rambling through the skies by e. c.

krupp

Buttermilk Sky
according to the Mahabharata, a 2,000-year-old Sanskrit
epic, and other sacred Hindu texts, the Sun and Moon
were, in another age, churned like butter out of the primor-
dial ocean by the “gods” and “demons.” Ordinarily these
supernatural rivals battled for ritual supremacy
Cosmic and celestial sovereignty, but they pooled their
efforts to stir up the elixir of immortality from
beginnings the ocean’s milky waters.
can be as Before the gods and demons turned the
ocean into buttermilk, the demons — older and
smooth as

DE TUIN DER GODEN, A. G. VAN HAMEL, ED. ARTWORK: ANTON PIECK (UTRECHT, C. 1940)
stronger than the gods — had the upper hand
butter. in the ongoing conflict. Associated with dark-
ness, the demons in Hindu tradition inhabited
the infernal realm. The gods, on the other hand, are allied
with light. But each is one side of the coin of complemen-
tary opposition, a tension believed to activate the forces
that make the world what it is.
Weakened and discouraged from the battle with the
demons, the gods consulted Vishnu the Preserver, one of
the three supreme gods of Hinduism and the source of cos-
mic order. Vishnu prescribed a dose of amrita, the magical
beverage of immortality, to restore each god’s lost vigor and
explained the need to cooperate with the demons to obtain
the elixir. Nothing less than a mountain could butter up

BUTTER MAKING In the ancient Hindu myth of the Churning of the Milky
Ocean, essential components of the world emerge from the archaic
The Calendar of Good and Evil waters. Inaugurated by the partnership of gods on the left and demons on
Vasuki’s neck fans into five serpent heads gripped by Bali, the king of the the right, the oceanic reservoir turns into tangible treasures such as the
demons, at the southern end of the wall illustrating the Churning of the Moon, the goddess of prosperity, and the intoxicating goddess of wine.
Milky Ocean at Angkor Wat. Eleanor Mannikka interprets the entire 45 me-
ters (150 feet) of this monumental relief as a calendrical stage in Angkor the ocean, and the gods would need the demons’ help to
Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship (1996). Brahmanic astronomy, a philoso- move Mount Mandara and twist it like a churn. Vasuki, the
phy of Hinduism, affiliated the demons with the south and the gods with colossal Serpent King, wrapped his coils around Mandara
the north. Equating all the demons with the days when the Sun is south of and joined the dairy industry as the churn cord. Then, with
the celestial equator and all the the gods gripping the tail of the great snake and the demons
gods with the days it is to the alternately pulling on his neck, the mountain swiveled. This
north, she counts all the figures vigorous motion destabilized Mount Mandara, and it started
twice for a total of 182 demons to slip and sink. To avert a downturn in the churning busi-
and 176 gods. Adding and dou- ness, Vishnu mutated into a tortoise, submerged himself
bling the small figure floating between the mountain’s base and the ocean floor, and stead-
above Vishnu and Mount Man- ied the churn on his durable shell.
dara, she reaches a grand total Gradually the ocean’s waters turned to milk, and mixed
of 360. To collect another five with the saps and juices flowing from the trees and herbs
on Mandara’s slopes, the milk began to yield butter.
BARBARA SANBORN

or six days, she assigns Vishnu

and Mount Mandara three days Buttermaking is an ancient technology. A milking-scene
for each equinox. According to relief from the ancient city of Urkesh in Mesopotamia doc-
Mannikka, the equinox in tradi- uments the process about 5,000 years ago. Extraction of
tional Cambodia lasted three or four days. If these relationships are shown the tiny drops of butterfat in milk begins with letting the
to be valid, the churning of Creation mimics the annual cycle of the Sun, milk stand to allow the cream to separate. Lighter than the
which seasonally establishes the pattern of cosmic order. milk, the cream containing the fat particles rises and is
skimmed off the top. Transferred to the churn, the cream is

46 December 2005 Sky & Telescope ©2005 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
agitated, usually with the twist of VISHNU The wall of the second gallery of Angkor
a rod. The turbulence induces Wat, in Cambodia, illustrates the myth of the Churn-
collisions of fat globules, which ing of the Milky Ocean. This detail reveals the god
stick to each other, and butter Vishnu occupying a cylindrical Mount Mandara.
granules grow. When most of the Weakly supported arguments assert that this myth
butter has solidified, the remain- is linked to an archaic knowledge of precession. In
ing fluid — the buttermilk — is fact, the story is about the divine establishment of
poured off. The butter is then cosmic order and the power of royal sovereignty.
molded, packaged, and distrib-
uted to consumers. CHARMED To prevent the demons from consuming
Encouraged by Vishnu, the the divine nectar of immortality, the god Vishnu
gods and demons churned commanded their attention in the guise of an en-
through every season, and finally chanting woman. Convinced of her integrity, they
wonders began to gel. turned the elixir over to her to distribute it.
First the Moon rose from the
waves, and the Sun soon fol-
lowed. More treasures appeared
until, eventually, a deadly poison
E. C. KRUPP

also churned up. It would have

enveloped the world and exter-
minated life had the god Shiva
not drunk it and held it in his throat. As more remarkable
items were stirred up, the gods moved onto the path of the
Sun, the road to immortality, to wait for the elixir.
Solidified from the milky fluid, Dhanvantari, the physician
of the gods, at last brought the amrita to the table, and the
demons went wild. Delirious with the promise of immortal-
ity, they rushed the doctor and grabbed the fluid, each de-
manding his share. From the beginning, however, Vishnu
had planned to churn the tables on the demons and dis-
pense immortality only to the gods. Disguising himself

THE CHURNING OF THE OCEAN, ANANT PAI, ED. (INDIAN BOOK HOUSE LIMITED, 1982)
with a little cheesecake, Vishnu took the shape of an attrac-
tive woman who milked her charms, causing the demons to
lose their infatuation with immortality. Distracted by this
coquette’s baubles, bangles, and beads, they asked her to
help them decide how to serve the elixir. She teased them
with playful humor, and they put the amrita in her hands.
Both gods and demons, she reasoned, had worked equally
to churn out the tonic, and so she seated them in separate
rows and served the gods first. When she reached the end
of their line, she disappeared. The furious demons cried
foul and attacked the gods. The elixir, however, had ener-
gized the gods, and they quickly showed the demons that
there was no point in crying over spilled milk.
The Sun and the Moon, however, noticed that the demon
Rahu had masqueraded as a god. Flanked by the Sun and
Moon, he sat in their line and managed to consume some clouds that often herald the approach of wetter weather are
elixir. As soon as Rahu tasted the potion, his deception was sometimes known as a buttermilk sky. Their distinctive cur-
exposed and Vishnu decapitated him. Although he didn’t dled texture is usually produced by agitated convection
have time to swallow it, the mouthful of the beverage made when a cold front lifts a large mass of moist air. The clouds
his head immortal. It rose into the sky with the Sun and condense, like butter, out of the air and are sheared by wind.
Moon, but his mortal body fell dead on the ground. Still In 1946, Hoagy Carmichael and Jack Brooks wrote a song
enraged, the head of Rahu continues to pursue the Sun and about buttermilk clouds for the Western film Canyon Passage.
Moon through the sky, and eclipses are said to occur when In “Ole Buttermilk Sky” those churned-up clouds are told
he catches them in his teeth. In a partial eclipse, ritual noise to hang the Moon up in the sky and let it stir up a little
from people below scares Rahu away, and his bite backs romance. The Moon ought to comply. One good churn de-
off. In a total eclipse, he devours the Sun or the Moon, but serves another. †
inevitably it drops from his severed throat unscathed.
Buttermilk also sometimes shows up in the sky. The E. C. Krupp is churning to be free at Griffith Observatory in
thick and rippling milky puffs of midlevel, altocumulus Los Angeles.

©2005 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Sky & Telescope December 2005 47
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.