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Ritual Procedure for the Kūrma Dvādaśī Observance
दुर्वासा उवाच । तथैव पौषमासे तु अमृतं मथितं सुरैः । तत्र कूर्मो भवेद्देवः स्वयमेव जनार्दनः ॥ ४०.१ ॥
durvāsā uvāca | tathaiva pauṣa-māse tu amṛtaṃ mathitaṃ suraiḥ | tatra kūrmo bhaved devaḥ svayam eva janārdanaḥ || 40.1 ||
Durvāsā berkata: “Demikian juga, pada bulan Pauṣa, para dewa mengacau (menggiling) lautan hingga terhasil amṛta, nektar keabadian. Di sana, Janārdana sendiri menjelma sebagai Kūrma, Sang Kura-kura ilahi.”
Durvāsā
It preserves a Purāṇic retelling of the Samudra-manthana (churning of the ocean) motif, linking calendrical time (Pauṣa) with a well-known cosmological narrative and the Kūrma form of Viṣṇu.
No specific terrestrial location is named in this verse; the setting is the mythic-cosmological event of churning, traditionally associated with the ocean (samudra) rather than a mapped pilgrimage site.
The verse is primarily descriptive rather than prescriptive; its philosophical emphasis is on divine agency expressed through adaptive embodiment (the deity ‘becoming’ Kūrma) within a cosmic process.
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