Code K

"Umm... What?" Samir asked Yam in confusion and doubt.

Yam continued on and said, "Yes. We would die in this plan and the reason is snake king Vasuki."

Samir asked incredulously, "Why would he kill you all?"

Samir suddenly added, "And why can't you be clear the first time? Is this one of your habits developed after living for so long?"

Yam finally explained this time around, "Well... The thing is... After finding out about Vasuki being used as rope, Asurs demanded to be the ones who would hold the tail and Devs had to hold his head but the problem of this proposal was that whenever we would churn the ocean, Vasuki would feel pain and spit out fire automatically which in turn would burn us and kill us. The fire's too strong, after all."

Yam sighed after saying his part.

Samir asked curiously, "Then what did you do? Did you fight another war after the negotiations failing?"

Yam said dismissively, "What are you talking about? When did I say that the negotiations fell off?"

Samir replied with his own question, "Isn't it obvious? Why would you still continue you negotiations when one of the side would literally die doing the deed?"

Yam, hearing this, carried on with his tale, "We knew that Bhagwan Vishnu wouldn't suggest this idea without thinking of the problems that would come with it and we also knew that he would definitely know the solution. All of us looked at Bhagwan Vishnu with expectation but he said nonchalantly, "Why are you looking at me like that? I don't have any solution to your problem. After all, you already know the solution." We were dumbfounded by his answer and couldn't help but raise our question, "What solution?" Bhagwan Vishnu smiled at us and said calmly, "Devarshi Narad. He is the solution you are looking for. Have you all forgotten about his cunning." When we all heard him mentioning Devarshi Narad, a bulb lit up in our minds and we started to celebrate the successful negotiations which were about to happen."

Samir raised another question, "What exactly did he say in order to negotiate?"

Yam laughed and said, "Hahaha... He is a very unique character. His advise always benefits the one but what happens afterwards is a big but. He coaxed the Asurs well, more accurately Shukracharya by pointing out how the head is more glorious that the legs of a creature and how they were going to be the ones who would hold the tail of Vasuki and Devs were going to hold the head which ultimately makes the Devs more glorious than the Asurs. He also added that Shukracharya was able to use Sanjeevani Mantra to revive the fallen Asurs during the Manthan. This first of all, hurt the pride of Asurs and secondly, coaxed them into holding the head of Vasuki."

Samir eyes flickered with a light of understanding, "Oh yeah... I had almost forgot about it."

Yam nodded his head and resumed his tale, "With Mandara mountain as the rod and Vasuki as the rope, we were ready to start the Manthan. The mountain was placed but it needed a foothold. That was when a big turtle as big as the mountain itself came used its body as the foothold. That turtle was the second avatar of Bhagwan Vishnu. Kurma avatar otherwise also known as Kacchap avatar."

Samir said inadvertently, "Isn't that a bit too sudden?"

Yam said in response, "Nope. As Bhagwan Vishnu said, he himself took action to solve the problem of the foothold. Now, onto the story. We grasped the tail and Asurs grasped the head of Vasuki and all of us started the Manthan. Many divine objects and creatures appeared during the Manthan. The first to appear was Halahal which all of us had mistaken as Amrit at first glance but unfortunately, it was a very deadly poison. Deadly enough to even poison the whole universe. To protect the universe and all living, one of the Tridev, Bhagwan Shiv himself took action and consumed the poison and while he drank it, he held it in his throat which turned blue because of it earning him the name, Neelkantha (Blue-Throat). You might be wondering as to why Bhagwan Shiv intervened out of all three and to answer this question of yours, only he was able to intake something so destructive as the Bhagwan who himself is the embodiment of destruction. After all the commotion, all of us continued the churning and more treasures appeared out of the ocean. The second to appear was Chandra (Moon) which was later worn on the head by Bhagwan Shiv to cancel out a curse placed on the it. The next treasure which appeared was goddess of wealth and daughter of ocean, Devi Lakshmi. She was also the wife of Bhagwan Vishnu. She had incarnated as Devi Lakshmi to reunite with Bhagwan Vishnu after the last Mahayug. She was so beautiful that every Dev and Asur was entranced by her beauty and a war almost broke out to claim her as their wife but in time Samudra Dev appeared who was also the father of Devi Lakshmi. As her father, he proposed the idea of a 'Swayamvar'."

Samir asked in turn, "Then what is this Swayamvar?"

Yam explained, "It is a tradition in which many men are invited and then the girl is given the chance to choose her own husband out of all the men present. A few days later, a Swayamvar was held in which every Dev and Asur was present and Bhagwan Vishnu had also come. Devi Lakshmi obviously chose Bhagwan Vishnu as her husband and married him. Because of it, we Devs were celebrating this occasion however, the Asurs had very sour taste in their mouths. They tried to raise their objection but Shukracharya stopped them and explained as a responsible teacher that it was the choice of Devi Lakshmi and and they had no right to object. Some other treasures that appeared were Parijata (a wish giving tree), Airavata (an elephant who became the steed of Indra Dev), Kamadhenu (a wish-fulfilling cow which was given to the Rishis), Uchchaihshravas (a seven headed horse given to the king of Asur of that time), Apsaras (beautiful celestial nymphs who entertain the Devs by dancing and singing) and some other items. After all these items were distributed, the last treasure that appeared was the god of medicine Dhanvantari with Amrit in his hands."