MANDARA. Mount Maudara, celebrated in the Puranic legends for the churning of the ocean, lies southward of Bhagulpur. Vishnu is fabled to have become incarnate in the form of a tortoise ; in which shape he sustained the mountain Mandara, placed on his back to serve as an axis, whereon the gods and demons, Sura and Asura,—the vast ser pent Vasuki serving as a rope,--churned the ocean for the recovery of the amrita, or beverage of immortality. And the result of the operation that chiefly distinguished this avatara, was the obtain ment of fourteen articles, usually called fourteen gems, or chaturdesa ratna, in common language chowda ratni,-1. the moon, Chandra ; 2. Sri or Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune and beauty ; 3. Sura, wine, or Suradevi, the goddess of wine ; 4. Uchisrava, an eight-headed horse ; 5. Kus tubha, a jewel of inestimable value ; 6. Parijata, a tree that spontaneously yielded everything desired ; 7. Surabhi, a cow similarly bountiful ;
8. Dhanwantara, a physician ; 9. Iravati, elephant of Indra, with three probosci ; 10. Chank, a shell conferring victory ou whoever should sound it ; 11. Danusha, an unerring bow ; 12. Bikh, poison or drugs ; 13. Rhemba, the Apsara, a beautiful and amiable woman ; 14. Amrita, the beverage of immortality.
On the downfall of Buddhism, Mandara fell into the hands of the Saivites, and became a scat of their god so as to rival Benares, and form, as the Kasikhund states, a second Kailasa. The legend . of the churning of the ocean is an interpolation in the Mahabharata, and evidently refers to the contest between the Brahmans (Sura) and the Buddhists (Acura), the great serpent Vasuki alluding to the Naga race.