Second Avatar of Lord Vishnu:Kurma Avatar

AVATAR OF LORD VISHNU : LORD KURMA

 Lord Vishnu has taken many avatars for the betterment of this world which are known as "Dashavatara".Kurma Avatar is one of the 10 Avatar of Lord Vishnu.Kurma which means “tortoise” was the second avatar of Lord Vishnu. He had taken this avatar of kurma to support the Mount Mandar or Mandrachal  
which was used for the churning of great sheersagar (Ocean of milk) as all three worlds lost their prosperity,glory,grace and wealth due to  curse of the great sage Maharishi Durvasa. 

 

STORY OF KURMA AVATAR AND CHURNING OF OCEAN( SAMUDARA MANTHAN):

  Once Devraj Indra-the king of Gods was in his arrogance or pride as he was the king of all the gods and have all kind of wealth and things. He was ready to go as he was in hurry to go somewhere.At that time Maharishi Dusrvasa came to Heaven and he was very happy to see well magnificence of  heaven. In his happiness Maharishi Durvasa gave the garland of Parijaat flowers to Devraj Indra. 

     But he (Indra) put the garland on head of Airavat(Mount of Devraj Indra) in his ego or arrogance.And Airavat had thrown it on the ground and due to this the great sage Maharishi Durvasa got angry and cursed Devraj Indra,and the all other gods.Maharishi Durvasa said to Indra that on the strength of wealth and prosperity on which you are so proud and the pride in which you have disrespected the gift given by me, from today you will be devoid of that Lakshmi. 

   After the curse of Maharishi Durvasa,all gods became powerless and all wealth gone away from them and demons taking it as an advantage wage the war against gods. In that war Demons defeated gods very badly. After this  Indra and other gods went to Lord Brahma seeking for help to replenish all his power,wealth and everything.

         Then after this Lord Brahma with all Gods and Indra goes to Lord Vishnu to find solution of curse of Rishi Durvasa.They worshiped and praised Lord Vishnu, due to which he was pleased and asked them to churn the ocean with help of demons as it was not possible for devas alone to churn the great sheer sagar.

Read More : How Vayu Dev became the spritual father of Lord Hanuman?

      Lord vishnu told Indra that after churning of ocean you will get the amrita( nectar) which will make you( gods ) immortal and powerful,and also the other things which got lost due to curse will came back .

       

       First Indra was not ready to do this with demons as they snatched Swarg from him.But after thinking for sometime Indra agreed to churn the ocean along with the demons and deities as instructed by Lord Vishnu.

     For churning the ocean,A huge churn was needed for which Mandar mountain or Mandarachal mountain was made Mathani (Churn) and a huge rope was needed to churn that huge mountain,for which Nagraj Vasuki( king of snakes) was made to be used as rope to churn the ocean.

   

          The gods and the demons, forgetting their differences, uprooted Mandarachal mountain and carried it towards the sea, but they could not take it far.

      The gods and demons put Mandarachal in the sea and made Nagraj Vasuki as rope.  But as there was no base under Mandarachal,  it started drowning in the sea.  Seeing this, Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a giant Kurma (turtle) and became the base of Mandarachal in the sea to make the churning of ocean possible. Mandarachal started moving fast on the huge back of Lord Kurma and thus the churning of the ocean came to an end.

            When the gods and the demons churned the ocean together, 14 gems came out of it, which were divided in this way…

1. Halahal( poison), which was drank Lord Shiva to save the world from it.

2. Horse (uchchaishrava),which was given to Demon King Bali ( grandson of Prahlad ).

3. Airaavat( white elephant with many trunks), The Mount of Indra.

4. Kaustubh Mani ( crystal ),which was worn by Lord Shree Hari Vishnu.

5. Kamdhenu ( The divine Cow ) which was given to rishis for betterment of peoples.

6. Parijaat Tree.

7. Godess Lakshmi( godess of wealth ),Wife of Lord Vishnu.

8. Apsara( Celestial Nymph ) Rambha, who had taken place in heaven.

9. Kalpavrksh( Tree of heaven),which was given to Indra.

10. Goddess Varuni ( goddess of wine ) appeared from the ocean carrying wine.

11. Paachchajany shankh( Conch shell)

12.Chandra Dev ( Moon  God ),who was later beautified on the head of Mahadev.

13. God Dhanwantri,he made Ayurveda for the welfare of the people and gave its knowledge to the sages and Vaidyas.

14. Amrita( Nectar),amrit urn was in the hands of God Dhanwantri.

Read more : When Agnidev became egostic

Later, Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini and distributed the nectar among the Gods which made Indra and other gods powerful than demons. But Demon Rahuketu ( svarbhanu ) took the form of a god and drank some amrit and after knowing this that he is rahu,lord Vishnu he severed Rahu's head from his torso with his Sudarshan Chakra.

    Even after that, Rahu remained alive because he drank the nectar.Rahuketu could not die but his head was separated from his body and his head came to be known as Rahu, while his body came to be known as Ketu.

MENTIONED IN:

  Kurma avatar of Lord Vishnu is mentioned in these Puranas:

1. Vishnu Puran
2. Kurma Puran
3. Padam Puran
4. Bhagwat Puran

                                                              || Om Namo Narayanaya ||

Read more :

1. Sunatnartaka Avatar of Lord Shiva

2. Brahmachari Avatar of Lord Shiva

3. Sureshwar Avatar of Lord Shiva

4. Krishan Darshan Avatar of Lord Shiva

5. Yatinath Avatar of Lord Shiva

Thank you for reading.If you have any query please let me know at : shiv14496@gmail.com

kurma avatar story,kurma avatar of vishnu,why did vishnu take kurma avatar,bhagwan vishnu kurma avatar,kurma avatar temple,what is the story of kurma avatar,why was kurma avatar taken,story behind kurma avatar,what is kurma avatar,kurma avatar drawing,kurma avatar drawing easy,what did kurma avatar do,kurma avatar story in english,kurma avatar short story in english,kurma god