Samudra Manthan
Shashi Bikram Shah, 2018
Acrylic on canvas
214 × 118 cm

© Shashi Bikram Shah

This story is as old as our beliefs and traditions. The Samudra Manthan is also known as the war between the Danavs (demons) and Devs (gods).

Gods and demons engaged in a perpetual struggle for the heavenly throne, whereby the gods suffered repeated defeat. Though Indra was the king of the gods, the demons reigned over all three of the worlds that were once the dominions of the gods. To put an end to this misery the gods scoured the ocean for the nectar of immortality, known in Sanskrit as amrit. Gods and demons agreed that once the ocean had been scoured they would share the amrit, along with any other mystical object that may be found. Mount Sumeru would be used as the main pillar for scouring the ocean. And Mount Kailash is regarded as the embodiment on earth of Mount Sumeru.

The king of the snakes, Vasuki, would serve as the rope used for scouring. A turtle appeared to bear the weight of the massive Mount Sumeru. After the fish, this Turtle is regarded as the second avatar of Vishnu. During the scouring, the gods held the tail of Vasuki, while the demons held the head. Legend has it that fourteen mystical objects were produced during the scouring, among them Kamdhenu?, Kalpavriksha?, Eravat the elephant, Uchaihashravas the horse, Amrit, the elixir of immortal life, and the poisonous Halahal. The gods and demons gradually divided these mystical objects between them. The celestial beauty Mohani, however, tricked the demons and delivered the amrit to the gods. Mohani is also thought to be an avatar of Vishnu: the gods believed that by drinking the nectar they would achieve immortality and thus be invincible against the demons.

However, the poison halahal was produced after the amrit. And who was to take the poison? One single drop was capable of destroying all living beings and the Earth itself. But Mahadev (Shiva) and imbibed it all. After consuming the poison Mahadev’s throat turned blue, and hence his name Nilkantha (Blue Throat). The vertigo induced by the poison forces Mahadev to lay down in Kailash. The story is that he later came to Nepal’s Gosaikunda to rest.

Some say the halahal poison produced from the snake’s head destroyed all the demons, though evidently the demons are still among us. Where there are gods, there are demons, where there is immortality there is death, integral elements of the same drama.

This is the chief story of the battles of the gods and demons during the Samudramanthan.

Before becoming a human being one must first pass through a cycle of eighty-four thousand different living beings, including insects, and the scriptures teach that one must first pass through the lives of infinitesimal organisms. According to this doctrine, there are three-hundred-and-thirty-million gods, mere mechanisms for survival. We wish to survive come what may, to which end we desire a stable foundation.