Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.1579

c4.1579

2) The churning of the ocean. Once Mahābali had stolen the wealth of Devendra. While he was carrying it to his house, it all fell in the ocean. Mahāviṣṇu ordered the devas (gods) to recover the lost wealth from the ocean. It was impossible to churn the ocean without the help of Mahābali. So the devas went to Mahābali and sought his help. Mahābali agreed to help them. The real aim of the devas was not to regain the lost wealth but to obtain the celestial nectar known as Nectar of Immortality (Amṛta) and to defeat the Asuras in battle. On the side of the Asuras there was the knowledge of the Mṛtasañjīvanī (life-restoring remedy). So the dead were being brought to life. But it was not possible for devas to do so. It was to make up this deficiency, by obtaining Ambrosia from the sea, that the devas tried to churn the sea, under the pretence of recovering the lost wealth. Mention is made in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Aṃśa 1, Chapter 9 and Matsya Purāṇa, Chapters 250 and 251 that these events took place during the regime of the Indra named Mantradruma in the Cākṣuṣamanvantara (the period of the manu named Cākṣuṣa).