Avatar 2 of 10 · Satya Yuga
Kurma
The second avatar: Vishnu as a tortoise, who held up the mountain the gods and asuras used to churn the ocean of milk for the nectar of immortality.
- His form
- The tortoise
- Satya Yuga
- His day
- Kurma Jayanti
- Vaishakha Purnima
The story
The gods had lost their strength and their kingdom. Vishnu told them to churn the ocean of milk, with the asuras’ help, for amrit, the nectar that makes the drinker deathless.
They used Mount Mandara as the churning rod and the great serpent Vasuki as the rope, the gods holding his tail and the asuras his head. But the mountain had no ground beneath it, and began to sink into the ocean.
Vishnu became a vast tortoise, dived beneath the mountain and held it on his back, so the churning could go on. From the ocean rose the poison that Shiva drank, then fourteen treasures: Lakshmi, the wish-granting cow Kamadhenu, the moon, the physician Dhanvantari with the pot of nectar, and more.
Why he came
To bear the weight of the churning so that the gods could win back the nectar, and Lakshmi could rise from the sea.
How he is shown
As a great tortoise bearing Mount Mandara, or with the four-armed body of Vishnu above a tortoise’s shell.
His verse
क्षितिरिह विपुलतरे तिष्ठति तव पृष्ठे धरणिधरणकिणचक्रगरिष्ठे।
केशव धृतकूर्मशरीर जय जगदीश हरे॥
Kshitir iha vipulatare tishthati tava prishthe, dharani dharana kina chakra garishthe;
Keshava dhrita kurma sharira, jaya Jagadisha Hare.
The earth rests here on your broad back, scarred like a great wheel from bearing her weight, in the body of a tortoise. O Keshava, glory to you, Lord of the world, Hari!
पृथ्वी यहाँ आपकी चौड़ी पीठ पर टिकी है, जिस पर उसका भार उठाने से बड़े पहिये जैसा निशान पड़ गया है, कछुए के शरीर में। हे केशव, आपकी जय, जगत के स्वामी हरि!
His day
Kurma Jayanti
Vaishakha Purnima, the full moon of Vaishakha (April or May)
Where he is worshipped
- Sri Kurmanatha Swamy TempleSrikurmam, Andhra Pradesh
Questions
What came out of the churning of the ocean?
First the halahala poison, which Shiva drank; then treasures including Lakshmi, Kamadhenu the wish-granting cow, the white horse Uchchaihshravas, the elephant Airavata, the moon, and Dhanvantari carrying the nectar.
Are there temples to Kurma?
Very few. The best known is Srikurmam in Andhra Pradesh, where Vishnu is worshipped as a tortoise.