Hindu Mythology Stories

Kurma (Tortoise) Avatar of Lord Vishnu

Kurma is the Sanskrit word for tortoise. Kurma avatar was one of the ten avatars of lord Vishnu, which was in the form of a tortoise, to help save the Samudra Manthan (churning of the ocean).

The Kurma Avatar is the second avatar of Lord Vishnu which came into being during the Satya yuga. It came into existence as half tortoise and half human. It is depicted in the water, holding up the mount Mandara, which was chosen as the churning rod during the Manthan, upon which Lord Vishnu is seated himself.

Story behind Kurma Avatar :

Indra was an exceptionally strong God. He was the lord of Heaven and the leader of the Gods, this got into his head which drove him to become presumptuous and rude towards others. He owned a marvelous elephant, Airavath. At whatever point Indra wanted to leave the heavenly realm, he would travel on Airavath.

On one of his trips away from the heavenly realm on his grand elephant, Indra met Sage Durvasa. Sage Durvasa was a strong and highly respected sage. As he was drenched in reflection the vast majority of the time, he encapsulated gigantic yogic powers; however, he had one downside. Sage Durvasa was extremely hot-headed and reviled people regularly.

Sage Durvasa while venturing to the far corners of the planet had tracked down a fragrant festoon. The blossoms of the wreath never wilted and stayed new consistently. He felt that the leader of all Gods definitely deserved something as rare as this. On seeing Sage Durvasa, Indra briefly welcomed the Sage without showing much respect for him.

Back then, it was standard to recognize learned sages and give them due regard. Sage Durvasa didn't become irate at this. He gave over the festoon to Indra, who put it around his elephant. The latter couldn't stand the strong aroma of the garland and shook it off. This angered the Sage, and he cursed Indra and his fellow Gods that they would lose all their strength and their dominance over the three worlds (Heaven, Hell and Earth) and would be brought down just as the garland was. 

Even though Indra tried his best to apologize, the curse was cast, and Sage Durvasa refused to forgive him. Learning about the incident, King Bali, the lord of Patal Lok (depths of the Earth) attacked Indra Lok (Indra's territory) with a large army. The deities were defeated in the fierce battle that took place, Bali emerging victorious and becoming the King of Indra Lok. Bali and his army brought all the wealth to Patal Lok. The demons could not enjoy the pleasure of enjoying the stolen wealth for long as the whole wealth got submerged into the ocean.

Bali got surprised and asked his teacher Shukracharya (Teacher of the demons) about the reason for all this. Sage Shukracharya revealed to Bali that he could not enjoy the splendors of deities' wealth because he had not performed 100 Ashwamedha Yagnas (horse sacrifice ritual).

On the other hand, afraid and humiliated by their defeat, the Devas at last arrive at Brahma's place, Satyaloka. They told him everything and requested to help them. Brahma was surprised. How is it that Indra could act so egotistically towards an honorable sage? Indra was dejected, miserably, wishing that he had never met Sage Durvasa.

Indra fell on the feet of Brahma and asked him to help the other Gods as he was mindful of the fact that they had been suffering for his misdeed. Lord Brahma understood that there was no use becoming furious at Indra any further and chose not to delve into it. He realized who could fix this. He assured the Gods that only Lord Vishnu could help them out of such a dire situation.

As all the Devas including Indra and Brahma reached Vishnu and explained everything to him, Vishnu said; 'Just the Asuras can help you now... ' Indra snapped his head up. Even Brahma looked somewhat confounded. Vishnu smiled, 'Do you know the privileged insights that are concealed inside our incredible Ocean (Ksheer Sagar) ... '. Every one of the Gods shook their heads.