Note 9 — Chapter I
Reading edition
The second "Avatâra" of Vishnu was in the form of a tortoise, when Vishnu placed himself under the mountain Mandara, while the gods and demons churned the Milky Sea for ambrosia. This incarnation is called the Kurma. This churning appears to have produced other miraculous results. Amongst the "gifts" of the ocean on this auspicious occasion, two especially fell to the share of Vishnu himself, namely, a miraculous jewel, named Kaustubha, and S'rî, the goddess of Beauty and Prosperity. The Venus of the Greeks was said to have been produced from the foam of the sea, in the neighbourhood of the island Cythera, hence one of the numerous appellations of the goddess—Cytherea.