The earliest story of the grand churning of the ocean of milk, samudra-manthan, for the nectar of immortality, amrita, is found in the Mahabharata. There is no artwork in India to match the grand Angkor Wat corridor in Cambodia that shows devas and asuras holding the serpent-king Vasuki with Vishnu overseeing the entire enterprise. In the story of samudra-manthan, Vishnu …
