Dhanvantari

Dhanvantari is the physician of the gods, who rose from the churning of the ocean (samudra manthan) holding the pot of amrita. He is honoured as an avatar of Vishnu and the source of Ayurveda; a later king of Kashi, Divodasa, is called Dhanvantari as his incarnation and taught Sushruta. Physician families, the Ashta Vaidyas of Kerala and the Vaidyas of Bengal, give Dhanvantari as their gotra.

1. Rising from the ocean: he emerges from the churning of the ocean with the pot of amrita
2. Teacher of Ayurveda: as Divodasa, king of Kashi, he teaches surgery to Sushruta, the basis of the Sushruta Samhita
3. Dhanteras: his day, two days before Diwali, is kept as Dhanvantari Jayanti

• The churning ocean
• A healer's garden of medicinal plants