Churning the ocean of milk
February 25, 2008
When you fly from LA to Chennai via Thai airlines, the first leg of the journey ends in Bangkok which is a truely elegant airport; a great place to wander around for a few hours. In the center of the most expensive section, with the Gucci and Chanel stores, there is a massive display from the Vishnu Purana.
In the story, the demons and gods cooperated to churn the cosmic ocean of milk in order to obtain amrita; or nectar of immortality. Vishnu assumed the form of a turtle on which Mount Mandara was positioned with a snake serving as a rope.
Above you see the demons who had to pull the end with the head of the snake!
Vishnu stands on top.
One of the gods (above) pulling on the tail of the snake (just outside the Chanel store)! The demons (below) don’t seem to be having as much fun.
