Amṛta

Amṛta · a-mṛta, “the deathless nectar”

Amṛta is the divine nectar of immortality, the drink of the devas. The Vāmana Purāṇa speaks of it in several accounts. In the great war beside Udayagiri the devas, who had not yet drunk amṛta, could not stand against the rākshasas. Brahmā once drank amṛta, and from it Surabhi, the mother of cows, was born. Dharmaśīlā taught her son Upamanyu that one whom Bhagavān Śiva blesses may drink even amṛta. And at the great lake of Kurukshetra, Devī Pārvatī gave the weary devas and ṛshis holy amṛta to drink before she showed them Bhagavān Śiva. In Kaśyapa’s stotra, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself is praised as Amṛta.

Before the devas drank amṛta

When the deva army, led by Skanda and protected by Indra, Vishṇu, Varuṇa and Bhāskara, met the rākshasas on the treeless stone plain beside Udayagiri, a fearful battle raged. Under Skanda, the commander of the devas, the devas slew the dānavas, and the rākshasas, relying on Maya, cut down the devas. But all the devas, together with Skanda, had not yet obtained the drinking of amṛta, and they could not withstand the onslaught of the rākshasas and were defeated. Then Śrī Hari strung the Śārṅga bow and turned back the enemy with his arrows.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 47

Amṛta in dāna

When Aditi, the mother of the devas, kept her vrata to Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa for the sake of Indra, on the second day she bathed, performed the pūjā as the vidhi lays down, and gave the brāhmaṇas gold, tila (sesame) and amṛta as dāna (sacred gift).

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 50

“You may drink even amṛta”

Dharmaśīlā, the devoted wife of Vītamanyu of the line of Atri, was so poor that she gave her little son Upamanyu water mixed with rice flour and called it milk. Once he tasted true milk-rice at a brāhmaṇa’s house, he would drink nothing else and cried for milk, like the cātaka bird for a drop of the Svāti rain. With a choked voice his mother said: “Where Śaṅkara, Umāpati, Paśupati, the holder of the śūla, Virūpāksha, is not pleased, where can milk come from? If you truly want milk, worship Virūpāksha who holds the triśūla. If he, the giver of all good, is pleased, you can drink not only milk but amṛta itself.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 56

Surabhi born from amṛta

In former times Brahmā drank amṛta and rinsed his mouth, and from that Surabhi, Kāmadhenu, was born and went to Pātāla. Many cows were born to Surabhi, the mother of the world, and filled Pātāla. Later, when Brahmā performed a yajña, he called those cows to give them as dakshiṇā, and they came up through a bila (an opening in the earth). This is the origin of the Bhavānī-vana tīrtha at Kurukshetra, where Gaṇapati is present at the mouth of the bila. One who performs abhisheka there gains the merit of a gift of a thousand cows, and the darśana of that Gaṇapati fulfils every desire.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14

The amṛta of Devī Pārvatī

When the liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva had fallen at Dāruvana and the devas and ṛshis, with Brahmā, could not move it, they went to Kailāsa, and then, with Brahmā in front, to the great lake where Bhagavān Śiva shines. Not finding him, they searched and waited there with troubled hearts. Then Devī Pārvatī appeared, holding a kamaṇḍalu, with a gracious face, and they all praised her. Pleased, she said: “You have searched and searched for Maheśvara and are very tired. First all of you drink this amṛta. After that you will find Śaṅkara.” Pleased by the words of Bhavānī, they sat down there and drank that holy amṛta. Then, seated at ease, they asked her where Īśvara was, and she showed them Bhagavān Śiva in the form of an elephant in the middle of the lake. He carried the liṅga in his trunk and set it on the western side of the great lake.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 23

Nārāyaṇa as Amṛta

In the stotra that Kaśyapa sang to Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa during the thousand-year vrata of the devas, Nārāyaṇa is praised as Amṛteśaya, “he who lies in amṛta”, and as Amṛta itself.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 5

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 47, 50, 56; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 5, 14, 23