Kurma’s Connections

About Kurma →

Aspect of

• Vishnu

  Kurma is Vishnu's second avatar, the cosmic tortoise who supported Mount Mandara on his back during the churning of the Ocean of Milk.

Member of

• Dashavatara

  Kurma is the second avatar of the Dashavatara, the cosmic tortoise who dove beneath the churning ocean and braced Mount Mandara upon his shell so that devas and asuras could churn forth the nectar of immortality.

Associated with

• Kshira Sagara

  Vishnu took the form of the tortoise Kurma and descended beneath Mount Mandara in the Kshira Sagara to support the churning rod on his shell. Without Kurma's intervention, the mountain would have sunk to the ocean floor.

• Mount Mandara

  When Mount Mandara began to sink into the depths during the churning, Kurma swam beneath it and bore the great mountain on the flat of his shell, becoming the pivot on which the entire cosmic operation turned.

• Samudra Manthan

  Kurma, Vishnu's tortoise avatar, dove beneath the Ocean of Milk and braced Mount Mandara on his broad shell during the Samudra Manthan, preventing the mountain from sinking into the cosmic deep.