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The churning of the ocean of milk was an elaborate process. Mount Mandara was used as a stick for Manthan and Vasuki, the king of the Nagas who lived around the neck of Lord Shivaji, became the rope of Manthan. The gods said that demons were more powerful, so the demons would stand at the mouth of the Naga, and the god Vasuki would stand towards the naga's tail. The demons demanded to hold the snake's head, while the gods agreed to take Vishnu's advice and hold his tail. Knowing that Mount Mandara started sinking while churning in the sea, Lord Vishnu took the form of a kurma (tortoise) and took Mount Mandara on his back to support the mountain and facilitate the event of Manthan. Everyone greeted Lord Vishnu. After that, they started churning the sea again. The gods and demons were churning the sea with great difficulty. Suddenly a very terrible poison called Kalkut was produced from the ocean and it set the whole world on fire. The monsters were poisoned by the smoke emitted by Vasuki. In spite of all this happening, god and demon began to pull the snake back and forth in turn, as the mountain began to spin, which led to the churning of the sea. The process of Samudra churning brought out many things from the ocean of milk. One was a deadly poison called Halahal – which, in some versions of the story, escaped from the mouth of the serpent king while demons and gods were churning. This frightened gods and demons because the poison was so powerful that it could destroy all creation. When Lord Vishnu announced that no one could absorb this poison except Lord Shiva, the Gods rushed to Lord Shiva for protection