Om Kurmaya Namah
Kurma is the second avatar of Lord Vishnu. The word “Kurma” is a Sanskrit word that means “tortoise” or “turtle”. Kurma prominently appears in the legend of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, referred to as the Samudra Manthana. Kurma is similar to Akupara, the world turtle supporting the Earth.
In the legend of the Samudra Manthana, the devas and asuras were churning the Ocean of Milk to obtain amrita, the nectar of immortality. They used the mountain Mandara as the churning shaft, which started to sink. Vishnu took the form of a tortoise to bear the weight of the mountain to allow them to complete their task.
The Dashavataras are compared to evolution; Kurma – the amphibian – is regarded as the next stage after Matysa, the fish.
Iconography
The Samudra Manthana is popular in iconography and even found in South East Asia. Notable depictions include the relief at Angkor Wat with Vishnu and Kurma in the centre and the gods and demons on either side churning the ocean.
Kurma is depicted either zoomorphically as a tortoise.
In the anthropomorphic form, the upper half is that of the four-armed man and the lower half is a fish. The upper half resembles Vishnu and wears the traditional ornaments and the kirita-mukuta (tall conical crown) as worn by Vishnu. He holds in two of his hands the Sudarshana chakra (discus) and a shankha (conch), the usual weapons of Vishnu. The other two hands make the gestures of varadamudra, which grants boons to the devotee, and abhayamudra, which reassures the devotee of protection.
Legends:
Kashyapa – Vedic literature such as the Samaveda and Yajurveda explicitly state that Akupara/Kurma and the sage Kashyapa are Synonymous. Kashyapa – also meaning ‘Tortoise’ – is considered the Progenitor of all living beings with his thirteen wives, including vegetation. Kashyapa is one of the Saptarishi (seven sages).
The legend of the churning of the Ocean of Milk (Samudra Manthana) involves other sons of Kashyapa: the devas/Aditya (born from Aditi) and the asuras/Danavas/Daityas (born from Danu and Diti) use one of the Naga (born from Kadru) as a churning rope to obtain Amrita. Garuda, the king of birds and mount of Vishnu, is another son of Kashyapa (born from Vinata) often mentioned in this legend.
Mahabharata – In the Adi Parva Book of the epic Mahabharata, the god Narayana suggests the gods (devas) and the demons (asuras) churn the ocean to obtain amrita (ambrosia) as both of them seek immortality. The gods select Mount Mandara as the churning rod and the serpent Vasuki-Ananta as the rope. Then they approach Kurma-raja, the king of tortoises to support the mount on its back, to which it consented.
The Ramayana briefly mentions the Samudra Manthana episode, however does not mention Kurma in it. The epic mentions the ocean churned being the ocean of milk, the Kshirasagara. A passage refers to Kurma as well as the drinking of the poison by Shiva. The mount Mandara sinks to Patala (the underworld) during the churning. On the beseeching of the gods, Vishnu takes the form of the tortoise and raises the mount on his back. Vishnu also supports the mount as holding its peak in one form and another form joins the gods in churning the ocean.
The tale of Vishnu appearing as Kurma to support the sinking Mandara mountain is narrated in a chapter in the Agni Purana dedicated to Samudra Manthana.
A similar narrative is also given in the Vishnu Purana; Vishnu is described to participate in the churning in many forms – Kurma as the base of the mount, in one form he sits on top of Mandara and in other forms, helps the gods and the demons pull the serpentine rope.
The Brahmanda Purana states that Vishnu in the form of Brahma supports the mount; while Narayana invigorates the gods. The Vayu Purana and the Padma Purana have similar narratives.
The Bhagavata Purana describes the form of Vishnu as Ajita, the son of Vairaja and Sambhuti, who assumed the form of the tortoise to rescue Mandara from drowning. He is further called the first tortoise. In another instance, it states that the ocean tides are the result of the breathing of Kurma, who had become drowsy due to the scratching of Mandara on his back.
Samudra Manthana is alluded to briefly in the Kurma Purana, the Linga Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana and the Shiva Purana.
In the tale of the battle between the demon Bhandasura and the goddess Lalita in the Brahmanda Purana, Lalita creates Kurma to shelter her goddess army who was drowning in the ocean, created by a weapon used by the demon.
In the Agni Purana, the Shaligram stone for Kurma is described as black in colour with circular lines and an elevated hinder part.
The Agni Purana, the Markendeya Purana, the Vishnu Purana and the Brahma Purana state that Vishnu resides in Bharata in the form of Kurma. TheMarkendeya Purana gives a detailed description of various lands of the region and constellations and zodiac stars corresponding to nine parts of the tortoise – mouth, four feet, tail, centre and two sides of its belly. The Bhagavata Purana states Vishnu stays as Kurma in the Himalayan continent (Hiraṇmaya-varsa).
The Linga Purana, the Varaha Purana and the Shiva Purana mention Kurma as second in its Dashavatara listing.
The Vishnu Sahasranama version from the Garuda Purana mentions Kurma as an epithet of Vishnu. He is associated with the south-western direction.
