Rāmāyana | Bala Kaṇḍa | Chapter 45

Sargam [Chapter]: 45
Ocean Churning Story

[Rāma and Lakshmana cross Ganges and reach the town of Vaishali. There Viśvāmitra tells the story of churning the ocean by sons of Diti and Āditi. He tells the story in great detail.]

Rāma and Lakshmana after hearing the story were greatly surprised and Rāma told to Viśvāmitra. 45.1

"Oh Godly sage, the blessed and divine story of the descent of Ganga and her filling up of sea is extremely wonderful " 45.2

That night, along with Lakshmana, they kept on thinking about the story narrated by Viśvāmitra and the night came to an end. 45.3

Rāma, who is destroyer of the enemies, in the clear morning, after completing the rituals of the morning, told sage Viśvāmitra. 45.4

"Oh sage of great penance, having heard the great story, fit to be listened to, the glorious night has passed. Thinking and rethinking over the complete story, both of us felt as if the night was just a short time." 45.5

"Let us all cross this sacred River Ganga, which is the best among rivers and which flows in all the three worlds. The boat, which is furnished well, would come here quickly, hearing that all of us have come and the sages can easily cross the river by that." 45.6-45.7

Hearing the words of great Rāma, arrangements were made to cross the river for Rāma and Lakshmana along with the sages. 45.8

After reaching the northern bank of river, the sages paid homage to river Ganga and camped there. From there, they were able to see the city of Vaishali. 45.9

Then the great sage, along with Rāma, went speedily in to the city, which was broad, pretty and heaven like. 45.10

Then the greatly knowledgeable Rāma, with folded hands, asked the great saint about the city of Vaishali. 45.11

"Oh great sage, may you be safe, I have great desire and curiosity to know as to which King's clan is ruling over this broad city of Vaishali." 45.12

That great sage, after hearing the words of Rāma, started telling about the old city of Vaishali. 45.13

"Oh Rāma, please hear the auspicious story of Indra, which I am going to tell you. I will also tell you about what happened to this city." 45.14

"Oh great Rāma, in the earlier Kritā Yuga, the sons of Diti were strong and those of Āditi were valorous; they were followers of Dharma." 45.15

"Oh great man, a thought came in their mind as to how all of them could get rid of old age as well as death and disease." 45.16

"Oh Rāma, when they were thinking about this matter, a thought stuck in the minds of some of the great among them that, "we can obtain the nectar for immortality by churning the ocean of milk." 45.17

"Then those people, with great lustre after deciding to churn the ocean of milk, made Mandāra Mountain as the churning rod and the snake Vāsuki as the churning rope and started churning the ocean of milk." 45.18

"After one thousand years of churning Vāsuki, the serpent rope started biting stones and its hood spit out poison." 45.19

"That Halāhala poison, which was resembling fire, which was produced by the snake, started burning the entire world consisting of devas, asuras and human beings." 45.20

"Then devas went and surrendered themselves to the great God Śaṅkara, the lord of all being, and requested him, "Please save us, save us." 45.21

"There upon, Lord Vishnu, who was the God of Gods, to whom they had spoken and entreated, appeared there holding the conch and discuss." 45.22

"God Hari with a smile approached the God, who was holding the trident, and spoke, "Oh Chief of devas, since you were born the earliest among devas, the first thing that is produced by the churning of ocean, by right, becomes yours. We consider this venom as the offering that we received and so kindly take it." 45.23-45.24

"After saying this, Lord Vishnu, the noble deva, vanished from there. Lord Shiva seeing the fear of devas and having heard the words of Lord Vishnu received that Halāhala poison as if it was nectar." 45.25

"Then Shiva, the Lord of Devas, went back to his home and devas and asuras resumed the churning." 45.26

"Oh blemish less one, the Mandāra Mountain, which was used as the churning rod, sank in to Paṭala and there upon devas and Gandharvas prayed to Vishnu, the killer of Madhu." 45.27

"Oh great one, you are the only support to all beings, especially devas, so protect us and lift this Mountain which has sunk." 45.28

"That Hari, who is the great Hrishīkesa, having heard these words assumed the form of a tortoise, went inside the ocean and supported the Mandāra Mountain on his back." 45.29

"The soul of the world, the greatest Purusha, that Keśava, standing aloft, with his hand, started churning the Mountain also." 45.30

"After another thousand years, first an Apsarā called Dhanvantarī holding a staff and water pot came out of the ocean." 45.31

"Oh great human being, a great lady came out of the ocean, which was being churned and because of that she was called Apsarā." 45.32

"Like this, sixty crores of such Apsarās were produced and they had countless attendants." 45.33

"None of devas and asuras accepted them in marriage and as they were unmarried, all of them were regarded as belonging to all." 45.34

"Oh Rāma, the son of Rāghu clan, Vāruṇī, the daughter of Varuṇa came out searching for a consort." 45.35

"Oh Rāma, that daughter of Varuṇa, was not accepted by the sons of Diti and that blemish less one was accepted by the sons of Āditi." 45.36

"Because of that, the sons of Diti became asuras [one without Sura] and the sons of Āditi, because they accepted Vāruṇī, became Suras and Vāruṇī became happy." 45.37

"Oh great human being, Uchaisravas, the best of horses, Kaustubha the best among jewels and the beneficial Amritā [nectar] then arose from there." 45.38

"Oh Rāma, thereafter, the great war for destroying the clans took place and sons of Āditi killed the sons of Diti [Daityas]." 45.39

"Oh valorous one, all the Rākṣasas joined along with the asuras on one side and a dreadful war took place, putting all the three worlds in to confusion." 45.40

"When everything was about to perish, endowed with great power, Lord Vishnu took the form of a charming woman called Mohinī [enchantress] using his power of illusion and stole the pot of nectar." 45.41

"That deathless great Purusha Vishnu started war with those in front of him and they were all crushed by the capable Vishnu." 45.42

"In the great battle between the sons of Diti and the sons of Āditi, the later killed the former." 45.43

"Then Indra got the celestial kingdom, after killing the sons of Diti, and happily ruled the world with the sages and the Chāraṇas." 45.44

This is the end of Forty Fifth Sarga of Bala Kanda which occurs in Holy Rāmāyaṇa composed by Vālmīki as the First Epic.