Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.16

surasuranam udadhim

mathnatam mandaracalam

dadhre kamatha-rupena

prishtha ekadase vibhuh

SYNONYMS

sura -- the theists; asuranam -- of the atheists; udadhim -- in the ocean; mathnatam -- churning; mandaracalam -- the Mandaracala Hill; dadhre -- sustained; kamatha -- tortoise; rupena -- in the form of; prishthe -- shell; ekadase -- the eleventh in the line; vibhuh -- the great.

TRANSLATION

The eleventh incarnation of the Lord took the form of a tortoise whose shell served as a pivot for the Mandaracala Hill, which was being used as a churning rod by the theists and atheists of the universe.

PURPORT

Once both the atheists and the theists were engaged in producing nectar from the sea so that all of them could become deathless by drinking it. At that time the Mandaracala Hill was used as the churning rod, and the shell of Lord Tortoise, the incarnation of Godhead, became the resting place (pivot) of the hill in the seawater.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness