Churning the Sea of Milk

Mallikarjuna Temple, Pattadakal

In this column relief, gods and demons ply either end of a churning-rope (Vasuki, the cosmic snake) in order to extract the beverage of immortality by churning the cosmic ocean (Sea of Milk). The pivot, around which the snake is wrapped, is Vishnu.

The story is depicted much less often in India than in Southeast Asia. Any temptation to view it as a sort of tug-of-war between the gods and the demons should be avoided, since the back-and-forth churning was, as it had to be, a cooperative activity.