verse 2. (4) Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Araṇya
Kāṇḍa, 35th Sarga. (5) Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Section 1,
Chapter 9. (6) Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 152. (7) Bhāga-
vata, 8th Skandha. (8) Uttara Rāmāyaṇa.]