Ganesha begins the tale of Vishnu's second avatar...
Everyone knows that Indra is almost always up to something he shouldn't be. He is a wonderful god, don't get me wrong, but he is very different from most. I know this more than most because everyone comes to me to write down his latest shenanigans. To give you an idea, the volume of books on Indra could reach from heaven to Earth and back again.
His latest behavior should be of no surprise. Word spread through the heavens how Indra had caused trouble for his people. His disrespectful behavior this time caused his followers, the Devas, to lose their strength and immortality. Vishnu, being the great god that he is, offered his assistance to the Devas over whome Indra ruled. When the Devas required help in gaining back their strength and immortality, the god Brahma appeared to Vishnu. He told Vishnu that he would need to be reincarnated again to help the Devas in attaining th nectar of immortality. When Vishnu returned, he told me the story of his incarnation as a tortoise. Here is the story as Vishnu told to me...
The Devas were a great group of warriors. They are a very important group of divine beings, as they helped to save the world many times from horrible demons. They are known for their insurmountable strength, immortality, and their amazing abilities with different mantras and weapons. There wasn't a force in this world that could take them down. There was one being, though, who could harm them and that was their leader, Indra King of the Devas.
After a particular battle when Indra and his Devas defeated over a thousand demons, a wise sage came up to show his appreciation. He put a beautiful garland of flowers around the neck of Indra and thanked him many times. Indra, without even thinking, gave the flowers to his elephant to wear. The elephant immediately dropped the garland off his tusks and began to stomp on it. This angered the sage very much and he cursed the Devas, taking away everything they were blessed with including their kingdom and immortality.
The Devas felt horrible for what Indra had done, but no amount of apologizing was going to help them. The sage would not take back his words but he told them to not lose hope. He told them that if they worked hard together as mortals with the all of the strength they could gather, then they would be blessed again. They prayed to the god Vishnu for help and he told them that they needed to find and consume the nectar of immortality.
The nectar of immortality is something they had all heard of but never truly thought it was real. They had heard of the legend of it being at the bottom of the Ocean of Milk. In order to get to the nectar, they would have to churn the ocean, using the mountain, Mandara, as a churning staff. By churning the ocean, the tale told that the nectar would fly out of the ocean, along with many other undiscovered wonders.
The Devas knew that they would never be able to churn the ocean on their own and so they explained the situation to their demon enemies, the Asuras. Surprisingly, they decided to be allies with the Devas for this mission. The Devas were suspicious of the Asuras and were right to be. The Asuras had their own plans for the nectar of immortality.
The next day Indra and the Devas along with the Asuras gathered on top of mount Mandara. They used the mountain as a churning staff and the serpent Vasuki as a rope to churn the ocean so that they could reach the bottom to find the nectar. As the churning became faster and faster, they noticed that they were getting closer and closer to the water. The mountain was sinking into the earth. They could not stop because they wouldn't be able to try again. Together they all began to pray to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, hoping that the gods would be able to help them churn the Ocean without sinking.
All of a sudden they felt the mountain begin to shake and then rise. When they looked down into the water they saw a giant tortoise, lifting the mountain onto his back. The tortoise was enormous in size because the whole mountain fit perfectly onto his back and did not move once it was positioned. They immediately recognized the giant tortoise as Vishnu. The tortoise spoke, saying that his name was Kurma and for them to keep working to achieve their goal. With the mountain sturdy now, the Devas, working together with the Asuras, were able to keep churning and eventually things started to fly out of the ocean. The first thing to fly out was a poison which the God Shiva drank to save the Devas from harm. Many other things were flying out of the ocean when ,at last, the god Dhanvantari appeared out of the ocean with the nectar in his hands.
The Asuras quickly abandoned the Devas and rushed to grab the nectar so they could drink it for themselves. Vishnu came to the rescue of the Devas again. Kurma put the mountain back and then vanished. Then there appeared a beautiful woman who was actually Vishnu. He used his new shape to seduce the Asuras and take back the nectar. Turning back into his true form, Vishnu handed the nectar to the Devas and told them to share it among themselves. He prophesized to them that there would soon be a war between themselves and the Asuras. Vishnu told them to not worry because now there was nothing the Asuras could do to beat them and that they would easily win. The Devas won the war as promised by Vishnu and on the battleground built a statue to Vishnu in the form of Kurma the tortoise.
Kurma
Source: Wikipedia. Link
Avatara 2-Kurmavatara (Lord Vishnu in Tortoise Form)
Web Source: Samasya