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Mount Mandara and the Elixir of Immortality

© Linda Casselman

Last time, we had a look at the mystical and mythical Mount Meru, the sacred mountain of the Hindus and Buddhists. They believed that Mount Meru was the axis of the cosmos, supporting all of the realms of existence. The mythical Meru was represented by the actual Mount Kailas, a peak in the Himalayan mountain range, home of the great god Shiva, whose deep meditation upon this majestic mountain ensured continued existence for all things.

The sublime beauty and majesty of the Himalayan mountains inspired much awe in those who beheld them, so it is not surprising that these mountains were at the core of many of their myths. This week, we are going to have a closer look at one of those myths, one involving Mount Mandara.

After a terrible, catastrophic flood many of the gods' precious things were lost, including, most importantly, the magical elixir of immortality, Amrita. All of the gods gathered on Mount Meru to search for their lost treasures when the god Vishnu came up with a plan. Vishnu came up with the solution of somehow churning the cosmic ocean until all of their treasures emerged. So together with the help of the Asuras or demons they uprooted Mount Mandara and placed it on the back of Kurma, the tortoise. The gods then used the world serpent Vasuki, coiling him around the mountain like a rope and took up the ends to twist the mountain, churning the cosmic ocean.

As the ancient cosmic waters churned, the ocean turned to milk and then to butter, eventually revealing the gods' precious lost treasures. Soon the sacred cow, Surabhi, emerged, then the sun and the moon, followed by the goddess of good fortune, Lakshmi, and the physician of the gods, Dhanvantari, who was holding safe the treasured elixir, Amrita. All of a sudden the demon Rahu snatched the elixir, but quick-thinking Vishnu swiftly chopped off the demon's head and rescued it. Rejoicing in the return of their treasures, the gods drank the elixir restoring their immortal powers and then set Mount Mandara back into its proper place.

With stories like this where the mountains play such an important role in the people's cosmology, we can see why the Himalayas were held so sacred. Indeed, the mountains were regarded so highly that they were personified in the form of a goddess, Parvati.

Parvati means daughter of the mountain, and she was the daughter of god Himavat, king of the Himalayas. Consort of the great god Shiva whose paradise was on Mount Kailas (Mount Meru), Parvati was an aspect of the great mother goddess Devi. Her sister, Ganga, was the goddess of the sacred Ganges River, a river that had its source in the Himalayas and was said to flow through Shiva's hair.