The new Parliament has a 75 feet metallic artwork displaying the Samudra Manthan, or the great churning of the ocean of milk, an incident from Hindu mythology. The image is clearly inspired by the Samudra Manthan found on the walls of the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, built over eight centuries ago. There are far more Samudra Manthan images found in Southeast Asia than in India, and this remains a huge mystery.
How sculpture changes
If one looks at the many Samudra Manthan images of Southeast Asia we notice it shows the Devas and the Asuras who seem like twins. There is no attempt to make the Asuras look like monsters. They remain half brothers of the Devas, sons of Kashyapa, grandsons of Brahma, and therefore lookalikes. Vishnu is enabling the churning but there is no sign of Lakshmi emerging from the ocean during the churning process, as per the familiar story. The only indicator of the Asura is that they catch the head-end of the serpent, while the Devas catch the tail-end.
The few Amrita Manthan images found in India, from between the 5th and 10th century, were found in Chamba in Himachal Pradesh, in the Chalukya temples of Karnataka, in Garhwa fort near Prayagraj, in the Modhera sun temple of Gujarat and in the Padhavali Shiva temple in Morena, Madhya Pradesh. These shows the turtle and the churning of the ocean. Despite being a grand event, it is not given a prominent place in the temple. Even here Asuras do not appear monstrous, and the turtle takes centre stage, but there are no signs of Lakshmi or the other jewels that emerge from the ocean of milk.
The 17th century Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple — the family deity of Nagar Brahmins — in Gujarat’s Vadnagar, also has an image of Samudra Manthan but here the Asuras are given animal heads to make them look like monsters. And the role of Devas is played by Brahma and Shiva of the Hindu trinity, who are traditionally located as higher in the hierarchy, much above Devas and Asuras. The artists here were mimicking similar portrayals found in miniature paintings of the Samudra Manthan inspired by Persian notions of demons. These Persian notions of painting Asuras as monsters began in the Mughal court workshops.
The origin of the story
The story of Samudra Manthan really comes to us from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. In the Ramayana, Brahma advises the Devas to churn the ocean of milk for amrita, the nectar of immortality, if they want to outsmart death. But they need to work with their half brothers — the Asuras — to do it. Together they churn the ocean using the cosmic mountain, Meru Mandar, and the serpent Vasuki.
In Mahabharata, Vishnu plays a key role, advising the enterprise as well as cooperation with the Asuras. Vishnu’s serpent Ananta breaks the base of Mandara and Akupara, king of turtles, prevents the mountain from sinking and, as in Ramayana, Vasuki has the churning role.
In both epics, Shiva is called to drink the poison. While in Ramayana, the poison released is spewed out by Vasuki, in the Mahabharata the poison emerges from the waters. In Mahabharata, Ananta strikes Vasuki forcing him to release flames that heats the Asuras but causes cooling rain to fall on the Devas. In both epics, Vishnu as Mohini enchants the Asuras and the Devas and gives amrita only the Devas, resulting in their never-ending battles.
How the story changes
In the Puranas, many changes are introduced. In Vishnu Puran, the poison is consumed by the serpents of the world, while Shiva claims the moon. The turtle gets identified with Vishnu and becomes the second of Vishnu’s 10 avatars.
In later stories, the churning is not about amrita or the nectar of immortality as much as of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, that the gods want. Her presence transforms the realm of the Devas into Swarga or Paradise. In Devi Bhagavata, Durvasa was annoyed when Indra callously dropped the garland of flowers he had given. So he cursed Indra and Lakshmi disappeared from paradise into the ocean of milk, prompting the churning of the ocean. It was primarily an exercise to churn her out. Thus, Lakshmi takes centre stage.
In Bhagavata Purana, Lakshmi comes out of the ocean of milk and chooses Vishnu as her husband. As the idea of rebirth became popular, the pot of amrita was downplayed and greater value was placed on Dhanvantari, god of Ayurveda, who carries amrita in his hand, and became identified as another form of Vishnu.
There are many variations of the story. The lists of the treasures that emerge from the ocean are different in different books. These ‘jewels’ are clearly linked to the jewels linked to the Chakravarti in Buddhist lore. Over time they embody the four goals of Hindu spiritual life — Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha.
Dharma is embodied by symbols of kingship, like the elephant, the horse, the bow, the umbrella
Artha is embodied in the cow Surabhi, the tree Parijat, the jewel Kaustubha, the earnings of Aditi
Kama or pleasure is embodied in the form of the Apsaras and the moon — the handsome Soma — as well as Nidra, the goddess of sleep, and Varuni, the goddess of wine
Moksha is embodied in the poison that is consumed by Shiva
There are even regional versions of how the ocean of milk produced Tara, the beautiful wife of Sugriva and Vali, who is good in diplomacy. In Tamil lore, the ocean reveals not just nectar and poison but also the twin sisters Lakshmi and Alakshmi (or Mudevi), the former bringing prosperity and the latter bringing sloth and quarrels to the household.
Eventually, the Devas take all the jewels to Swarga, the paradise. The Asuras are pushed underground into Patala. The Asuras never forgive their half-brothers and so keep attacking Swarga. Paradise is prosperous and is never at peace. Were the ancient rishis talking about the eternal conflict of the haves and the have-nots? We can only speculate. Those who disagree insist that Devas were good and Asuras were bad, but there is no evidence to show moral difference between the two sets of Brahma’s grandchildren.
Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist, author and communicator whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, religion, mythology, and management.