Hindu Medicine c7.124

c7.124

As the embodiment of medical wisdom, Dhanvantari is allied with the divine maintainer of the universe, Viṣṇu, who has been directing the laborious process of churning the Milky Ocean; it is he who finally helps the gods to secure the precious beverage. Dhanvantari is regarded as a part (kalā) of Viṣṇu himself in his supreme manifestation, Nārāyaṇa, the divine substance of the universe in the form of the primal waters of life (nara) which gave birth to the organism of the world. Moreover, in popular Hindu lore, he is a pupil of the fair-winged sun-bird Garuḍa, who is the son of Mother Heaven (Vinatā), the vehicle of Viṣṇu, and the celestial one among Viṣṇu’s animal manifestations.