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Kurma

second of the ten avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. In this incarnation Vishnu is associated with the myth of the churning of the cosmic ocean. The gods and the asuras cooperated within the churning to acquire the a Mata, the elixir of immortality. The good serpent Vasuki supplied himself as a rope, and Mount Mandara was torn out to be used as a churning stick. A agency basis was required to steady the mountain, so Vishnu took the type of a tortoise and supported the churning stick on his back. An earlier reference to a divine incarnation as a tortoise identifies the animal with Prajapati (the god Brahma), who took that form as a way to create offspring.

The Kurma avatar of Vishnu is normally represented in portray and sculpture in a combined human-animal form. The human half, which is the higher half, is depicted carrying the same ornaments and holding the identical weapons as in the ordinary pictures of Vishnu. Kurma is also represented zoomorphic ally, as a tortoise.