Avatar 2 of 10 · Satya Yuga · सत्य युग
Kurma Avatar · The Tortoise
कूर्म अवतार · कछुआ
The tortoise who held Mount Mandara steady on his back while the ocean of milk was churned for the nectar of immortality.
वह कछुआ जिसने अमृत के लिए क्षीरसागर के मंथन के समय मंदराचल पर्वत को अपनी पीठ पर स्थिर रखा।
The story of Kurma · कूर्म की कथा
The Back That Held the Mountain
After a sage’s curse, the gods had lost their strength and glory. Vishnu advised them to do something surprising: make peace with their rivals, the asuras, and together churn the ocean of milk for amrita, the nectar of immortality.
They uprooted Mount Mandara to use as the churning rod and wound the great serpent Vasuki around it as a rope. The gods held the tail, the asuras the head, and they began to pull. But the mountain had nothing to rest on. With every turn it sank deeper into the ocean, and all their effort was being swallowed by the sea.
Then, beneath the waves, an enormous tortoise slid under the mountain. His shell was wide as an island and steady as the earth itself. Mount Mandara settled on his back, and the churning could go on. For a thousand years the mountain turned, and it is said the tortoise felt the grinding of the rock as nothing more than a pleasant scratching of his back.
The ocean gave up its treasures one by one. First came a dreadful poison, halahala, which Shiva drank to protect the worlds. Then came the wish-granting cow, the moon, Lakshmi herself, and at last Dhanvantari holding the pot of amrita.
The gods and asuras had pulled and strained, and received the glory. The one who made it all possible stayed quietly beneath the waves, unseen and unthanked, content simply to hold what needed holding.
The lesson
The quiet strength that holds others steady is as sacred as any great deed.
Story: Retold from the Bhagavata Purana (8.5–8.9) and the Vishnu Purana
In the scriptures · शास्त्रों में
The original verses, with their romanisation and our own English and Hindi translation.
सुरासुराणामुदधिं मथ्नतां मन्दराचलम् । दध्रे कमठरूपेण पृष्ठ एकादशे विभुः ॥
surāsurāṇāmudadhiṃ mathnatāṃ mandarācalam dadhre kamaṭharūpeṇa pṛṣṭha ekādaśe vibhuḥ
In His eleventh descent, the all-pervading Lord took the form of a tortoise and held Mount Mandara on His back as the gods and asuras churned the ocean.
ग्यारहवें अवतार में सर्वव्यापी प्रभु ने कच्छप रूप धारण कर, समुद्र मथते देवताओं और असुरों के लिए मंदराचल को अपनी पीठ पर धारण किया।
क्षितिरतिविपुलतरे तव तिष्ठति पृष्ठे । धरणिधरणकिणचक्रगरिष्ठे ॥ केशव धृतकच्छपरूप जय जगदीश हरे ॥
kṣitirativipulatare tava tiṣṭhati pṛṣṭhe dharaṇidharaṇakiṇacakragariṣṭhe keśava dhṛtakacchaparūpa jaya jagadīśa hare
The Earth rests on your vast back, made mighty by the circle of scars from bearing her weight. O Keshava, who took the form of a tortoise: victory to you, Hari, lord of the world!
पृथ्वी आपकी अत्यंत विशाल पीठ पर टिकी है, जो उसका भार उठाने के चिह्नों से और भी गरिमामय है। हे केशव, कच्छप रूप धारण करने वाले जगदीश हरि, आपकी जय हो!