Skandapurana 2.9.11

Skanda said:

Brahmā and Rudra, having instructed Mahendra and the others to make peace with the asuras,

departed to their respective abodes, O sage, and the gods [went] to the nether region. // 1

Vāsava, skilled in speaking appropriately for the occasion, using diplomacy and sound reasoning,

and enticing them with a share of the fruit, made an alliance with the asuras. // 2

Then the hosts of gods and asuras met together on the shore of the ocean;

having brought great medicinal herbs, they quickly threw them in abundantly. // 3

Then, approaching Mount Mandara, adorned with various herbs,

all of them, uprooting it from its base, prepared to carry it to the ocean. // 4

[Since it was] eleven thousand yojanas deep in the earth,

they were unable to lift it up; then they praised Hari. // 5

Knowing this, the Blessed One commanded Saṃkarṣaṇa, the sovereign of the earth,

to lift up that mountain that was firmly rooted. // 6

With just a single puff of breath, that Lord immediately

hurled it out from that place to a distance of two yojanas. // 7

Beholding that great wonder, all the gods and asuras were delighted;

making loud shouts, they ran and approached its vicinity. // 8

Though strong and striving, with arms like iron bars,

they were unable to lift it up and carry it away, and became despondent, their labor in vain. // 9

Knowing that the hosts of gods were distressed, the all-seeing Lord

commanded Garuḍa to carry it swiftly to the ocean.

Capable of bearing even the cosmic egg with its coverings in sport,

he, swift as thought, went there, and with his beak alone [bearing] that mountain,

uprooted it, set it down on the shore of the ocean, and returned to Hari.

Then, their minds filled with joy, all the sons of Kaśyapa

summoned Vāsuki with the promise of a share of the nectar.

He arrived there; then they all prepared to churn the ocean.

The Lord of Waters approached them in embodied form and spoke these words:

"If you gods and asuras will give me a portion of the nectar,

then I shall endure the immense agony of the whirling of Mount Mandara."

Saying "So be it," and having made that promise, they first threw in medicinal herbs and creepers,

and wound the king of serpents around that golden mountain.

Then the gods remembered Hari in their hearts for the success of their undertaking.

The moment he was remembered, Acyuta, the all-seeing, arrived there.

Beholding him, the hosts of immortals rejoiced, and taking hold

of the front part of the lord of serpents, they stood there, approved by him.

And the Lord, demonstrating his partiality toward the gods,

stood where the gods were; at that the Daityas became enraged:

"We are foremost in austerity, learning, and age; how can we take the lower, inauspicious part

of an animal? We are not such fools!"

Then Viṣṇu, together with the gods, as if showing them respect,

smiled, gave them the front part, and made the gods grasp the tail.

This was the deed of the Lord of Śrī to protect the immortals

from the burning blasts of the great serpent's venom; but the Daityas did not understand this.

Then those sons of Kaśyapa lifted up Mount Mandara,

radiant with its ridges of gold, having bound their loincloths with leather straps.

Twenty-two thousand yojanas high,

they placed it in the ocean, shouting aloud in extreme eagerness.

Though held by them, having no base, the mountain, because of its immense weight,

sank immediately to the bottom; then they became utterly distraught.

Then the Lord himself, who by all means fulfills the needs of his devotees,

praised by the immortals, assumed the form of a tortoise and lifted the mountain.

Seeing it rise, the faces and hearts of all blossomed with joy,

and it became firmly fixed upon the vast back of the tortoise.

Then, with swift speed and to the best of their strength, they churned the ocean of waters,

the gods and others pitilessly, their faces hissing with exhaustion.

As the mountain was being whirled, many trees fell from it;

the fire born of the friction of the higher trees burned the lions and other beasts dwelling thereon.

Crushed by the great mountain, various aquatic creatures there

met their destruction by the hundreds in the Ocean of Milk.

Like the roaring of a mass of great clouds at the end of a cosmic age,

a mighty sound of churning arose, amplified by reverberations.

By the hissings from the mouth of Vāsuki, whose body was exhausted from being pulled excessively,

the Daityas, deprived of vigor and utterly worn out, looked like glowing embers.

Enduring the unbearable fire of poison again and again in various ways,

the thousand faces of the serpent king hung downward.

Instantly, urged by the Lord, the all-pervading

Saṃkarṣaṇa of great splendor supported them, enduring the fire of venom.

After the ocean of milk had been churned for one thousand years,

the hālāhala poison arose, spreading in all directions and intermediate directions.

It is called kālakūṭa, which intensely scorches all worlds;

with their bodies burning from it, they took to flight.

Then Brahmā, the lords of creatures, and all the gods praised the lord of Umā

with hymns, O sage, entreating him to drink it.

Then the Lord said to him: "You are the firstborn among the gods;

and this is the firstborn of the ocean: take this poison, O Śiva."

Seeing the fear of the gods, the compassionate one, by the command of Hari,

drew all the poison onto the palm of his hand by the power of yoga.

He drank it, and instantly held it dried within the middle of his throat.

He became known as Nīlakaṇṭha and was called Śaṃkara.

The drops that fell upon the ground from his hand as he was drinking,

serpents, scorpions, and other creatures, as well as certain herbs, took up.

Thus ends the eleventh chapter, named 'The Origin of the Poison during the Churning for Nectar,' in the Vāsudeva Māhātmya of the second [section], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.