Making men pay for the pranks of Krishna - Lath Maar Holi!

Every year around this time, Barsana, a small town in the Mathura district of the state of Uttar Pradesh comes alive; tourists from around the world flock the city; everyone who sees the sight is mesmerised at this event which has no such parallel in the world.

I am talking about the Lath Maar Holi which takes place every year around Holi.

[caption id="attachment_683" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Yashoda and Krishna[/caption]

According to mythological legends and stories, Lord Krishna who was dark in colour, was jealous of the fair-coloured Radha. He used to bring this up in front of his mother Yashoda all the time. (The sentiments are beautifully brought out in this super hit song from the 1978 movie Satyam Shivam Sundaram starring Shashi Kapoor and Zeenat Aman and sung by Lata Mangeshkar )

One fine day Yashoda maiyya lost patience and ‘advised’ Krishna that he could change Radha's skin by sprinkling her with colours.

Encouraged by the ‘idea’, Krishna along with his shepherd friends visited Radha and her cowherd girls in Barsana and teased her by throwing colours at her. Radha and the girls got back at the boys and chased them away with lathis (sticks).

[caption id="attachment_684" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Holi at Barsana[/caption]

This practice has continued in the town of Barsana ever since. In the Lathmar Holi festival, the men from Nandgaon first come to the neighbouring village of Barsana to play Holi with the women there. But instead of colours, they are greeted with sticks. On the second day, men from Barsana travel to Nandgaon to play the game with their women.

[caption id="attachment_687" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bachke Rehna Re Baba[/caption]

Even after thousands of years, the women of Barsana are making the men of Nandgaon pay for the natkhat pranks of Krishna :)

The Great Night of Lord Shiva - Maha Shivratri

Om Tryambakam Yajamahe Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat

Meaning - We meditate on the Three-eyed reality which permeates and nourishes all like a fragrance. May we be liberated from death for the sake of immortality, even as a cucumber is severed from bondage to the creeper.

Maha Shivratri is a Hindu festival celebrated every year in reverence of Lord Shiva.

Shivaratri literally means 'the great night of Shiva'.

It is celebrated every year on the 13th night/14th day of the Phalguna month of the Hindu calendar.

The festival is principally celebrated by offerings of Bael or Bilva/Vilvam leaves to Lord Shiva, all-day fasting and an all-night-long vigil.

Numerous legends are associated with the origin of Maha Shivratri.

1. Marriage of Shiva and Shakti

[caption id="attachment_674" align="aligncenter" width="298"] Shiva and Shakti[/caption]

Legend goes that once Lord Shiva and his wife Sati (or Shakti) were returning from sage Agastya’s ashram after listening to story of Ram. On their way through a forest, Shiva saw Lord Rama searching for his wife Sita who had been kidnapped by Ravana, the King of Lanka. Lord Shiva bowed his head in reverence to Lord Rama. Sati was surprised by Lord Shiva’s behavior and inquired why he was paying obeisance to a mere mortal. Shiva informed Sati that Rama was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Sati, however, was not satisfied with the reply and Lord asked her to go and verify the truth for herself.

Using her power to change forms, Sati took the form of Sita appeared before Rama. Lord Rama immediately recognized the true identity of the Goddess and asked, "Devi, why are you alone, where's Shiva?" At this, Sati realized the truth about Lord Ram. But, Sita was like a mother to Lord Shiva and since Sati took the form of Sita her status had changed. From that time, Shiva detached himself from her as a wife. Sati was sad with the change of attitude of Lord Shiva but she stayed on at Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva.

Later, Sati’s father Daksha organised a yagna, but did not invite Sati or Shiva as he had an altercation with Shiva in the court of Brahma. But, Sati who wanted to attend the Yagna, went even though Lord Shiva did not appreciate the idea. To hre great anguish, Daksha ignored her presence and did not even offer Prasad for Shiva. Sati felt humiliated and was struck with profound grief. She jumped into the yagna fire and immolated herself.

Lord Shiva became extremely furious when he heard the news of Sati’s immolation. Carrying the body of Sati, Shiva began to perform Rudra Tandava or the dance of destruction and wiped out the kingdom of Daksha. Everybody was terrified as Shiva’s Tandava had the power to destroy the entire universe. In order to calm Lord Shiva, Vishnu severed Sati's body into 12 pieces and threw them on earth.

Lord Siva was now alone undertook rigorous penance and retired to the Himalayas. Sati took a re-birth as Parvati in the family of God Himalaya. She performed penance to break Shiva’s meditation and win his attention. It is said that Parvati, who found it hard to break Shiva’s meditation seeked help of Kamadeva - the God of Love and Passion. Kaamadeva asked Parvati to dance in front of Shiva. When Parvati danced, Kaamadeva shot his arrow of passion at Shiva breaking his penance. Shiva became extremely infuriated and opening his third eye that reduced Kaamadeva to ashes. It was only after Kamadeva’s wife Rati’s pleading that Lord Shiva agreed to revive Kaamadeva.

Later, Parvati undertook severe penance to win over Shiva. Through her devotion and persuasion by sages devas, Parvati, also known as Uma, was finally able to lure Shiva into marriage and away from asceticism. Their marriage was solemnized a day before Amavasya in the month of Phalgun. This day of union of God Shiva and Parvati is celebrated as Mahashivratri every year.

2. Neelkantha and Samudra Manthan

[caption id="attachment_675" align="aligncenter" width="203"] Lord Shiva drinking Halahala[/caption]

During the Samudra Manthan, a pot of poison emerged from the ocean. (detailed post here) This terrified the Gods and demons as the poison was capable of destroying the entire world, and they ran to Shiva for help. To protect the world from its evil effects, Shiva drank the deathly poison but held it in his throat instead of swallowing it. This made his throat turn blue, and he was given the name Neelakantha, the blue-throated one. Shivaratri is the celebration of this event by which Shiva saved the world.

3. Lingam and the battle for 'Greatness'

Once the other two of the triads of Hindu Gods, Brahma and Vishnu, were fighting over who was the superior of the two. Horrified at the intensity of the battle, the other gods asked Shiva to intervene. To make them realize the futility of their fight, Shiva assumed the form of a huge column of fire in between Brahma and Vishnu. Awestruck by its magnitude, they decided to find one end each to establish supremacy over the other. Brahma assumed the form of a swan and went upwards and Vishnu as Varaha went into the earth. But light has no limit and though they searched for thousands of miles, neither could find the end. On his journey upwards, Brahma came across a Ketaki flower wafting down slowly. When asked where she had come from, the Ketaki replied that she had been placed at the top of the fiery column as an offering. Unable to find the uppermost limit, Brahma decided to end his search and take the flower as a witness.

At this, the angry Shiva revealed his true form. He punished Brahma for telling a lie, and cursed him that no one would ever pray to him. The Ketaki flower too was banned from being used as an offering for any worship, as she had testified falsely. Since it was on the 14th day in the dark half of the month of Phalguna that Shiva first manifested himself in the form of a Linga, the day is especially auspicious and is celebrated as Mahashivaratri. Worshipping Shiva on this day is believed to bestow one with happiness and prosperity.

4. Lord Shiva's Favourite Day

After Creation was complete, Parvati asked Lord Shiva which devotees and rituals pleased him the most. The Lord replied that the 14th night of the new moon, in the dark fortnight during the month of Phalgun, is his most favourite day. Parvati repeated these words to her friends, from whom the word spread over everywhere.

On this auspicious day, lets bow down to Bholenath and seek his blessings.

Har Har Mahadeva :)

CERN and Lord Nataraja

[caption id="attachment_659" align="aligncenter" width="244"] Nataraja - The Lord of Dance[/caption]

"It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of."

[caption id="attachment_664" align="aligncenter" width="210"] Statue of Nataraja at CERN[/caption]

In June 2004, an unusual new landmark was unveiled at CERN, the European Center for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva — a 2m tall statue of Lord Shiva in his Nataraja form. The statue, symbolizing Shiva's cosmic dance of creation and destruction acknowledged the profound significance of the metaphor of Shiva's dance for the cosmic dance of subatomic particles, which is observed and analyzed by CERN's physicists.

The man who started the discussion of the parallel between Shiva's dance and the dance of subatomic particles was Fritjof Capra, an Austrian-born American physicist and the founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. In an article titled "The Dance of Shiva: The Hindu View of Matter in the Light of Modern Physics" published in Main Currents in Modern Thought in 1972.

[caption id="attachment_660" align="aligncenter" width="195"] The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capara[/caption]

Shiva's cosmic dance then became a central metaphor in Capra's international bestseller The Tao of Physics, first published in 1975 and still in print in over 40 editions around the world.

"Fritjof Capra, in The Tao of Physics , seeks . . . an integration of the mathematical world view of modern physics and the mystical visions of Buddha and Krishna. Where others have failed miserably in trying to unite these seemingly different world views, Capra, a high-energy theorist, has succeeded admirably. I strongly recommend the book to both layman and scientist."

In the words of Mr. Capra -

"Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter," and that "For the modern physicists, then, Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter."

"Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics."

The place which helped Lord Shiva get rid of the heat when he drank the Halahala - Gosaikunda Lake

[caption id="attachment_653" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lord Shiva drinking Halahala[/caption]

One of the products that came out of the Samudra Manthan was Halaha (poison). The poison was so powerful that it could annihilate the entire universe. And it was the Maha Yogi, Lord Shiva who came to the rescue of everyone and inhaled the poison. As a result, the color of Lord Shiva's neck turned blue giving him the name "Nilakanta" (the one with the blue throat). When the heat from the poison finally became unbearable for Lord Shiva, he used his trishul to dig for water, thus forming the Gosaikunda Lake.

[caption id="attachment_654" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Gosaikunda Lake[/caption]

Gosaikunda is an alpine freshwater oligotrophic lake in Langtang National Park, located at an altitude of 14,370 ft above sea level in the Rasuwa District of Nepal.

The lake melts and sips down to form the Trishuli river and remains frozen for six months in winter October to June. There are 108 lakes in this area, small to medium in size.

Hindu mythology attributes Gosaikunda as the abode of Hindu deities Lord Shiva and Goddess Gauri. Its holy waters are considered of particular significance during Gangadashahara and the sacred thread festival Janai Purnima when thousands of pilgrims from Nepal and India visit the area.

Gosaikunda is a significant place of interest in the Dhunche-Helambu trekking route.

How 'Churning of the water body' connects Japanase and Hindu mythologies!

In Japanese mythology, the Japanese creation myth, Tenchikaibyaku ("Creation of Heaven and Earth"), is the story that describes the legendary birth of the celestial and earthly world, the birth of the first Gods and the birth of the Japanese archipelago.

Two books namely Kojiki, the first book written in Japan (712 AD), and the Nihon Shoki (720 AD) form the literary basis of Japanese mythology and Shinto.

According to the Kojiki, at the beginning the universe was immersed in a beaten and shapeless kind of matter (chaos), sunk in silence. Later there were sounds indicating the movement of particles. With this movement, the light and the lightest particles rose but the particles were not as fast as the light and could not go higher. Thus, the light was at the top of the Universe, and below it, the particles formed first the clouds and then Heaven, which was to be called Takamagahara (“High Plain of Heaven"). The rest of the particles that had not risen formed a huge mass, dense and dark, to be called Earth.

When Takamagahara was formed, five deities known as Kotoamatsukami appeared spontaneously.

Subsequently two other gods arose after which five pairs of gods were born (total of ten deities), each pair consisting of a male deity and a female deity.

All these 12 deities are collectively called as Kamiyonanayo ( "Seven Divine Generations").

Following the creation of Heaven and Earth and the appearance of these primordial gods, the last pair of the Kamiyonanayo - Izanagi and Izanami went on to create the Japanese archipelago (Kuniumi) and gave birth to a large number of gods (Kamiumi).

[caption id="attachment_644" align="aligncenter" width="135"] Izanami and Izanagi churning the sea[/caption]

To help them to achieve this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a Naginata decorated with jewels, named Ame-no-nuboko ("Heavenly Jeweled Spear"). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi ("Floating Bridge of Heaven") and churned the sea below with the halberd ( two-handed pole weapon).

Drops of salty water formed the island, Onogoro ("self-forming"). The deities descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually, they fell in love and wished to procreate.

From their union were born the Oyashima, or the eight great islands of Japan:

[caption id="attachment_645" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 8 Islands of Ancient Japan[/caption]

1. Awaji
2. Iyo
3. Oki
4. Tsukushi
5. Iki
6. Tsushima
7. Sado
8. Yamato

Thus we see that the concept of “churning a water body” is also present in mythologies other than that of the Hindus.

How Sage Vashishtha brought down River Gomti on Earth

There is an interesting tale describing how sage Vashishtha had brought down Gomti from the heaven to earth.

At the time of deluge when the whole world had submerged in water, a lotus flower manifested from Lord Vishnu's navel on which was seated Brahma. Lord Vishnu instructed him to perform his duty as a creator to which Brahma agreed.

First of all Brahma created his manasputras and sought their help in increasing the population of the world by becoming householders. But, all of them were extremely virtuous and did not show any inclination towards getting married.

Ultimately all of them went to the western coast and engaged themselves in austere penance. Their penance continued for a number of years after which 'Sudarshan Chakra' appeared before them. As all of them looked up in bewilderment, they heard a heavenly voice - "O sons of Brahma! Very soon the almighty Vishnu is going to manifest himself. The 'Chakra' you are seeing is his. You all must perform the rituals of 'ardhya' in the name of Lord Vishnu to show your reverence towards him."

All the Manasputras eulogized Sudarshan-Chakra with deep devotion. All of them wished that there were a holy river, with whose water they could perform the rituals of ardhya. But to their utter dismay there was no such holy river nearby. They then remembered Lord Brahma, who immediately understood what they desired.

Lord Brahma instructed Ganga by saying - "Ganga! Go to the earth, where you would be known as Gomti. Sage Vashishth will lead you to your destination. Just follow him like a daughter follows her father."

Finally, when sage Vashishth followed by Gomti reached their destination, all the Manasputras were delighted. They eulogized Ganga and expressed their gratitude to Vashishth for bringing Ganga on earth.

All of them thanked Vashishth by saying - "Since you have brought Gomti on earth, you would be considered as her father."

They offered 'ardhya' to Gomti and subsequently eulogized Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu appeared after being pleased and blessed them - "Your unflinching devotion in me has pleased me no bound. Since you did this penance with the objective of Moksha (salvation), this place would become famous as Moksha Dayak (giver of salvation). This sacrosanct place would also be called Chakra teerth because of Sudarshan chakra, who informed you all of my manifestation on earth. I assure you that I won't abandon this sacrosanct place even for a moment."

This way, all the Manasputras were finally successful in their objective of offering ardhya to Lord Vishnu with the holy water of Gomti. At last, Gomti having fulfilled her mission for which she had descended down to Earth merged with the ocean. Lord Vishnu disappeared from there and Manasputras continued to live there.

 

A to Z of Samudra Manthan

As discussed in the previous post, the Devtas were greatly depleted of their powers due to the curse on Indra by Sage Durvasa. The Asuras thought of this as the most opportune time to strike and attacked Swarga.

The Devtas were outclassed by the Asuras on the battlefield and had to flee to save their lives. They approached Lord Brahma to help them.

Lord Brahma in turn directed the Devtas to Lord Vishnu.

The sixth Manu (more on this term later) was Caksusha, the son of Cakshu Manu. During the reign of this Manu, Mantradruma was Indra. The wife of Vairaja, whose name was Devasambhuti, gave birth to an incarnation of Lord Vishnu named Ajita (meaning invincible).

Lord Vishnu (Ajita) advised the Devtas to make a peace proposal to the Asuras, so that after formulating a truce, the Devtas and Asuras could churn the ocean of milk (ksheer sagar) for Amrita. The rope would be the biggest serpent, known as Vasuki, and the churning rod would be Mandara Mountain.

[caption id="attachment_605" align="aligncenter" width="221"] Vasuki[/caption]

He directed that all sorts of medicinal herbs should be cast into the sea of milk and then taking the mountain Mandara for the churning-stick and the serpent Vasuki for the rope the ocean should be churned.

Following the instructions of Lord Vishnu the Devtas joined hands with Maharaja Bali, the King of the Asuras. Then both the Asuras and the Devtas started for the ocean, taking Mandara Mountain with them. Because of the great heaviness of the mountain, the Devtas and Asuras soon became fatigued, and some of them even died.

[caption id="attachment_603" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lord Vishnu and Garuda carrying Mandara mountain[/caption]

To help with lifting of the Mandara Mountain,Lord Vishnu appeared on the back of his carrier, Garuda, and placed it on the back of Garuda. Garuda along with Vishnu carried the mountain to the spot of the churning and placed it in the middle of the sea. Then Vishnu asked Garuḍa to leave that place because as long as Garuda was present, Vasuki (a snake) could not come there.

Lord Brahma was requested to sit on top of the Mandara Mountain to provide balance. The Devtas and Asuras then summoned Vasuki, king of the serpents. They coiled Vasuki around Mandara Mountain as a churning rope.

The leaders of the Asuras thought it unwise to hold the tail, the inauspicious portion of the snake and protested that they wanted to hold the front of the snake. The Devtas agreed to this demand.

[caption id="attachment_607" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Asuras and Devtas all set to begin the Samudra Manthan[/caption]

After thus adjusting how the snake was to be held, the sons of Kashyapa, both Devtas and Asuras, (a post on this will follow soon) started the process of churning the ocean of milk.

The Mandara Mountain had no support, and therefore although held by the strong hands of the Devtas and Asuras, it sank into the water.

[caption id="attachment_600" align="aligncenter" width="261"] Kurma Avatar[/caption]

This is when Lord Vishnu took his Kurma Avatar and taking the shape of a tortoise, entered the water, and lifted the great Mandara Mountain. The mountain rested on the back of the great tortoise, which extended for eight hundred thousand miles like a large island.

Such is the leela of Lord Vishnu that the rolling of the mountain on the tortoise was just a means of scratching his body, and thus he felt a pleasing sensation.

This action by Lord Vishnu enlivened and energised the Devtas and Asuras and the churning of the samudra resumed.

Vasuki had thousands of eyes and mouths. From his mouths he breathed smoke and blazing fire, which affected the Asuras, headed by Pauloma, Kaleya, Bali and Ilvala. Thus the Asuras gradually became powerless.

After struggling for years, the first item to come out of the ocean was halahala (poison).

[caption id="attachment_608" align="aligncenter" width="212"] Lord Siva drinking the Halahala[/caption]

The poison was so venomous that the whole world started getting inflamed by it. This halahala was the most vicious and venomous poison of universe and it started killing both sides. As no one could bear the poisonous fumes emitted by the poison, both Devas and Asuras began to collapse due to asphyxiation. They ran for help to Brahma, who looked to Vishnu for advice. Vishnu said that only Shiva could digest the deadly poison. So both parties went to Kailasha and prayed to Lord Shiva for help. Shiva chose to consume the poison and thus drank it. His wife Parvati, alarmed, stopped it in his throat with her hands, thus earning him the name Vishakantha (the one who held poison in his throat). The poison made his throat turn blue; hence, he is also known as Nilakantha (the one with a blue throat).

Gosaikunda lake is believed to have formed from the digging of the land by the Trishul of Lord Shiva, as after he drank the poison, he desperately wanted cold water to quench the thirst generated due to overwhelming heat of the poison.

It is believed that the scorpions, cobras, poisonous drugs and other animals whose bites are poisonous took the opportunity to drink whatever little poison had fallen and scattered from Lord Shiva's hand while he was drinking.

After the halahala was consumed by Lord Shiva thus saving everyone’s lives, the Devtas and Asuras once again resumed churning the ocean with renewed vigour.

[caption id="attachment_609" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Kamadhenu or Surabhi[/caption]

After some time a cow known as Kamadhenu or Surabhi appeared. Great sages who were completely aware of the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies took charge of the Surabhi cow, which produced all the yogurt, milk and ghee absolutely necessary for offering oblations into the fire.

[caption id="attachment_610" align="aligncenter" width="178"] Uchaishravas[/caption]

The next thing to emerge from the samudra was a horse named Uccaihsrava, a seven-headed flying horse. Bali Maharaja desired to possess this horse, and Indra agreed.

[caption id="attachment_611" align="aligncenter" width="264"] Airavata[/caption]

The next thing to be generated was eight great he-elephants headed by Airavata and eight she-elephants, headed by Abhramu. Indra decided to have Airavata as his mount. Abhramu became the wife of Airavata.

After the elephants came the celebrated gems Kaustubha-mani and Padmaraga-mani. The Devtas and Asuras decided to gift the the most valuable jewel in the world, the Kaustubha-mani to Lord Vishnu.

[caption id="attachment_612" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Parijat flower[/caption]

Generated next was the Parijat flower, a divine flowering tree with blossoms that never fade or wilt. The Parijat tree was taken to Indraloka by the Devas.

[caption id="attachment_613" align="aligncenter" width="222"] Apsaras[/caption]

Next there appeared the Apsaras lead by Rambha, Menaka, Punjisthala etc. They were fully decorated with golden ornaments and lockets and were dressed in fine and attractive clothing. They chose the Devtas as their companions.

[caption id="attachment_614" align="aligncenter" width="193"] Goddess Lakshmi[/caption]

Then there appeared the Goddess of fortune, Lakshmi. She accepted Lord Vishnu as her eternal consort.

Next appeared Varuni or Sura, the Goddess and creator of alcohol which was claimed by the ignorant Asuras.

In addition to the above mentioned treasures which came from the samudra manthan, according to different sources of literature the following items are also attributed to have come out of the ksheera sagar.

1) A powerful bow - symbolic of the demon's belligerence.
2) Chandra, the moon which adorned Shiva's head
3) Shankha Vishnu's conch
4) Jyestha - the Goddess of misfortune
5) The umbrella taken by Varun
6) Earrings given to Aditi, by her son Indra
7) Tulasi plant
8) Nidra (sloth)
The Devtas and Asuras started becoming impatient as a lot of things had come out of the manthan except the one they had started out to obtain.

So finally when a strongly built man emerged out of the sagara carrying a jug filled to the top with Amrita the joy of Devtas and Asuras knew no bounds.

[caption id="attachment_615" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dhanvantari emerging with Amrita[/caption]

This person was Dhanvantari (who is considered an Avatar of Vishnu). He became the physician of the Devas and the God of Ayurvedic medicine.

Upon seeing Dhanvantari carrying the jug of nectar, the impatient Asuras, desiring the jug and its contents, immediately snatched it away by force.

This resulted in a fierce fight between Devas and Asuras for the nectar. It is believed that during this struggle for the kumbha of Amrita four drops of nectar fell at four places – Allahabad or Prayag (Uttar Pradesh), Haridwar (Uttrakhand), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Nasik (Maharashtra). A Kumbh Mela is celebrated at the four places every twelve years for this reason.

[caption id="attachment_616" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mohini - female Avatar of Lord Vishnu[/caption]

At this moment, Lord Vishnu took the form of a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini to bail the Devtas out. She mesmerised the Asuras with her beauty and fooled them to give her the Amrita saying that she would distribute the Amrita amongst the Asuras and Devtas in a fair manner.

[caption id="attachment_617" align="aligncenter" width="233"] Mohini beheading Rahu[/caption]

The distracted Asuras were so lost in the beauty of Mohini that they didn’t even realise that Mohini was distributing the Amrita among the Devas and not the Asuras. Rahu understood what was happening and disguising himself as a Deva went and sat amongst the Devtas. Due to their luminous nature, Surya and Chandra noticed the switching of sides. They immediately informed Mohini. But before the nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head with the Sudarshana Chakra. However as the nectar had gone down his throat he did not die. From that day, his head was called Rahu and body was called Ketu who became planets later.

Another battle took place between the Devtas and the Asuras. And this time, rejuvenated with the Amrita, the Devtas handed a huge defeat to the Asuras.