Lord Vishnu, who had taken the form of the damsel Mohini, distributed the Amrita to the Devas. The Devas were drinking the Amrita with
great delight. Rahu, a member of the Asura clan, was also drinking it, in the guise of a Deva.
But even before he could ingest the nectar, two of the Devas, Surya (the Sun God) and Soma also known as Chandra (the Moon God), discovered Rahu's identity and exposed him.
Vishnu, angered by the deception, cut off Rahu’s head, by hurling his discus (the
Sudarsana Chakra, the weapon in the form of a wheel, always wielded by
Vishnu on his right hand) at him.
The huge head of Rahu cut off by the discus rose up to the
sky even as dreadful cries emanated from
his mouth, while his headless body fell on the earth, making the earth tremble
with her mountains, forests and islands.
From that time, there has been a long standing
feud between Rahu (represented by his head) and the two Gods that exposed his
deception - Surya and Soma. During the Solar and Lunar eclipses, Rahu's head attempts
to swallow Surya and Soma, respectively.
Lord Vishnu quitting his enchanting female form hurled many terrible weapons at the Asuras, making them tremble with fear.
The
battle between the Devas and the Asuras was fought on the sea-shore. After a long fight, involving the use
of many weapons by both sides, the Asuras were
vanquished by the Devas. Most of the Asuras fell down to the earth or were drowned in the sea.
After winning the battle, the Devas paid due respect to the Mandara mountain
and placed it back on its own base.
The Devas returned to their abodes, after making the heavens resound with their cries of victory.
On
returning to the heavens, Indra and the other deities handed over the
vessel of Amrita to Vishnu, for safe custody.
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